A Defense of the Authority of Church Doctrine

Abstract

Many would respond that Mormons believe in continuing revelation, modern prophets, additional scripture, and the restoration of priesthood powers if one were to ask most Mormons what makes their religion different from ordinary Christianity. Given the central place that the concept of authority occupies in Mormonism, there has been surprisingly little disciplined reflection about the concept among Mormon intellectuals and scholars. Here, Oman illuminates some of the issues with which Mormon thinkers must grapple if they are to make sense of the important concept of authority in their theology. In particular, he addresses the authority of Church doctrine. Finally, he shows that many of the intuitions and implicit assumptions of ordinary Latter-day Saints with regard to the authority of Church doctrine can be made explicit and justified by arguments resting on premises that are widely shared among Mormons.