The Mormon Doctrine of Deity -- Signature Books

Other books on Mormon doctrine:

• Mormon Doctrine (Line upon Line)

• Mormon Doctrine (The Articles of Faith)

• Mormon Doctrine (Strangers in Paradox)

• Mormon Doctrine (Rational Theology)

• Mormon Doctrine (Studies in Mormon Theology)

• Mormon Doctrine (The Theological
Foundations of the Mormon Religion)

• Mormon Doctrine (Statements of the LDS First Presidency)

The Mormon Doctrine of Deity:
The Roberts-Van Der Donckt Discussion
B. H. ROBERTS
DAVID L. PAULSEN, FOREWORD
Signature Mormon Classics Series No. 3
Paperback. 300 Pages. / 1-56085-111-2 / $14.95

When two local ministers criticized Latter-day Saint beliefs about God in 1901, Elder Brigham H. Roberts of the LDS hierarchy defended the following doctrines:

"First, we believe that God is a being with a body in form like a man's; . . . that in a word, God is an exalted, perfected man.

"Second, we believe in a plurality of Gods.

"Third, we believe that somewhere and some time in the ages to come . . . man at last may become like God—a God."

Roberts critiqued Catholic and Protestant theology, calling it "paganized Christianity"—a characterization that prompted the now famous rebuttal from the Reverend Cyril van der Donckt of Pocatello, Idaho. To this, Roberts penned an even more comprehensive rejoinder.

Published as The Mormon Doctrine of Deity, this debate forms one of the most engaging and complete considerations of the topic ever compiled. It not only showcases two brilliant, quick-witted theologians, it also surveys authoritative historical sources for both the Mormon doctrines and traditional Christian concepts about God.

Brigham Henry Roberts, born in England in 1857, was president of the LDS First Quorum of the Seventy and assistant church historian. His numerous historical (A Comprehensive History of the Church; Joseph Smith, The Prophet-Teacher; Life of John Taylor; The Missouri Persections; The Mormon Battalion, Its History and Achievements; Outlines of Ecclesiastical History; The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo; Succession in the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and theological works (A New Witness for God; The Mormon Doctrine of Deity: The Roberts-Van der Donckt Discussion; The Seventy's Course in Theology; Studies of the Book of Mormon; The Truth, The Way, The Life: An Elementary Treatise on Theology) which are still considered authoritative, earned him the epithet "defender of the faith." He died in 1933. See also The Essential B. H. Roberts

David L. Paulsen—JD, University of Chicago; Ph.D., University of Michigan—is a Professor of Philosophy and former Richard L Evans Professor for Religious Understanding at Brigham Young University. He has published in Analysis, Faith and Philosophy, Harvard Theological Review, International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion, and elsewhere.