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Temple Work Without Temples

Title
Temple Work Without Temples
Publication Type
Podcast
Publication Date
April 30, 2024
Authors
Woodward, Scott (Primary), and Griffiths, Casey Paul (Primary)
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Abstract
Beginning in 1846, thousands of Latter-day Saints left Nauvoo, Illinois and trekked over 1,000 miles west to the Salt Lake Valley. Having of necessity abandoned the Nauvoo temple for which they had worked so hard and sacrificed so much, they were now a temple-centered people without a temple. Now, they certainly would go on to build more temples, the first of which would be the St. George Temple, completed in 1877. But how would they do temple-related work in the meantime? In this episode of Church History Matters, Casey and I walk through the unique story of how temple work continued during that thirty-year season in Utah of no temples, where church leaders used Ensign Peak, a multipurpose building called the Council House, a one-of-a-kind building called the Endowment House, and administrative offices for these purposes. We’ll also highlight some important takeaways from church leaders’ response to the crushing government legislation they faced in the late 1880s when forced with the decision of losing all temples or ending the practice of plural marriage.Bibliographic Citation
Terms of use
Items in the BMC Archive are made publicly available for non-commercial, private use. Inclusion within the BMC Archive does not imply endorsement. Items do not represent the official views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or of Book of Mormon Central.