The Use of Gethsemane by Church Leaders, 1859–2018
Title
The Use of Gethsemane by Church Leaders, 1859–2018
Publication Type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2019
Authors
Hilton, John, III (Primary), and Barringer, Joshua P. (Primary)
Pagination
49-76
Volume
58
Issue
4
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.
Bibliographic Citation
Abstract
Many commentators have noted that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a distinctive focus on Gethsemane as the place of Jesus's Atonement. The authors of this study examined general conference talks from 1851 to 2018 to investigate how the name Gethsemane was used by the speakers. They discovered ten common themes and also noticed that the usage of these themes changed over time. Consequently, they were able to divide this usage into three phases. During phase 1 (1850s–1930s), teachings about Gethsemane were rare and ambiguous. During phase 2 (1940s–1970s), Gethsemane was commonly identified as the key location of the Atonement. During phase 3 (1980s–2010s), leaders tended to present Gethsemane and Calvary as joint locations of the Atonement.
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