ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses selected descriptions of the Restoration, considers some of the more political aspects involved in ascribing distinctive status to the movement and highlights changes in modern societies that affect traditional notions of a ‘world religion’. It provides the concept of a religion’s pool of potential orientations to the world, describes the elective affinity between certain religious forms and social groups and also considers the attraction-repulsion element of Mormon ideas in the light of cultural differences between different societies. One of the most controversial, and much debated, sociological arguments about the movement’s status is Rodney Stark’s firm affirmation, grounded in analyses of membership statistics and projections of growth rates, that Mormonism is a ‘a new religion’. While Mormonism’s original association with traditional Christianity was very strong, its unique configuration of belief, practice and organization soon developed an impetus and direction of its own, to the extent that its Christian status became paradoxical.
