ABSTRACT
LDS theology follows neither Catholic acquisitive love nor Protestantism’s theology of the cross, making inter-denominational understanding potentially problematic; some recent LDS work, however, favours the traditional Christian ‘social model’ of the Trinity and is attracted by elements of ‘acquisitive love’. Accordingly, Jesus established the priestly line that passed to and through Joseph Smith, with belief in this legal authority giving Mormonism its sense of distinction from all other churches whose priesthoods lack saving power. For Taylor, fraternal kinship with Jesus was part of being ‘sons’ set in developing worlds that, with time, would see sons of saints establish worlds of their own. For that divine status and the hope it engenders is, if anything, of higher priority for twenty-first century Mormonism than is fraternal kinship. And it is the dynamic of hope that the peoples now pursue further in the next chapter by developing it in a yet closer intimacy of identity with Jesus Christ.
