Latter-day Saint teachings in the early church writings

[Fether]

What teachings, if any, have been found in Apocryphal or early church writings that are found solely in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today?

Are there any articles on this topic anywhere?

[JLHPROF]

This starts a chicken or egg debate.

Take baptism for the dead.  We're accused of misappropriating the early Christian scripture on the subject to create something new.

Same with anything related to priesthood or temple ordinances.

There are plenty of things that meet your criteria and an extremely long line of people who will tell you those things don't count.

[Fether]

55 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

This starts a chicken or egg debate.

Take baptism for the dead.  We're accused of misappropriating the early Christian scripture on the subject to create something new.

Same with anything related to priesthood or temple ordinances.

There are plenty of things that meet your criteria and an extremely long line of people who will tell you those things don't count.

Oh I’m sure. It’s more for me than to “prove” to anyone the church is true

[LoudmouthMormon]

The lack of a trinitarian view of deity is totally found throughout early Christianity.

[Calm]

14 minutes ago, Fether said:

Oh I’m sure. It’s more for me than to “prove” to anyone the church is true

If you are interested in this kind of nondoctrinal material, there is the FARMS book Traditions of the Early Life of Abraham or something similar that lists variations on details in the Abraham story that were not widely known at the time of publication from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions. 

[BlueDreams]

1 hour ago, Fether said:

What teachings, if any, have been found in Apocryphal or early church writings that are found solely in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today?

Are there any articles on this topic anywhere?

Funny enough I’ve been studying this a lot lately. 

I’m finishing up “lost christianities” by Ehrman. 
the thing that sticks out to me in describing what can be gleaned about early Christian sects/beliefs is that the church carries views from all of them at least a little bit. It’s like seeing how certain gospel/doctrinal aspects became appealing to a group and then became a hyper focus to the point that the original place of a practice or belief somewhat lost its significance in the balanced scheme of things. 
 

I don’t know if there’s fully a belief in the church that is solely ours and ours alone from the early church. I would guess that we are one of a few that have this many fractions from varying early sects in one place, though. 
 

with luv, 

BD 

Edited January 4, 2022 by BlueDreams

[CA Steve]

You might find this short article by Dr. Thomas Wayment of interest.

Joseph Smith’s Developing Relationship with the Apocrypha

From the article.

Quote

Several approaches to interpreting Joseph Smith’s use of the so-called Jewish and Christian apocryphal literature have been employed both by critics of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter LDS), and by those professing faith in the Church and whose interests may be classified as apologetic. These approaches span the range of being probative of Joseph Smith’s restoration of lost texts and scripture and being dismissive of Mormonism generally, because its sacred religious texts are founded on flagrant plagiarism of apocryphal literature.[1] Before one can answer the most important historical question at hand, how Joseph Smith used the Apocrypha and what relationship that body of literature had to early Mormon writings, it seems prudent to first of all establish some controls on the discussion. This is necessary because previous discussions have largely contented themselves with drawing out parallels between apocryphal writings and early Mormon publications without any discussion of whether or not Joseph Smith had access to the texts under discussion. Moreover, a wide variety of modern translations of ancient apocryphal texts are often employed when there is no possible way that someone living in the early nineteenth century could have known them. This is particularly important when citing phrases or words that Joseph Smith might have incorporated into the language of his revelations.

An additional concern is that the context in which these events took place has had little bearing on the discussion. At issue is the way that Joseph and his contemporaries handled and approached extrabiblical texts. It is necessary to ascertain their willingness to use extrabiblical literature in the establishment of doctrine and in the shaping of their theological teachings, and whether or not extrabiblical literature had any normative value for faith and faith communities. From an examination of the available literature on the subject, it would appear that the presence of themes, concepts, teachings, and phraseology from the Apocrypha in the Prophet’s writings has been viewed as extraordinary by both LDS scholars and those scholars wishing to undermine the claims of Mormonism. For LDS scholars, the presence of parallels to intertestamental and Christian Apocrypha in early Mormon writings has demonstrated that Joseph Smith restored ancient doctrines and practices. For non-LDS scholars, the presence of parallels has been used to draw attention to the possibility that Joseph plagiarized available sources. Unfortunately, neither solution is probable. The larger reality is that the presence of such parallels may arise out of a much more mundane event: his family, or perhaps even Joseph, was accustomed to reading a Bible in which the Apocrypha were included and that the language of the Apocrypha is echoed in Joseph’s early writings.[2] This paper will demonstrate that like many of his contemporaries, Joseph Smith was interested in apocryphal literature for its overall implications regarding the Christian biblical canon, its potential to hold hidden truths, and its allure in presenting “historical” details within the well-known biblical accounts.

Elsewhere Dr Wayment has written:

Quote

With reference to the Apocrypha, it is important to distinguish between two types of  publications of “Apocrypha”: (1) the Apocrypha which were published in some printings of the Bible and which were available to Joseph Smith; and (2) literally hundreds of other Christian writings that were never part of the Christian canon but were valued and copied by Christians.

Terryl Givens has written a few pages in his book The Pearl of Greatest Price: Mormonism's Most Controversial Scripture regarding the influence of the prophecy of Enoch (see page 42-48). Concluding with:

Quote

The Book of Mormon may be the keystone of Mormonism but the Prophecy of Enoch is its doctrinal foundation.

Rick Grunder has commented in his massive work MORMON PARALLELS: A Bibliographic Source

Quote

 In 1820, William Hone, London pamphleteer and bookseller, edited and published the compilation of these various works in a single Apocryphal New Testament with prefaces so uncritical of authenticity that it drew harsh review, although not at expense to its popularity or subsequent editions. A more scholarly version was produced by Eton provost M. R. James (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924), now reworked in modern English with augmented introductions and bibliographies by J. K. Elliott and published by the same press, 1993. The Apocryphal New Testament includes such 1-2cc works as the Shepherd of Hermas, the Letters of Ignatius, the Gospel of Barnabas and I and II Clement. Also included are several pseudepigraphic works such as the Protoevangelium of James and the Gospel of Mary. The appearance of these texts in northeastern Ohio as early as 1832 demonstrates the keen interest displayed by many nineteenth-century Americans of that region for this sort of literature. Bible reading Americans, especially those of a primitivist bent, were anxious to know as much as they could about early documentation for their beliefs. Years ago, Hugh Nibley discussed the early setting for the Mormon doctrine of baptism for the dead, and utilized the ancient, "most trustworthy" Christian text of the Pastor or Shepherd of Hermas, which he said speaks clearly of the vicarious doctrine (Improvement Era 52 [February 1949], p. 90). On page 214 of the article's continuation (52 [April 1949]), Nibley claimed that such a source as this, as well as others from early Christianity, would have taken the prophet "a lifetime running them down . . ." In reality, during 1832 Joseph Smith had only to "run down" to Ravenna where he had preached early that year (thirty-five miles from Kirtland, and a mere dozen miles from his residence at Hiram, Ohio) in order to pick up a copy of the Shepherd of Hermas, along with several other early Christian writings in this collection (HC 1:215, 260 [for residence at Hiram]; 241 [for preaching at Ravenna]; for the location of Ravenna, see the map in the entry for MP 375, Seixas Hebrew grammar, 1834 ed.). At least nine editions of the Apocryphal New Testament were published in the United States by 1835 (the latter date in Chillicothe, Ohio), beginning with three different editions that came out in Boston, 1821, followed by another at Buffalo, New York in 1824. Joseph Smith obviously acquired some version of these writings since he later donated just such a volume to the Nauvoo library ("Apochryphal Testament" - noted in the manuscript list of books donated by Joseph Smith to the Nauvoo Library and Literary Institute, January 31, 1844,Godfrey 1974, 387-88).”

 

Edited January 4, 2022 by CA Steve

[sunstoned]

41 minutes ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

The lack of a trinitarian view of deity is totally found throughout early Christianity.

This is a good point.  The nicene creed came about only after much debate. 

[InCognitus]

1 hour ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

The lack of a trinitarian view of deity is totally found throughout early Christianity.

This, of course, includes the acknowledgement that other gods exist, and that men can become gods, both of which were common teachings in the writings of the Christians prior to the first council of Nicaea in 325 AD. 

And, our view of creation (that God the Father and Jesus created all things from unformed matter) was the earliest view on creation before it got changed to creation ex-nihilo (creation out of nothing).

[Robert F. Smith]

18 hours ago, Fether said:

What teachings, if any, have been found in Apocryphal or early church writings that are found solely in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today?

Are there any articles on this topic anywhere?

Yes.  The WayBack Machine has archived the most important and thoroughgoing site:  https://web.archive.org/web/20191101232810/http://www.fortydayministry.com/

[Robert F. Smith]

16 hours ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

The lack of a trinitarian view of deity is totally found throughout early Christianity.

Yes, and there are scholars now theorizing that the origin of Islam is bound up with Ishmaelite Christianity, an Aramaic, middle-eastern form of Christianity which rejected the Trinity.

[dougtheavenger]

18 hours ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

The lack of a trinitarian view of deity is totally found throughout early Christianity.

Not to nit-pick, but what do you mean by "trinitarian". The Athanasian Creed states that there are three divine persons; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. States that Jesus is co-eternal and co-equal with God the Father and further states that Jesus was "begotten, not made" before all worlds. Then, of course, the same creed spews a lot of contradictions and confusion.

[BRMC]

19 hours ago, Fether said:

What teachings, if any, have been found in Apocryphal or early church writings that are found solely in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today?

Are there any articles on this topic anywhere?

Have you read any of the research Joseph Smith Foundation has done?