Sacred Texts: Mormons

Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 88. Revelation through Joseph Smith Kirtland, Ohio, December 27, 1832.

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This is Doctrine and Covenants Section 88, a canonical scriptural text of the Latter-day Saint (Mormon) tradition, presented as a divine revelation given through Joseph Smith in December 1832. Its central theological contribution is a cosmological doctrine of light: Christ is identified as the light permeating all physical matter — sun, moon, stars, earth — and simultaneously as the governing intelligence behind all natural law, collapsing any distinction between spiritual and physical reality. The revelation elaborates the distinctively Mormon doctrine of three degrees of glory (celestial, terrestrial, telestial kingdoms) as post-resurrection destinations, arguing that each person will inhabit the kingdom whose law they were capable of keeping in mortality. A notable claim is that the earth itself is a living, law-abiding entity destined for celestial glory and eventual resurrection — a striking literalization of cosmic sanctification. The text also contains practical directives to early church leaders: call a solemn assembly, organize and purify themselves, teach one another systematically, and pray continuously. A reader interested in early Mormon theology, the intersection of 19th-century cosmology with religious revelation, or the doctrinal foundations of LDS afterlife belief would find this text substantive and distinctive.

Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 88. Revelation through Joseph Smith Kirtland, Ohio, December 27, 1832.

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