Aug 13 2020 59 mins 25
0:00 - About Michael Mackay, early career 5:46 - Joseph Smith Papers- significance and impact 16:35 - Serving a mission in Hawaii and meeting his wife 21:00 - “Nostalgia for monarchy;” religions as democracies 26:10 - Joseph Smith wanting security; a hierarchical democracy 31:20 - Changes in authority within the church; the “cosmological priesthood”; differences among prophetic hierarchies of the time; applying these concepts to church in the present day 44:06 - Eternal relationships and salvation; evolution of endowments and other ordinances; the prophetic nature of the church 52:09 - Prophetic acceptance; “love thy neighbor” 55:47 - Take-aways from his book Prophetic Authority: Democratic Hierarchy and the Mormon Priesthood 57:15 - Ending Questions Michael Hubbard MacKay traces the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ claim to religious authority and sets it within the context of its times. Delving into the evolution of the concept of prophetic authority, MacKay shows how the Church emerged as a hierarchical democracy with power diffused among leaders Smith chose. At the same time, Smith’s settled place atop the hierarchy granted him an authority that spared early Mormonism the internal conflict that doomed other religious movements. Though Smith faced challenges from other leaders, the nascent Church repeatedly turned to him to decide civic plans and define the order of both the cosmos and the priesthood.
