Did Early Temple Sealings Guarantee Heaven? Dr. Jonathan Stapley, an award-winning historian—and surprisingly, a PhD in carbohydrate chemistry discusses his Mormon History Association Best Book Award-winner, “The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology.” This is a fascinating deep dive into how early Latter-day Saints understood priesthood, the lost history of female ritual healing, and how the church’s ordinances have evolved over time.
https://youtu.be/_tNWj8gupM0
0:00 Cosmological Priesthood
17:29 Mormon Women healing
31:36 Mormon Priestess
44:24 Dallin Oak: Women Have Priesthood!
53:21 Alternative Medicine
1:01:52 Baby Blessings
1:13:21 Temple Sealings
1:22:15 Armininianism vs Calvinism: Are Mormons Saved?
Don’t miss our other discussions with Jonathan. https://gospeltangents.com/people/jonathan_stapley
Uncovering the Lost History of Mormon Liturgy: A Deep Dive into The Power of Godliness
If you have ever been curious about the evolution of Mormon rituals, Dr. Jonathan Stapley offers a fascinating look into the archives. Stapley, a scientist by trade and a historian by passion, discusses his 2018 award-winning book, The Power of Godliness: A Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology.
While Latter-day Saints rarely use the term “liturgy,” Stapley argues it is a tremendously powerful concept for framing the worship, rituals, and ordinances that construct the Mormon universe.
Redefining the Priesthood: Ecclesiastical vs. Cosmological
To make sense of historical shifts, Stapley introduces a vital framework that splits early Mormon priesthood into two distinct categories:
Ecclesiastical Priesthood: This represents the offices of the church (deacons, teachers, priests, elders, bishops, etc.).Cosmological Priesthood: Developed in the Nauvoo Temple, this encompasses the “heaven on earth” structure where men and women act as kings, queens, priests, and priestesses.While early church members viewed these liturgical structures as ways to channel the power of God, by the 20th century, standard church catechisms shifted to simply defining the priesthood as the literal power of God.
Forgotten Era of Female Ritual Healing
One of the most inspiring (and historically misunderstood) topics in the book is female ritual healing. In the 1800s, women were recognized healers who routinely performed anointings and blessed the sick. Joseph Smith explicitly stated this was entirely appropriate and a manifestation of God’s power.
Stapley warns against the trap of “presentism”—the mistake of looking at history through the lens of modern definitions. Today, healing is classified as a priesthood ordinance, leading some to falsely assume that early women held ecclesiastical priesthood offices.
Interestingly, the modern narrative shifted in a subtle but revolutionary 2014 General Conference sermon by Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Elder Oaks redefined the conversation by stating that because there is only one power of God, women who participate in the work of the church are wielding the authority of the priesthood in their callings, a massive linguistic and theological shift from previous decades.
Lost Temple Rituals: Baptisms for Health and Temple Healers
Modern LDS temple practices are highly streamlined, but they used to be vastly more diverse. Joseph Smith originally envisioned the temple as a place for literal physical healing.
Baptisms for Health: By the 1880s, baptisms for health were the single most common living ritual performed in temples. If you were feeling sick, you could make a pilgrimage to the temple to be baptized for your health.Temple Healers: Pioneer temples featured dedicated temple healers. For example, Lucy Bigelow Young (one of Brigham Young’s wives) received the sick—sometimes brought in on beds—and healed them inside the St. George Temple.These practices were ultimately discontinued in the 1920s under President Heber J. Grant, who reformed and shortened the liturgy to focus exclusively on salvific rituals.
From “Cunning Folk” to Alternative Medicine
Addressing the controversial topic of early Mormon “magic,” Stapley prefers the historical European term “cunning folk traditions.“ Cunning folk were local seers who found lost items, healed the sick, and battled witches.
As belief in witches faded during the Enlightenment, cunning folk transitioned into botanical and herbal healers. Because Mormonism embraces an “open heaven” and the miraculous, early Saints were receptive to both priesthood blessings and these alternative cures. Stapley notes that this cultural DNA persists today; the modern LDS openness to complementary and alternative medicine (like energy healing or essential oils) functions similarly to the cunning folk traditions of the past.
Evolution of Baby Blessings
Unlike baptism, the baby blessing is not found in the Book of Mormon. In the early church, blessings often occurred on the 8th day after birth, evocative of the Old Testament tradition of circumcision.
In early Mormon Missouri (Zion), the blessing was deeply communal: babies received the blessing so their names could be inscribed in the “book of remembrance” to secure a community inheritance. By the 20th century, the ritual’s focus became intensely entangled with fatherhood. In an effort to make fathers feel the power of their duty, modern church policy even evolved to allow fathers without temple recommends to stand in the blessing circle, hoping the experience might quicken them to repentance.
Sealings Guarantee Heaven? Debate on “Perseverance”
How permanent is a temple sealing? In early Mormonism, theology leaned heavily into “perseverance,” a concept akin to Calvinism, suggesting that once a family is sealed, they are permanently locked into the “network of heaven”. Early Saints believed that even if a child or spouse backslid into sin, their place in heaven remained, though they might have to suffer for their sins before being redeemed.
However, faced with the reality of profound human wickedness (such as the actions of John D. Lee, Brigham Young’s adopted son who participated in a mass murder), church leaders realized a free pass to heaven couldn’t exist. Today, LDS teachings lean far closer to Arminianism and Protestant ideals, viewing the celestial kingdom as a conditional reward based on individual faithfulness rather than an unbreakable guarantee.
Dr. Stapley’s framework ultimately allows believers and historians alike to explore Mormonism’s rich, dynamic past on its own terms, free from the constraints of present-day politics.
Don’t miss our other discussions with Jonathan. https://gospeltangents.com/people/jonathan_stapley
