Emotions in Mormon Canonical Texts

Abstract

In this study Mormon theology has been brought to interact with the socio-scientific study of emotion. The expressed purpose of this dialogue has been to construct an introductory Latter-day Saint (or LDS) theology of emotion which is both canonically based and scientifically informed. Specifically, this examination has highlighted three widely accepted general outcomes which emerge from the socio-scientific study of emotion, namely the necessity of cognition for their emergence, the personal responsibility attached to their manifestation, and their instrumentality in facilitating various processes of human development and experience. In turn, both the basic theological structure of Mormonism and its unique canonical texts have been examined to determine the extent to which LDS theology is compatible with such a three-fold definition of emotion. As a result it was established that at this basic level of explanation science and Mormon theology undoubtedly share a common perspective.
In reaching this conclusion unique LDS texts have been examined with specific reference to their description of six common emotions: hope, fear, joy, sorrow, love, and hate. For each of these emotional phenomena, which have further been classified into three separate groups of emotion types, the extensive report of textual evidence has consistently confirmed an implied presence of the outlined three-fold model of emotion. Furthermore, specific attention to the Mormon theology of Atonement and to its significant role for the LDS framing and regulating of emotions has enlarged this theological examination to include a wider exploration of such areas as epistemology, cosmology, soteriology, and anthropology of Mormonism. In this light, the theological and socio-scientific study of emotions in the LDS social/theological context may benefit from further academic research which could extend in the many possible directions of focus that have been suggested in the conclusion.