Is Mormonism Christianity?

[Associate Justice PiT]

Some Mormon views on God can be reconciled with those previous non-trinitarian Christian denominations, but plenty are not: the concept of exaltation

Exaltation is not that far removed from the Orthodox concept of theosis, albeit with a far more materialist bent. (inb4 PiT jumps on me for this one)

     Dare I resist my name being invoked?

     The key difference is that theosis maintains a permanent and irrevocable distinction between God and humanity, with the saints approaching Him but forever remaining lesser than Him because God is infinitely greater than us. Theosis does not fundamentally have any real implications for the nature of God, whereas the Mormon doctrine of exaltation carries serious implications that make the Mormon doctrine of God largely unrecognizable to Christians.

     I voted no in the poll and basically agree with the take that it should be considered a separate religion altogether.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Gnosticism itself was a major influence on early Christian as it spread across the Roman Empire, no? There were tons of separate sects with similar theology until a sort of standardization occurred during the council of Nicaea, no?

     Gnosticism was regarded as a major heresy even in the earliest days of Christianity. Eusebius of Caesarea wrote extensively about Gnostics and the efforts to oppose their teachings, and he is noted as having been favorable to the Arian camp in his career.

Can the triple view of god be seen as what makes one a “Christian” given that early Christianity didn’t emphasize this until later standardization and interaction with Greek philosophy? What about with the Nestorian and eastern Christian denominations like Coptics who I believe reject the triple designation of god?

     Nestorians and Copts are both Trinitarian, adhering to the Nicene Creed. One might argue that the Nestorians falsify the spirit of the Creed, but they definitely affirm belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is no real case to be made that Copts are non-Trinitarian.

     Trinitarianism is reflected in some of the earliest patristic texts, from figures such as St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Justin the Martyr, and St. Irenaeus of Lyons. Nicaea was convoked because Arius's rejection of Christ's pre-eternal existence and the support he received in doing so scandalized the Church. With that said, while Nicaea is the first council to be deemed ecumenical in character, it was by no means the first council convoked to condemn false doctrines, and quite a few doctrines were already deemed heresies prior to then. Contrary to what many believe, it wasn't just a free-for-all before then, where one could worship Jesus and believe literally anything else and be accepted as a Christian.

The henotheism and the ability to be a godhead is quite a major deviation, but does its cosmology really separate them away as a different religion entirely. What with the relatively later derived view of god as three—the Lord, the Father, and the Son—not viewed at the time of its popularization as heretical to Christianity itself?

I’m not sure how Mormons respond to such criticism, but a way I see out of this is that you can’t be “Him” as in the godhead of humanity “here”, which can be argued as not breaking the rule that there can only be one god in Christianity, just that there can’t be more than one “here” where god shared the Book of Mormon. The question now becomes where in the Bible does it prohibit such a thing?

     The major Bible verse that is used to rebut Mormon henotheism is Isaiah 43:10: ' “You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. '

     I am sure Mormons do have some explanation of why their doctrines do not contradict this, and I am curious to hear what that might be.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Is there any historical evidence that is present to defend that any early church leader espoused such a view as described by Dr. RI—either accepted by mainstream leaders or by heresies in its early history. If not, and thus being a modern invention, then I concede that Mormonism exceeds what would be considered my personal limit on what is to be considered Christianity based on the following points; the concept of Exaltation, premortal existence, and on a lesser point the supplementary material synchronizing with the previous points.

     The pre-existence of souls was actually a doctrine of Origen, though one that ended up being deemed heretical. It dovetails with a neo-Platonist metaphysics and a whole host of unusual doctrines that found greater emphasis with his later followers. Perhaps the most curious Origenist doctrine is the belief that we will be resurrected into spherical bodies.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Is there any historical evidence that is present to defend that any early church leader espoused such a view as described by Dr. RI—either accepted by mainstream leaders or by heresies in its early history. If not, and thus being a modern invention, then I concede that Mormonism exceeds what would be considered my personal limit on what is to be considered Christianity based on the following points; the concept of Exaltation, premortal existence, and on a lesser point the supplementary material synchronizing with the previous points.

     The pre-existence of souls was actually a doctrine of Origen, though one that ended up being deemed heretical. It dovetails with a neo-Platonist metaphysics and a whole host of unusual doctrines that found greater emphasis with his later followers. Perhaps the most curious Origenist doctrine is the belief that we will be resurrected into spherical bodies.

How much influence from those “neo-Platonist metaphysics” and Origen are in the scripture and apologia of Mormonism? Does the premortal soul, among other theological points of note, in Mormonism “match” that of the aforementioned doctrines?

     I honestly don't know enough about Origenist or Mormon cosmology to accurately compare them. A quick Google search showed me that someone at UC Santa Barbara wrote a 500-page doctoral dissertation entitled "The Fulness of the Gospel: Christian Platonism and the Origins of Mormonism", which sounds like it could answer your question. I have a long enough reading list already, but if you are curious enough to commit the time it can be found here.