James E. Talmage

Background

James E. Talmage (1862–1933) was an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the tradition's most influential doctrinal systematizer. Where Joseph Smith Jr. produced the Restoration scriptures, Talmage organized them: his The Articles of Faith (1899) and Jesus the Christ (1915) remain the tradition's standard doctrinal expositions. Neither is yet in corpus; his presence here is anchored instead in a work he edited that is in corpus — the 1913 edition of the Pearl of Great Price, whose Wikisource text carries his editorial attribution on each constituent book ("editor: James E. Talmage"; PGP 1913). {{UNSOURCED: biographical detail beyond apostleship and the two standard works (scientific career, University of Utah presidency) — acquire a public-domain biographical source or Talmage primary text}}

Positions held in this wiki

• Mormon Christology vs Nicene Orthodoxy — cited as the systematizer of the view: the article presents him as reading the Restoration scriptures' claims — distinct personages, eternal intelligences, creation as organization, unity of will rather than substance — "as the restoration of a plain biblical anthropomorphism that post-apostolic councils philosophized away" (Mormon Christology vs Nicene Orthodoxy). The canonical materials he systematized are all in the 1913 PGP he edited: the First Vision (JS—H 1:17-19), the Book of Abraham's plurality-of-Gods creation account, and the Articles of Faith, whose first article he transmits: "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost" (AoF 1, PGP 1913).

Key works in our corpus

• Pearl of Great Price, 1913 edition — the corpus text for LDS canonical material, in Talmage's editorial recension (Moses, Abraham, Joseph Smith—Matthew, Joseph Smith—History, Articles of Faith).
• The Articles of Faith (1899) and Jesus the Christ (1915) — the systematic works themselves are not in corpus; both are pre-1930 and public domain, and their acquisition is the natural next step for strengthening insider sourcing in Mormon Christology vs Nicene Orthodoxy.

Principal critics

• Athanasius of Alexandria — the patristic doctrine of creation ex nihilo (De Inc. §3) is the classical position against which Talmage's systematization of eternal intelligences and organized matter is measured.
• Augustine of Hippo — the De Trinitate critique of "those who frame their thoughts of God according to things corporeal" (De Trin. I.1) targets precisely the anthropomorphic theology proper Talmage defends as restored biblical religion.
• Analytic philosophers of religion pressing the tritheism objection against multi-self doctrines of deity (SEP 'Trinity' §2.3).

See also

• Joseph Smith Jr. — founder whose scriptural corpus Talmage edited and systematized.
• B. H. Roberts (1857–1933) — contemporary LDS theologian of comparable systematic ambition (not in corpus).