The Dividing Line. What of “Gospel Scholarship?”

Preaching in 18th century New England tended to fall out in two ways. Here’s one example:

John Wesley, Methodism and Staking out Mormon Doctrines

W. J. Abraham and J. E. Kirby’s The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies gives some insight into some issues of antebellum American Methodism that play into the shaping of Mormon doctrine, in the sense that Mormonism, at its outset, felt the need to define its positions in the controversies of the day. I quote:

The King Follett Sermon, Joseph Smith, Original Sin, Sanctification

The 4th article of faith:

“We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.”