Who Owns the Temple Lot in Missouri? (Part 1)

Steven Shields has been studying various Mormon schismatic groups since he was in Seminary in the 1970s. We’ll get acquainted with him in this first episode, and learn more about his background, and why he got so interested in our Mormon cousins. What does he know about the temple lot? There are several sections in the Doctrine & Covenants where Joseph Smith received revelations on a temple in Missouri. That temple was never built. Who owns the original temple lot on Independence, Missouri? It turns out some of our Mormon cousins own it.

Steve: The Hedrickites is a name that people use. I don’t like to use -ites or schism or break off or offshoot or splinter. I’ve tried to avoid all of that language in my new addition because I don’t think it’s helpful. All that stuff started out as pejorative, and in some ways it’s still used as a pejorative.

And so I thought, let’s try and get away from that, you know? We don’t say Pope-ites or Luther-ites or those kinds of things. So maybe we can get out of that mode in the Latter Day saint movement, I don’t know.

GT: There’s too many -ites in the Book of Mormon.

Steve: That’s where it all probably comes from. I guess. I’ll let you keep Israelites. But yeah, to be honest, my paper on the earliest church was an anti-RLDS apologetic and my seminary teachers loved it.

We’ll talk more about how Steve go interested in our Mormon cousins. Find out our next conversation….