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In the earliest published account of Joseph Smith's first visions, it is reported that when Smith was first visited by an angel named Moroni, he was told that "the great preparatory work for the second coming of the Messiah, was speedily to commence; that the time was at hand for the gospel, in its fulness, to be preached in power unto all nations; that a people might be prepared with faith and righteousness, for the Millennial reign of universal peace and joy."1 This statement highlights the essential link between what early Latter-day Saints considered the raison d'etre of Mormonism and the millennial dream.2 That simple acknowledgment, however, gestures toward a rich and fascinating realm of thought that can only begin to be explored in the short compass of a single article. In the first place, the millennial hope is a malleable one, and people "can extrapolate a dismal or optimistic view of history, encompassing temporal disaster or progress, or both. . . . Efforts to seize the Kingdom by violence, passive withdrawal from corruption to await the Second Coming, or melioristic reform efforts-all these and other responses," notes historian James Moorhead, "have been adduced from eschatological symbols."3 Early Mormon eschatology is best characterized as an apocalyptic version of millennialism, one that corresponds conceptually to what theologians call premillennialism and social scientists call millenarianism. These classifications call for careful definition.
Definitions
With the Apostles' Creed, Christians throughout history have affirmed that Christ "will come again to judge the living and the dead."4 Most have believed this coming would be a single event at the end of time, coincident with the general resurrection of all human beings and the Day of Judgment. A minority of Christians, however, including the Latter-day Saints, have interpreted scripture to the effect that before Christ's endtime appearance, there will be a priorparousia ("coming") accompanied by a prior "first resurrection" of the righteous that will introduce an extended period of paradisiacal peace and spiritual prosperity known as "the millennium." In Christian eschatologies, ideas about the millennium and its introduction run the gamut of the literal-figurative spectrum of interpretation. Literalists, like the early Latter-day Saints, expect a physical return of Christ who will rout the wicked, physically resurrect the righteous, and reign personally on...