Assignment 1: Autopsy of a Schism

Pick one splinter group and argue, with evidence, how the four-part framework explains its founding

Due: 12 April 2027 · Weight: 40%

The brief#

Pick one Latter Day Saint splinter group and argue how the succession vacuum, the charismatic claim, the doctrinal pivot, and the institutional or legal response together explain why it exists as a separate church.

You may use one of the groups covered in lectures (the Utah church, the Rigdonites, the Strangites, the Reorganization, the fundamentalist/FLDS movement, the Cutlerites, the Bickertonites, the Church of Christ Temple Lot) or another documented Latter Day Saint splinter, as long as you can source it. The room the brief leaves is in the pivot: most groups make more than one doctrinal argument for their own legitimacy, and a strong response picks the one that actually did the work of keeping members, rather than the one the group states officially.

What you submit#

A single written argument, 1200–1800 words, structured around the four moves. Cite sources as you go — a claim about what someone said or wrote needs a source a marker could go and check, not a paraphrase of what “is generally known.”

Marking is weighted: correct use of the framework matters more than volume of research, but research that’s generic (true of every splinter group, not specifically true of yours) won’t carry the second criterion.