Week 8 Lab: Micro-Prophets and Small Splinters

The Cutlerites, the Bickertonites and the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) — the pattern repeated at small scale

12 April 2027

Before the lab#

Pick one small splinter group not yet covered in lectures — the Cutlerites, the Bickertonites, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), or another — and read enough to summarise its founding claim in three sentences.

In the lab#

Alpheus Cutler split from the Reorganization decades after joining it, on his own revelation. William Bickerton split from a Rigdonite remnant. The Temple Lot church split from the Reorganization over the presidency’s authority. None of these founders knew each other, and all three repeat the same shape: one person, one claimed revelation, one new church. We compare three small cases side by side to test whether the four-part framework holds at scale, not just for the well-documented majors.

Afterwards#

Bring the group you summarised — it’s useful raw material for the comparative lab next week.