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Show doctrine should teach them that they are coming here to make Zion. 1134 In rejecting Babylon and all that went with it, the Mormons were compelled to fashion a new order to replace the discarded old one, and thereby establish "the moral, social, and political condition necessary before Christ's return would occur. 1135 What precisely these conditions were remains unclear in the written record. Scholars have continually emphasized the Kingdom building aspects of early Mormonism, but rarely have they paused to consider the specific implications of the process. There was, however, a general plan for the Kingdom and it is set forth in Mormon scripture. An important recent article by the anthropologist Steven Olsen points to the connection between the expected form of the earthly Kingdom and the image of the City of Zion depicted in the Vision of Enoch, part of Joseph Smith's 1830 reworking of the Bible. Olsen's work with Zion as an evolving concept in Mormon thought suggests that Zion transcends an amorphous, spiritual righteousness and is more than simply the place where peace and harmony would exist. 36 There was a plan for Zion, a plan based upon the Order of Enoch outlined in Joseph Smith's early vision of that name. In expanding the biblical record, Smith almost autobiographically tells of Enoch, the son of Jared, being summoned by God to reform a corrupt world. An unshakeable faith allows Enoch to execute his calling by establishing a ''holy city named Zion, whose inhabitants qualifed themselves to be received by God into heaven where Zion became God's 'abode forever. 11137 The Vison of Enoch, Olsen notes, "suggested that when the earthly Zion perfected itself, heavenly Zion [the redeemed City of Enoch] would descend with Christ at the Second Coming to restore paradise to earth. 43 These events |
