The Word of Wisdom has long been a topic of conversation and controversy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and its interpretation has changed over the years depending on the current church administration.

For example, during President Brigham Young's administration, the Word of Wisdom was not a requirement for a temple recommend or fellowship in the LDS Church.

"During the 19th century, the stress was on moderation rather than abstinence," said Paul Peterson, chair of the Department of Church History and Doctrine at BYU.

The development of the Word of Wisdom during President Young's presidency from 1847 to 1877 is the topic of an article titled "Brigham Young's Word of Wisdom Legacy," which is co-authored by Peterson and Ronald Walker, Professor of History and Senior Research Assistant at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for LDS History.

"[The article] shows President Young's effort to have the Saints recognize the Word of Wisdom as an important facet in their lives," Walker said.

For many of the early Saints, living the Word of Wisdom meant taking the advice and living in moderation instead of complete abstinence.

Toward the end of his life, President Young wanted the Saints to live the Word of Wisdom. He even went on tours of Utah to urge Saints to comply with it, but he was never willing to mandate it or make it a requirement for fellowship.

"By the end of his life he wanted very much for Latter-day Saints to live the Word of Wisdom," Peterson said. "He wanted them to live it for what I would call moral reasons rather than just economic reasons."

"Brigham Young's Word of Wisdom Legacy" recently received the T. Edgar Lyon Award for Best Article of the Year from the Mormon History Association.

"We're honored that our colleagues would judge this article worthy of merit," Peterson said.

Many years and pages of research came together to form this article. Peterson wrote a master's thesis on the Word of Wisdom and Walker is a long time scholar of President Young. They came together about six years ago to write this article.

Walker said they plan to make a book out of their research.

"The article was actually two chapters in the book," Walker said. "So the article is really a condensing of 50 or a hundred pages of material. Its sort of a Readers Digest version of the whole story."

The full article, "Brigham Young's Word of Wisdom Legacy," is published in the BYU Studies Journal vol. 42, no. 3 & 4. The BYU Studies Journals are available at the Harold B. Lee Library.



Copyright Brigham Young University 4 Jun 2004