An Eternal Requirement

The Mormon fundamentalist movement is often associated with polygamy, known by practitioners as the Principle of Plural Celestial Marriage. For the early members of the movement, polygamy was the hallmark of the faith that distinguished them from both the secular world and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In preserving the principle against Church discipline and external persecution, Mormon fundamentalists positioned themselves as the most authentic expression of Mormonism that retained the religion founded by Joseph Smith. This chapter offers an overview of the theological importance that Joseph White Musser placed on polygamy and how it became the faith's central element.