What did LDS NOT borrow from other belief traditions/lit?

[_Buffalo]

I doubt you'd find anything completely unique. But then, I think that applies to all religious movements.

[_Quasimodo]

I doubt you'd find anything completely unique. But then, I think that applies to all religious movements.

Maybe, I think the Catholics might have a few "firsts". All protestant religions are spin offs of them.

[_Equality]

Ok, I found a source that does seem to indicate that baptism for the dead was practiced by the Ephrata community in eastern Pennsylvania in the mid-to-late 18th century, and that the practiced spread to other religious communities and continued into the 19th century:

That Beissel was not always far-sighted enough for his
shrewd rivals will appear from various incidents occurring
during the next five years, the end of which period marked
the time of their final overthrow.

The first radical innovation was a proposition to have
one's self baptized for the dead. This scheme originated
in the fertile brain of Emanuel Eckerling, who managed
to convince Alexander Mack that his father, the patriarch,
had never been properly baptized. This efiFected, the two
men went to Beissel and requested him to baptize them for
their deceased relatives.

Beissel, after some hesitation, acquiesced, having been
won over by Elimelech's subtle arguments. This decision
of the superintendent quickly spread throughout the settle-
ment.

366 The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania,

No efforts were spared by the Zionitic Brotherhood to
make the ceremony an impressive one. Upon the day set
a procession was formed of the Zionitic Brotherhood, the
Spiritual Virgins and the secular congregation. They
wended their way down the hill past the various buildings,
across the meadow, to a pool in the Cocalico, about oppo-
site to where the Brother House now stands. Special
hymns were sung and fervent invocations ascended when
the banks of the stream were reached.

Beissel was the administrator, and the first subject,
Emanuel Eckerling, who presented himself to be immersed
for his deceased mother. He was followed by Alexander
Mack, the younger, who was baptized for his deceased
father, the sainted patriarch of the Dunker Church. Both
of these parents had been baptized in Germany. An at-
tempt was made to justify this questionable proceeding by
the supposition, deduced from the words of Paul, that the
first Christians did the same.

The idea of thus securing immunity for deceased or
absent kinsfolk and friends struck the popular fancy, and
notwithstanding the contention of so clear headed a theo-
logian as Peter Miller, the custom obtained a firm foothold
and was practiced for many years. This movement was not
confined to the Ephrata Community, as there were many
cases where even members of other faiths had themselves
baptised by proxy for relatives and friends. Indeed, this
peculiar custom actually outlived the Community, and
there are traditions of children having become substitutes
in baptism for parents, or vice versa as late as the fourth
decade of the present century.

Julius Friedrich Sachse.
The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania : a critical and legendary history of the Ephrata Cloister and the Dunkers.
http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/julius-friedrich-sachse/the-german-sectarians-of-pennsylvania--a-critical-and-legendary-history-of-the--goo/page-25-the-german-sectarians-of-pennsylvania--a-critical-and-legendary-history-of-the--goo.shtml

I read the prelude to this book on the Ephrata. Very interesting. I may read the whole book. There sure were a lot of these counter-cultural religious sects that popped up in the northeastern U.S. in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
http://books.google.com/books?id=NS-48z1JA4UC&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=Emanuel+Eckerling&source=Brian Laundrie&ots=c_1t4bPQGT&sig=dAQIPGk_6kCXdjGOpf5wiuc5Tzg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hYY6T7bzKoOgtwfWsu3jCg&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Emanuel%20Eckerling&f=false

[_Drifting]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Copy Cat Saints

[_ldsfaqs]

I'm grateful to know all the MANY MANY things from all areas, from doctrines, to the sciences, to history, to scripture, etc. etc. that where not known to exist in Joseph's time, but has since been verified and found.

The Church is True, Joseph is a True Prophet.

[_Themis]

Why the need for a Restoration if the truths and doctrines already existed?

Many LDS would agree that there is nothing new that was not already out there. The restoration though is more about priesthood authority to LDS then about particular doctrines. Since many ideas would be incorrect, the idea is also that Joseph would be compiling correct beliefs from incorrect ones, until of course he and later leaders decided to change them. :)

[_Themis]

I'm grateful to know all the MANY MANY things from all areas, from doctrines, to the sciences, to history, to scripture, etc. etc. that where not known to exist in Joseph's time, but has since been verified and found.

The Church is True, Joseph is a True Prophet.

Like what?

[_Gentile Persuasion]

I've heard John Larsen describe Joseph Smith as a sort of magpie, and I think it's an apt description. My personal fav presumed borrowings:

The name Nephi and the reference to the Archangel Raphael (D&C 128) may have come from the Apocrypha, respectively the first chapter of the Second Book of Macabees, and the Book of Tobias. These books were included in the Bible that Smith and Oliver Cowdery bought together.

The Book of Mormon incident where Nephi causes his brothers to be "shocked" (this was a great moment in the hysterical movie "The Book of Mormon: The Journey") echoes from the early nineteenth century's popular fascination with electricity.

Much of the Book of Abraham seems to have been taken from the writings of the Judeo-Roman historian Josephus.

A good paraphrase of the Presbyterian Westminster Confession can be found in the Book of Alma.

The Mormon idea of deification may have been suggested by Greco-Roman stories about mortals who became gods. D. Michael Quinn once pointed out at Sunstone that these beliefs seem to be the Western tradition's closest parallel to Mormon deification.

The idea that most other planets were populated was widespread in Joseph Smith's time, and was even widely accepted by scientists. This is one of the biggest anacronisms in the Book of Mormon: Until shortly before Smith's time, nobody realized that those little moving lights in the sky were actually planets in the same way that Earth is a planet.

Joseph Smith may have owed a debt to Deism, the French Cult of Reason, the Religion of Humanity, and other late eighteenth century attempts to create "scientific" religions. These share much of Smith's teaching about how everything in the universe is subject to natural law, including gods and other things that are generally thought of as supernatural. This idea is quite foreign to pre-Enlightenment Christianity.

[_moksha]

The LDS Church was the first to have its doctrinal process certified by Bcspace.

The LDS Church was the first to have one of its Senators in outer space (Jake Garn).

Only belief tradition to own more than one big game ranch.

The first belief tradition to have a retractable roof on an outdoor luxury mall.

The only belief tradition to commission genetically engineered trout!

The LDS Church had the first Apostle in Congress (Reed Smoot).

First Church to have a film Satan who was also an excellent singer.

There are many things that make us both a prophetic and unique belief tradition. Look on this list ye mighty and despair!

[_Drifting]

Why the need for a Restoration if the truths and doctrines already existed?

Many LDS would agree that there is nothing new that was not already out there. The restoration though is more about priesthood authority to LDS then about particular doctrines. Since many ideas would be incorrect, the idea is also that Joseph would be compiling correct beliefs from incorrect ones, until of course he and later leaders decided to change them. :)

If the restoration of the Priesthood is the most important bit, how come we don't know when it happened?