Restorationism, broadly defined, is a movement that seeks to bring back primitive Christianity, i.e., Christianity as it was in the time of Jesus' original apostles. Many people over the centuries have used various means to attempt to leave behind denominationalism, on the one hand, and the traditionalism of Orthodoxy and Catholicism, on the other hand, to get back to what they view to be the pure Gospel of Christ. Joseph Smith, Jr. claimed that his translations and revelations were a more reliable means for achieving that goal, and it is sometimes uncanny to see how successful he was at tapping into elements of the ancient scriptural and Christian traditions that had fallen by the wayside over the centuries. For those of us who are connected to the Restorationism that sprang from Joseph Smith, Jr., that recognition can feel validating.
On the other hand, closer examination of that Restoration tradition in light of historical scholarship muddies the waters considerably. One is left to wonder what exactly it is that one has put one's faith in when voices all around call so much into question, even, surprisingly, the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth. Moreover, one can get easily mired in the social and political issues of the day as they touch on one's church of nativity or choice. What does my church say about abortion, gender issues, immigration, vaccination, etc.? Questions of the day always intrude upon the desired utopia of "primitive Christianity," and one begins to realize that there is a reason why traditional churches developed as they did. These churches, just like churches today, were shaped by generations of internal and external pressures. Maybe it was naive for early Restorationists to believe that they could do so much better than the Orthodox and Catholics before them. And yet, hasn't so much that is valuable come from Restorationist yearnings and efforts? I think so.
We are all born in a particular context in which we build our understanding of reality, and much of that context is built for us, before we arrive, to engage with when we arrive. Our current world is riven with extremists on all sides, good people who have been more or less captured by the ideological currents of our day and who seek to set the world aright without really understanding what it is they are doing. Such people are all around us, in all political groups. There are those who blame others different from themselves. The targets of their fear and anger may be of a different race, a different gender, a different nationality, or a different religion, but the consistent problem, and hence the vulnerability, is that they are different and thus a threat to those who see themselves as better, more patriotic, more righteous, or more religiously enlightened. Among these people we can place those who have decided that the cultural traditions of the West are fatally flawed and in dire need of replacement with new ideas, new materials, and new avenues of inquiry. Because Western powers have historically done so much harm, so the thinking goes, they must be overthrown and replaced or radically reformed.
If it is not clear to you yet, I do not identify with any of these movements. I do not think that different people are the problem; nor do I think that Western civilization is the root of all of the world's problems. There is a stark difference, in my view, between appreciating and participating in one's own culture, and lionizing it as the best culture ever and one that is more worthy or inherently superior to other cultures. The difficulty here is that, in the current ideological maelstrom, ideologues in various quarters demand others choose sides and show their commitment to what is right by adopting extreme views. Were it up to me, I would say we need to step back and resist the extreme voices all around us. We should not fear people who are different, and we should not hate ourselves because we are imperfect. The antidote to the extremism of our times is a combination of knowledge, understanding, wisdom, reflection, and compassion. Our enemies are fear, ignorance, rash action, and intolerance.
This brings me back to my original question: What does it mean to be a Restorationist? Those of us who identify as Restorationists of one kind or another will come up with our own definitions of that term. It is not for me to decide what Restorationism means to you. It is not for me to decide whether you are a Restorationist or not. I will, however, share something of what Restorationism means to me, and what it means to me to be a Restorationist.
As a Restorationist, I think there is something noble and worthwhile to recover from the culture in which I was born. Is any human culture perfect? No. It is, however, the first language of those who are born in it. Does this mean that we should ignore other cultures and only focus on the one we were born in? Heavens no! Other cultures have so much to offer. We should by all means acquire as much knowledge of them as we can. What one culture forgets or does not see, another may remember or apprehend more clearly. At the same time, we will always have a special connection with the culture of our birth, whether we like it or not. We may elect to eschew our birth culture, and I do not deny anyone that right, but we can also find much of value with the tools most at hand to us as people raised in a particular set of circumstances.
What do I mean when I am a Restorationist? For me, it means working and living in the tradition that started with Joseph Smith, Jr. and his colleagues. It means embracing the best of what they aspired to and moving past those things that do not work for me anymore. Often the things that fall into the latter category are developments that post-date Joseph Smith, but I would personally include polygamy among those things to be left behind. Some of my Restorationism is built on incomplete goals and unattained aspirations. The Relief Society appears to have been a priesthood, but it never had the chance to develop along those lines. Then there is the bigger picture. Mormonism is one strand of a broader historical tradition of Christianity and Western civilization. To understand all of these things and get all we can from them, we must acquire a great deal of knowledge and exercise much spiritual discipline. What do we want out of this? I am guided by a few key principles:
All truth can be circumscribed into one great whole. We will not understand all truth in our lifetimes, but we should not shy away from the quest to gain as much truth as we can, understanding that as human beings our knowledge and tools will always be limited.
We can aspire to assimilate ourselves to the divine nature. We will not achieve perfection, but there is something noble and beautiful about the goal of striving to reach an ideal that is always just out of reach. Never forget what is gained in the attempt to improve yourself.
Any single book, any single person, any single opinion, or any single organization will only play a limited role in your quest, and it should never become the object of your quest. The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon. Don't get sidetracked from the greater goal.
This one may seem contradictory for a Restorationist: no single moment, person, place, or organization in the past can be recaptured in such as way as to fulfill satisfactorily our desire for perfection. The perfection we yearn for partakes of something beyond the mundane sphere. Utopia does not exist on this earth, and the Christ is not to be found in one place.
Restorationism is a process wherein a person looks to the past to find what might have been left by the wayside in the rough and tumble of day to day struggles and weigh its truth value. Can we learn something from it? Is it worth picking back up? For those raised in the West, the first place to look will be in the West. Still, one's native situation will never be the exclusive field of research, and all quests should take us to other places.
You will never fully arrive. Restoration is not a state we will achieve, unless, paradoxically, we are at rest with the knowledge that the journey will continue elsewhere.