Key to the Science of Theology (Version 2)

Published in 1855, this landmark volume represents one of the earliest systematic presentations of Latter-day Saint theology by one of the faith's founding voices. Parley Pratt, a convert who walked hundreds of miles to join the Church and later became one of its most influential missionaries and writers, crafted this work to explain the distinctive cosmological vision of Mormonism to readers from various Christian traditions. The book traces a sweeping narrative arc: humanity's original knowledge of God, the gradual loss of that knowledge among both Jews and Gentiles, and the restoration of divine truth through modern revelation. Pratt's argument centers on a radical proposition, that God is not a distant abstraction but a literal Father who knows and involves Himself in the daily lives of His children, and that human beings can become like Him through faith, repentance, and obedience. The work draws freely from Hebrew scriptures, the New Testament, and the newly published Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, weaving them into an expansive framework that includes plural gods, pre-existence, and eternal progression. For readers interested in American religious history, the formation of new religious movements, or the intellectual foundations of Mormonism, this book offers an invaluable window into how early Latter-day Saints understood and articulated their faith.