School of the Prophets

In Saints — No Unhallowed Hand, the School of the Prophets is an institution Brigham Young organized in each of the larger towns of the territory to nurture spiritual unity and devotion among the men of the Church. The book notes that nearly thirty-five years earlier the Lord had commanded Joseph Smith to organize such schools in Kirtland and Missouri to foster unity and faith and to prepare men to proclaim the gospel. Brigham revived the institution to help members understand the importance of economic cooperation, covenant keeping, and Zion-building before the coming of the railroad — and it served as a venue for instruction, including Wilford Woodruff’s testimony there about revelation coming through the Lord’s mouthpiece.

Context: The School of the Prophets was a religious-instruction institution in the early Latter-day Saint movement, first established by Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio in 1833. Brigham Young reorganized versions of it in Utah Territory in the late 1860s and early 1870s, where it doubled as a forum for economic policy and cooperative planning.

Where this appears

• Saints — No Unhallowed Hand — Brigham Young reorganizes the School of the Prophets in each major town to foster economic cooperation and spiritual unity ahead of the railroad.