For early Church members, Nauvoo, Ill., was primarily a "temple-training center" and the place where Brigham Young emerged as prophet, seer and revelator for the Church, said Milton V. Backman Jr. at the Sons of Utah Pioneers symposium on Nov. 11.

Driven from Missouri during the winter of 1838-39, the Saints could not have gone west at that time, explained Brother Backman, BYU professor of Church history."Joseph Smith on many occasions had uttered a prophecy that the Saints would one day become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains," he said. But just after their expulsion from Missouri, the West was still "a great no-man's land" about which the people knew very little, he added. Moreover, he said, the area that became Utah, Nevada, Arizona and part of New Mexico still belonged to Mexico, which permitted only one religion, the Roman Catholic faith.

"So there was a necessary interlude between Missouri and the exodus west," he remarked. "And the Saints

establishedT Nauvoo. Nauvoo in this interlude was a temple-training center."

Some Church members questioned the wisdom of gathering to a central place, reasoning that it made them an easier target for persecution and mob violence, Brother Backman noted. "The main reason to gather was so they could be near the prophet and learn temple teachings," he explained. "They were not ready for the rigors of crossing the plains. They were not spiritually prepared to conquer the desert until they received the blessings that they received in the temple at Nauvoo."

As president of the Quorum of the Twelve, Brigham Young had spent much of his time in the mission field. Now, during the Nauvoo period, Joseph Smith instructed him to remain at home most of the time where he could learn the doctrines of the kingdom and temple ordinances, receive temple blessings and prepare to be the next president of the Church, Brother Backman said.

Also, the Quorum of the Twelve was given the added responsibility of directing the building of the temple and the ordinance work therein. "So when Joseph Smith died, they had leaders who were trained and prepared," Brother Backman said.

Among the distinct doctrines or "temple teachings" Joseph unfolded during the Nauvoo period were baptism for the dead, celestial marriage, the potential to become as God and have eternal increase, God having a body of flesh and bone, the mission of Elijah associated with temple ordinances and genealogical research, and the endowment, Brother Backman said.

"You will notice as you analyze these teachings . . . that there is a harmony and a relationship between them," he noted. "There was a tendency for people in Nauvoo to either accept all of these teachings or reject all of these teachings, because they're all integrated."

The crisis in leadership that occurred just after Joseph Smith's martyrdom surrounded the temple teachings, Brother Backman said. He explained that Church members who accepted the temple doctrines recognized the authority of the Quorum of the Twelve under President Young, who were "going to continue the program" started by the Prophet Joseph Smith.

"So the question that the people in Nauvoo faced was not whether Brigham Young or Sidney Rigdon or someone else should be the leader," he said. "The question was, `Was Joseph Smith a prophet of the Lord when he unfolded in Nauvoo these teachings and he unfolded temple ordinances?' The temple, more than anything else, separated them."