Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Alonzo L. Gaskill and Seth G. Soha on the Washington Chapel as an "Elias" to the Washington D.C. Temple

In an essay entitled “The Washington Chapel: An Elias to the Washington D.C. Temple” by Gaskill and Soha, we read the following about the relationship between these two edifices:

 

In the Church, we sometimes use the name Elias as a title, referring to something or someone that serves as a “forerunner.” In some ways, the Washington Chapel was a kind of proto-temple and an “Elias,” or forerunner, of the Washington D.C. Temple. DC-area resident Page Johnson noted that “the Washington Chapel prepared people of other faiths and backgrounds for the arrival of the temple. Washington area residents . . . first began to know and accept the ‘Mormons’ because of the Washington Chapel. That building prepared them for an even more special place—situated on a hill for all to see—that would represent the continuation and expansion of the Lord’s work” (Page Johnson, correspondence, 6 July 2020). (Alonzo L. Gaskill and Seth G. Soha, “The Washington Chapel: An Elias to the Washington D.C. Temple,” in Latter-day Saints in Washington DC, ed. Kenneth L. Alford, Lloyd D. Newell, and Alexander L. Baugh [Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021], 375)

 

 Further Reading

 

 “Elias” as a “forerunner” in LDS Scripture