“Like a Shadow that Accompanies the Body”

Abstract

Latter-day Saints can see some interesting analogues in the ancient world’s religious use of names, as well as naming patterns and behaviors, even as they believe that some ancient religious practices among the different religious cultures had become corrupted and departed from earlier truths. Some ancient religious practices involved renaming or the providing of hidden names in connection with an important transition in the recipient’s life. For some of the ancients, the knowledge of certain protected or sacred knowledge, including sacred names, was necessary to enter into everlasting bliss and to learn one’s own “True Name.” In reviewing some of these ancient practices and beliefs, Ricks draws some implicit comparisons with sacred Latter-day Saint practices that are not publicly discussed. His discussion presumes that people of varying backgrounds and familiarity with regards to LDS doctrines and sacred practices will see greater or lesser significance to what he describes. And although this chapter does not clarify the extent to which ancient practices or beliefs compare to or differ from those of Latter-day Saints, its discussion can be seen by some as a general kind of apologetics, bolstering the Latter-day Saint claim that its system of belief and practice is a restoration of anciently held beliefs and practices.