Restoration of the primitive church

What it is: This belief affirms that the church founded by Jesus and the apostles lost the fullness of authority and ordinances over the course of history and needed to be restored in modern times.

How the tradition understands it: Restoration is not seen merely as moral reform or return to the Bible, but as a real recovery of priesthood authority, organization, revelation, and ordinances. Joseph Smith is treated as an instrument of this restoration.

Textual or traditional basis: Acts 3:21, Ephesians 4, and the movement's own texts about apostasy and restoration are frequently cited.

Historical context: The idea arose in the restorationist environment of the nineteenth century, but in Mormonism it took on its own institutional and scriptural form.

Common objections: Critics contest the notion of generalized post-apostolic apostasy and the need for complete restoration.

Internal variations: Restoration is a central point in the main Latter-day Saint church, although other branches of the movement tell it in partially different ways.