These remarks regarding the endeavor of characterizing the fundamentals of Christianity and the hunt for its essence show how the issue of Christian identity is ever-present. It is possible to relate the worries of the group to what psychologist Erik Erikson stated about the individual: “the accrued confidence that one’s ability to maintain inner sameness and continuity…is matched by the sameness and continuity of one’s meaning for others” is what defines a sense of identity. This indicates that Christians seek to maintain some “inner sameness and continuity” amidst change by concentrating on Jesus Christ and the path to redemption.

Hence, rather than introducing norms or standards by which they have assessed the veracity of this or that branch of Christianity, or even of the faith tradition as a whole, writers of Christian history usually begin phenomenologically, that is, they identify everyone who identifies as Christian. Just as New Testament Christians integrated the full scripture of a preceding tradition, Book of Mormon adherents incorporated both the Old and New Testaments into their canon before offering reinterpretations. According to academic Jan Shipps, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, as they are more popularly known, is therefore, from one perspective, “a new religious tradition.”