42 Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Volume 14, Issue 3, pages 42–63, ISSN 1092-6690 (print), 1541-8480 (electronic). © 2011 by The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/nr.2011.14.3.42 Matthew Philip Gill and Joseph Smith The Dynamics of Mormon Schism Matthew Bowman ABSTRACT: In 2007, Matthew Philip Gill, a resident of Derbyshire, England, announced the formation of the Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ. He claimed to be acting under angelic direction, and produced a new scripture, the Book of Jeraneck, to usher in his new faith. Gill’s church is a restoration of a restoration: he claims to have restored the Mormon movement, which Joseph Smith founded as a restoration of the church Jesus organized, but which Gill claims has fallen into apostasy— particularly its primary iteration, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints (LDS), which Gill was raised in but has abandoned. This article analyzes the relationship between Gill’s movement and the LDS church, pointing out the ways in which Gill draws upon the Mormon tradition to claim authority for his new church, but also the ways in which Gill seeks to alter the balance of tension between the LDS church and the culture around it. The article particularly explores Gill’s founding narrative, comparing its language, motifs, and forms of spirituality with those of Joseph Smith; the Book of Jeraneck’s intertextual relationship with the Book of Mormon; and Gill’s story of LDS apostasy. O n a Friday night in 1990, Matthew Philip Gill, a twelve-year-old British member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter the LDS Church), finished reading the Book of Mormon. 1 Like thousands of LDS youths before him, Gill had NR1403_03.indd 42 11/16/10 3:46 PM