What Is the CES Letter and Why Did It Cause Controversy in the LDS Church?

LDS Perspective

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not issued an official statement specifically addressing the "CES Letter" as a single document, but the principles and doctrines it engages with are well-covered in Church teachings. The CES Letter is a self-published document written by Jeremy Runnells in 2012, initially as a letter to a Church Educational System (CES) director, which raised a series of questions regarding Church history and doctrine. From the Church's perspective, the controversy surrounding such materials stems not from their questions—which are seen as a natural part of faith and learning—but from the foundation upon which they are built. The Church teaches that the ultimate source of spiritual truth is not historical analysis alone but personal revelation through the

Historical Perspective

The CES Letter is a critical examination of the foundational truth claims of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), originally written by Jeremy Runnells as a personal letter to a director of the Church Educational System (CES) in the spring of 2013. Runnells, a seventh-generation Mormon of pioneer heritage and a returned missionary, BYU alumnus, and Eagle Scout, experienced a faith crisis in 2012 after discovering troubling historical and doctrinal issues about the church's origins. When a CES director invited him to share his concerns with the assurance that answers could be provided, Runnells compiled a detailed document outlining questions about Joseph Smith's polygamy and polyandry, the Book of Mormon's historicity, the Book of Abraham's relationship to Egyptian