Buerger argues that Joseph Smith drew on Masonic ritual in shaping the Nauvoo endowment, while combining it with scriptural narratives and his developing theology. He distinguishes this selective borrowing from copying the whole Masonic ceremony and traces subsequent changes in temple practice.
- David John Buerger, “The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 20, no. 4 (1987): 33–76.
This pattern of resemblances provides strong indications that Joseph Smith drew on the Masonic rites in shaping the temple endowment