Mormon scholars expect more of the same from Nelson, but his counselor picks could prove key

With the death of its prophet and president, Thomas S. Monson, the LDS Church will name a new “prophet, seer and revelator.”

But scholars and church members don’t expect a new direction for the church with a new president — universally expected to be Russell M. Nelson, most senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

That’s the “temperament” of the 16 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to Max Perry Mueller, author of “Race and the Making of the Mormon People” and an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The tremors felt in the Roman Catholic Church when Pope Francis succeeded Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI just aren’t familiar to Mormons in their anticipation of a new prophet.