Denominations of American origin Books

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisEmily Baran explores why a powerful state singled out Jehovah’s Witness farmers for removal from society, arguing that what happened in Bila Tserkva demonstrates both the sheer ambition of state plans for the Sovietization of borderland communities and a minority religious community’s enduring resistance to secular, socialist ideals.Trade Review“In this well-written book, Emily Baran takes her readers to Soviet Ukraine in the first years after World War II, and the small town of Bila Tserkva on the border with Romania. This stimulating book will be a very valuable teaching aid in upper-level courses on the modern state, Soviet history, and contemporary religious history.” Nova Religio“Baran’s portrait of Sovietization in one village presents lessons that can be applied throughout the Soviet Union and enrich our understanding of the life and death of the Soviet experiment. This book also offers a fresh perspective on Ukraine’s Soviet past as questions about the enduring legacies of the USSR have taken on new meaning with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. War and territorial annexation are no longer a thing of the past in Ukraine—the story of Bila Tserkva offers a timely look at the lived reality of resistance.” The Russian Review“Baran is a brilliant storyteller who manages a cast of historical actors in a way that does not feel overwhelming to the reader. Her ability to connect the “small story” with larger issues of power, human rights, and state-building is a model for students and scholars at any level. This gem of a book is valuable not only for its usefulness in the classroom, its insight into a fascinating case involving a minority faith community in the USSR, and its creative analysis, but also for its impressive contribution to the history of lived experiences in borderland areas.” *Canadian Slavonic Papers *

Read more less

Book SynopsisEmily Baran explores why a powerful state singled out Jehovah’s Witness farmers for removal from society, arguing that what happened in Bila Tserkva demonstrates both the sheer ambition of state plans for the Sovietization of borderland communities and a minority religious community’s enduring resistance to secular, socialist ideals.Trade Review“In this well-written book, Emily Baran takes her readers to Soviet Ukraine in the first years after World War II, and the small town of Bila Tserkva on the border with Romania. This stimulating book will be a very valuable teaching aid in upper-level courses on the modern state, Soviet history, and contemporary religious history.” Nova Religio“Baran’s portrait of Sovietization in one village presents lessons that can be applied throughout the Soviet Union and enrich our understanding of the life and death of the Soviet experiment. This book also offers a fresh perspective on Ukraine’s Soviet past as questions about the enduring legacies of the USSR have taken on new meaning with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. War and territorial annexation are no longer a thing of the past in Ukraine—the story of Bila Tserkva offers a timely look at the lived reality of resistance.” The Russian Review“Baran is a brilliant storyteller who manages a cast of historical actors in a way that does not feel overwhelming to the reader. Her ability to connect the “small story” with larger issues of power, human rights, and state-building is a model for students and scholars at any level. This gem of a book is valuable not only for its usefulness in the classroom, its insight into a fascinating case involving a minority faith community in the USSR, and its creative analysis, but also for its impressive contribution to the history of lived experiences in borderland areas.” *Canadian Slavonic Papers *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Baring Witness, Holly Welker and thirty-six Mormon women write about devotion and love and luck, about the wonder of discovery, and about the journeys, both thorny and magical, to humor, grace, and contentment. They speak to a diversity of life experiences: what happens when one partner rejects Church teachings; marrying outside one's faith; the pain of divorce and widowhood; the horrors of spousal abuse; the hard journey from visions of an idealized marriage to the everyday truth; sexuality within Mormon marriage; how the pressure to find a husband shapes young women's actions and sense of self; and the ways Mormon belief and culture can influence second marriages and same-sex unions. The result is an unflinching look at the earthly realities of an institution central to Mormon life.Trade ReviewHonorable Mention in Creative Non-Fiction, Association for Mormon Letters, 2017 "Reading this collection of intimate, intelligent, and terribly interesting essays is an exercise in empathy that truly ought to be considered required reading to the 21st century Latter-day Saint seeking to truly mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. Baring Witness broadcasts voices of Mormon women that are all too often quietly dismissed in the broader aspects of our culture. In the end, these stories consist of sacred narratives—not so much a record of God’s dealing with people but of people’s dealing with God.”--Association for Mormon Letters"The stories are fresh, raw, filled with riveting, sometimes shocking details — and impossible to predict the end from the beginning. They are both universal and uniquely LDS.”—The Salt Lake Tribune, Peggy Fletcher Stack"If you enjoy reading stories about LDS women, about both the hard times and the good times, this book is definitely for you." --Exponent"Welker has facilitated a range of lived experiences on how Mormon women negotiate secular expectations of equality and religious patriarchy. She is creating conversations between Mormon congregations, Non-Mormon communities, and Mormon scholarship by informing us how Mormon women rebel, respond and reproduce gender inequality through marriage and expectations of relationships. Therefore, these essays are concrete examples of the contested territory that Mormon women encounter, as they simultaneously re-entrench and assimilate between secular values and faith beliefs in a religion that situates its marriage as being of divine design."--Religion and Gender"Lively and fascinating." --Novo Religio"Illuminating and heartfelt, frequently moving and sometimes hilarious, these essays explore moments of failure and fulfilment, laying bare the all too often unspoken confinements, complications and comforts of love, sex, and marriage."--Carys Bray, author of A Song for Issy Bradley"One need not be Mormon to savor this collection of bold and varied essays about the joys and conflicts, the highs and lows, the complexities and contradictions of being a smart Mormon woman today. Beautifully written and impeccably edited, Baring Witness provides not just a wealth of information and experience, but also a truly great read."—Cathi Hanauer, author of Gone and editor of The Bitch Is Back

Read more less

Book SynopsisEugene England championed an optimistic Mormon faith open to liberalizing ideas from American culture. At the same time, he remained devoted to a conservative Mormonism that he saw as a vehicle for progress even as it narrowed the range of acceptable belief. Kristine L. Haglund views England's writing through the tensions produced by his often-opposed intellectual and spiritual commitments. Though labeled a liberal, England had a traditional Latter-day Saint background and always sought to address fundamental questions in Mormon terms. His intellectually adventurous essays sometimes put him at odds with Church authorities and fellow believers. But he also influenced a generation of thinkers and cofounded Dialogue, a Mormon academic and literary journal acclaimed for the broad range of its thought. A fascinating portrait of a Mormon intellectual and his times, Eugene England reveals a believing scholar who emerged from the lived experiences of his faith to engage with the changes roilTrade Review"Haglund's analysis truly shines when she places England in context with other thinkers. . . The most powerful parts of Haglund's work are when she demonstrates how England lived during a transition moment for Mormonism." --By Common Consent"Haglund's brief, elegant study brings back the restless personality of the late Eugene England, one of Mormonism's most energetic thinkers and intellectuals, wrestling with the tensions between independent thought and loyal belief. This book illuminates an entire era in Mormon intellectual history."--Claudia L. Bushman, author of Contemporary Mormonism: Latter-day Saints in Modern America"Eugene England was the most gifted Latter-day Saint essayist of the late twentieth century, influencing an entire generation of thinkers and strivers. In Kristine Haglund’s deft handling, we also come to appreciate England as embodying the paradoxes and tensions of modern religion: liberal and conservative, faith and reason, individual and community, autonomy and authority. This book will enable a whole new generation to rediscover the wisdom and wrestle of one of twentieth-century Mormonism’s most remarkable souls and intellects."--Patrick Q. Mason, Utah State University

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Michael Austin has produced an admirable introduction to the life and work of Vardis Fisher, arguably the most prominent (and prolific!) novelist to emerge from the Intermountain region in the twentieth century." --Journal of Mormon History"A remarkably well-written, engaging, and informative read." --Mormon Studies Review“Vardis Fisher was a key founder of both American Western and Mormon literatures, a master storyteller with a remarkable life, ‘an unbeliever who was Mormon to his core’. Michael Austin, Mormon literature’s leading scholar, reintroduces Fisher and lovingly reinterprets these remarkable novels for a new generation.”--Andrew Hall, Association for Mormon Letters

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Restless Pilgrim: Andrew Jenson's Quest for Latter-day Saint History provides a fast-paced walk through the life of this seminal Latter-day Saint historian, and his relentless thirst to gather as much history of the early Saints as possible." --Journal of Mormon HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ixPrologue 11 Danish American Emigrant 72 Entrepreneurial Chronicler 293 Historian’s Office Affiliate 504 Itinerant World Traveler 795 Assistant Church Historian 1046 Elder and Emissary 1217 Scandinavian Mission President 1408 Modern Record Keeper 1659 Explorer of Latin America 18310 Public Commemorator 20311 Twilight Church Historian 221Epilogue 240Notes 247Bibliography 293Index 309

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Revising Eternity indeed revises any misguided notions we might have of uniformity in the Latter-day Saint experience, boldly and candidly opening to view the sometimes intense, sometimes joyous, sometimes sorrowful lives of a wide variety of writers, and with its myriad perspectives the book invites us to more deeply know and thus achieve greater empathy with one another."--Patrick Madden, author of Disparates: Essays"This is a fascinating compilation, detailing as it does what happens when an exigent definition of righteousness and propriety meets the reality of human nature--a work at once sad, sobering, heartening, and above all enlightening. Highly recommended."--Levi S. Peterson, author of A Rascal by Nature, a Christian by Yearning: A Mormon AutobiographyTable of ContentsForeword: Mormon American Masculinities, Ideal and Actual Patrick Q. Mason xiAcknowledgments xvIntroduction: Personal, Contingent, and Incomplete Views on Eternal Marriage Holly Welker 1Part I. Revised Expectations Transgressors Stephen Carter 19A husband considers the ways his happymarriage violates the ideal praised by theProclamation on the FamilyBy the Drinking Fountain Eric Robeck 25A couple’s relationship seems like a Latter-dayfairy tale—until he loses his faithMy One and Only Clyde Kunz 31A gay man considers the way Latter-day Saints’expectations for straight marriage affect his ownsearch for a relationshipThere’s Something about Mary Kim Siever 37A husband learns to love his wife more deeply bystudying the example of her love for himFor Jess, after Eighteen Years of Marriage: Seven Fragments on Love; Or, Some Things I Carry Tyler Chadwick 42In a love letter to his wife, a husband lists someof the familiar mysteries he cherishes in theirmarriageAn Apology I’ve Been Working on for a While Joey Franklin 44A husband reflects on the division of labor inhis marriage and how it affects his and his wife’ssenses of selfNever Good Enough Michael Carpenter 52A lifetime of failing to meet Latter-day Saintideals exacts a tragic costMormon AF Nicholas Don Smith 58A stand-up comic from American Fork, Utah,reflects on what it means to be Mormon andsingleLiken the Scriptures Andrew Spriggs 63A young husband realizes that his gay marriageis the most Mormon thing about his lifeThe Care Package Kevin Barnwell 71A husband who has left the church works to findthe perfect anniversary gift for his still devout wifePart II. Sex and Its Consequences Fertility Theric Jepson 77After the birth of their fourth child, a husbandundergoes a vasectomy to spare his wife anymore worry about fertilityOpposites Robert Raleigh 82Newlyweds discover that their intense physicalattraction is not a strong enough basis for ahappy marriage—or even a satisfying sex lifeEternity in an Hour Boyd Jay Petersen 92On the eve of a trip abroad, a husband learnsthat his wife of thirty-three years is gay, afterwhich they negotiate a respectful separationPie Month Scott Russell Morris 105A young couple agrees to eat pie every day duringthe month of March 2014 while they also try toconceive a childThe Highest T. Kay Browning 119A young man determined to marry early learnsto be the man of integrity his marriage requiresof him, especially as he reckons with what the#MeToo movement means for menBeing Jane John Doe 129A bisexual cross-dresser and his wife learn tohave a mutually fulfilling sex life while honoringtheir temple covenants to one anotherSoul Mates Scott Blanding 133A gay man and a straight woman navigate amarriage both believe they committed to before birthHiding in Plain Sight David Nicolay 141A husband’s ability to connect to his wife isundermined by decades of sexual shame overmasturbation7:06 A.M. Kelland Coleman 151A lonely husband briefly attains the intimacy hehas longed for with his wife when she admits toherself and to him that she is gayUnsealed Dan Smith 160A husband learns that trying to practicepolygamy to please his wife does not heal theirtroubled marriagePart III. In Sickness and in Health Fear and Trepanation Ted Smith 171A midlife crisis helps a husband understandhow valuable his marriage is, just before it isthreatened by a dire medical crisisI’m Not Who I Thought You Married John B. Dahl 180A young husband is forced to confront his ownmisconceptions about mental illness when he isdiagnosed with depression—and discovers thatdoing so strengthens instead of harms his marriageHolding On and Letting Go Joseph Broom 190After decades in a straight marriage, a gay mandiscovers happiness with the love of his life—onlyto lose him to cancer after a short marriageDisability Check Caleb Scoville 198A young man reckons with the way his bipolardisease wreaks havoc on his marriageThe House of Infinite Regret Scot Denhalter 207Addiction to prescription narcotics destroys a life,a marriage, and a familyFrom Patriarchy to Matriarchy: A Marital and Spiritual Journey Thomas W Murphy 218A young man from an abusive household vows tocreate a family free of violence and coercion withhis wife, after which they learn about alternativeforms of strength and leadership—and aboutaspects of their own backgrounds—when theirwork leads them to Indigenous communitiesThe Marriage Bed: An Essay and Three Poems Robert A. Rees 231A widower reflects on his happy marriage andthe joy of sharing a bed with his belovedGlossary 239Discussion Questions 243Bibliography 245Contributors 249

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"An interesting and convincing read." --Association for Mormon Letters"Highly original, extremely interesting, and richly documented. The collection analyzed here is remarkable. A book that is superbly satisfying in terms of intellectual stimulation (because of its high erudition and in-depth analysis of how politics will impact cultural products), aesthetic curiosity, and humorous entertainment."--Bernadette Rigal-Cellard, author of La Religion des MormonsTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Chronology of Key Publications and EventsChapter 1. “Ils ont lâché le fou!”: Unleashing the Mormon JesterChapter 2. “La Loi nouvelle”: Mormonism and the Social Question in FranceChapter 3. Mormonism, Masculinity, and the Woman Question in Second Empire FranceChapter 4. Between Man and God: Mormons, Spiritualism, and the OccultChapter 5. From Page to Stage: Mormonism and the Woman Question in the Early Third RepublicChapter 6. “Ces mœurs sont bien les nôtres!” Mormons, Marriage, and the Divorce DebateChapter 7. Exotic Mormons and the French Colonial ProjectChapter 8. “La Fin du Mormonisme”Notes BibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“Focusing on the agency of a single institution, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Feller takes us beyond simple assumptions about representation and ideology to show us in finely grained detail how exactly Mormon theology, cosmological vision, community, bureaucratic authority, and public image work together--and sometimes, against one another--in an ongoing history of innovation, strategic management, struggle, and imagination. At each step, Eternity in the Ether sheds light on a remarkable terrain of creative energies, practical demands, and political possibilities, inviting us to see Mormonism in new ways, and by extension, to revisit many assumptions about how media work in the world. Essential reading for anyone interested in the relationship between religion and media.”--Jeremy Stolow, author of Deus in Machina: Religion, Technology, and the Things in Between"Gavin Feller's Eternity in the Ether: A Mormon Media History is an interesting book that brings together various academic disciplines and fields together -- weaving communication studies, religion, and history into one manuscript." --Association of Mormon LettersTable of ContentsPreface AcknowledgmentsIntroduction Sacred Cities, Stubborn People Voices in the West God Is Wireless Ethical Dilemmas and Technical Obstacles: Navigating Early Television Distance and Discipline: Television, Home, and Family Boundaries and Borders: Zion Online Community Here, Community Hereafter Conclusion: Control and Compromise NotesIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor more than twenty years, John Milton Bernhisel negotiated with the federal government on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bruce W. Worthen illuminates the life and work of the man whose diplomacy steered the Church's relationship with Washington, D.C. from its early period of dangerous conflict to a peaceful and pragmatic coexistence. Having risen from a Pennsylvania backcountry upbringing to become a respected member of the upper class, Bernhisel possessed a personal history that allowed him to reach common ground with politicians and other outsiders. He negotiated for Joseph Smith's life and, after the Church's relocation to the Utah Territory, took on the task of rehabilitating the public image of the Latter-day Saints. Brigham Young's defiance of the government undermined Bernhisel's work, but their close if sometimes turbulent relationship ultimately allowed Bernhisel to make peace with Washington, secure a presidential pardon for Young, and put Utah aTrade Review"What Worthen has given readers is a candidate for 'bookshelf essential,' especially for those looking for fresh perspectives on the often-told and widely-documented early events of Restoration history. Academically impeccable, Mormon Envoy is a good yarn, and Bernhisel's unique perspective makes for a narratively fascinating vantage amidst these dueling saints and senators." --John Whitmer Historical Association Journal"Worthen does an excellent job of emphasizing Bernhisel's accomplishments in Mormon Envoy." --Journal of Mormon History"Worthen's biography of Bernhisel is also an elegantly written history lesson." --Library JournalTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Diplomacy of John Milton Bernhisel “My Journey to the Westward” “Stand Still and See the Salvation of God” Four Miles from Carthage The Angry Apostle An Adopted Son and a Travelling Bishop Far from the Land of Our Enemies Correcting Public Opinion Old Rough and Ready Great Basin Confrontation “We Have Only Asked for Simple Justice” “Throwing Down the Glove” Dueling Discourses “A Most Turbulent, Disloyal, and Rebellious People” Wild Fire “When a Thousand Years Have Slept Away” “Let Uncle Sam Choose” Wrongs Real and Imaginary The Train of Hell The Great Wheel of Time Conclusion: Out of the WestAppendix: Bernhisel’s MarriagesNotesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“Engaging and utterly original in its conception, this study of the Mormon faith in Ireland provides a fascinating lens for understanding the effects of globalization and secularization on religious faith. This deep dive into local congregational life demonstrates how the study of a historically marginalized faith sheds light on broader political and cultural patterns.”--Laurie Maffly-Kipp, coeditor of Proclamation to the People: Nineteenth Century Mormonism and the Pacific Basin FrontierTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Religion in Contemporary Ireland The Challenges of Belonging in Modern Mormonism They All Seem Very Nice but It’s a Bit Weird Isn’t It? Their Ancestors Are Watching Them Irish-Irish and Mormon-Irish We Preach That Culture Conclusion: Reflections for the Future Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisConsiders the ways in which Mormons and anti-Mormons both questioned and constructed ideas of the national body politic, citizenship, gender, the family, and American culture at large.Trade Review"Recommended."--Choice "Talbot has written an important book that both revives critical engagement with the public/private divide and expands our understanding of polygamy and Mormonism in nineteenth-century America. . . . a persuasive account of the centrality of Mormonism and polygamy to nineteenth-century politics and culture."--H-Net Reviews "By tracing the intricate connections between polygamy, theocracy, and freedom, Talbot adeptly reveals the problem of a totalizing religious culture in a liberal democracy."--The Journal of American History"Christine Talbot tackles the Mormon question by exploring nineteenth-century conceptions of Otherness and examining how Protestant Americans redefined their own ideals to distinguish themselves from the Mormon Other. A Foreign Kingdom is a treasure trove of secondary analysis and primary documents for students of American religious history and minority studies."--Nova Religio"Talbot makes a sophisticated and convincing argument that "anti-Mormons asserted that it was through the proper maintenance of the gendered public/private divide that people qualified for membership in the American body politic."--Western Historical Quarterly"Readers will appreciate the clarity of her writing; her careful attention to race, class, and gender; her insertion of Mormon history into broader dialogues."--Journal of Mormon History"Talbot pulls disparate strands of nineteenth-century political thought together in an account revealing what was really at stake in the battle over polygamy. Her insights are at times striking. She's succeeded in unfolding the underlying cultural logic that formed one of Mormonism's main challenges to the American state: its assault on a powerful configuration of the public/private binary, couched in the languages of constitutional religious liberty." --American Historical Review"One of the most important studies of nineteenth-century Mormon polygamy, thanks to Talbot's erudite, nuanced, interdisciplinary approach."--D. Michael Quinn, author of Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHonorable Mention in Creative Non-Fiction, Association for Mormon Letters, 2017 "Reading this collection of intimate, intelligent, and terribly interesting essays is an exercise in empathy that truly ought to be considered required reading to the 21st century Latter-day Saint seeking to truly mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. Baring Witness broadcasts voices of Mormon women that are all too often quietly dismissed in the broader aspects of our culture. In the end, these stories consist of sacred narratives—not so much a record of God’s dealing with people but of people’s dealing with God.”--Association for Mormon Letters"The stories are fresh, raw, filled with riveting, sometimes shocking details — and impossible to predict the end from the beginning. They are both universal and uniquely LDS.”—The Salt Lake Tribune, Peggy Fletcher Stack"If you enjoy reading stories about LDS women, about both the hard times and the good times, this book is definitely for you." --Exponent"Welker has facilitated a range of lived experiences on how Mormon women negotiate secular expectations of equality and religious patriarchy. She is creating conversations between Mormon congregations, Non-Mormon communities, and Mormon scholarship by informing us how Mormon women rebel, respond and reproduce gender inequality through marriage and expectations of relationships. Therefore, these essays are concrete examples of the contested territory that Mormon women encounter, as they simultaneously re-entrench and assimilate between secular values and faith beliefs in a religion that situates its marriage as being of divine design."--Religion and Gender"Lively and fascinating." --Novo Religio"Illuminating and heartfelt, frequently moving and sometimes hilarious, these essays explore moments of failure and fulfilment, laying bare the all too often unspoken confinements, complications and comforts of love, sex, and marriage."--Carys Bray, author of A Song for Issy Bradley"One need not be Mormon to savor this collection of bold and varied essays about the joys and conflicts, the highs and lows, the complexities and contradictions of being a smart Mormon woman today. Beautifully written and impeccably edited, Baring Witness provides not just a wealth of information and experience, but also a truly great read."—Cathi Hanauer, author of Gone and editor of The Bitch Is Back

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"A very important work. This travel journal tells the story of a great man's baptism into other worlds of culture, language, nationhood, and appreciation for peoples outside of his purview. The more one knows about David O. McKay, the more one recognizes that this international experience changed the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."--R. Lanier Britsch, author of Moramona: The Mormons in Hawai'i"A well-researched and well-written narrative that places McKay's journey in historical context and prepares the reader to plumb its forward-looking significance. It will take its place in the extensive documentary history of the most important figure in twentieth-century Mormonism."--Gregory A. Prince, coauthor of David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Michael Austin has produced an admirable introduction to the life and work of Vardis Fisher, arguably the most prominent (and prolific!) novelist to emerge from the Intermountain region in the twentieth century." --Journal of Mormon History"A remarkably well-written, engaging, and informative read." --Mormon Studies Review“Vardis Fisher was a key founder of both American Western and Mormon literatures, a master storyteller with a remarkable life, ‘an unbeliever who was Mormon to his core’. Michael Austin, Mormon literature’s leading scholar, reintroduces Fisher and lovingly reinterprets these remarkable novels for a new generation.”--Andrew Hall, Association for Mormon Letters

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Restless Pilgrim: Andrew Jenson's Quest for Latter-day Saint History provides a fast-paced walk through the life of this seminal Latter-day Saint historian, and his relentless thirst to gather as much history of the early Saints as possible." --Journal of Mormon HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ixPrologue 11 Danish American Emigrant 72 Entrepreneurial Chronicler 293 Historian’s Office Affiliate 504 Itinerant World Traveler 795 Assistant Church Historian 1046 Elder and Emissary 1217 Scandinavian Mission President 1408 Modern Record Keeper 1659 Explorer of Latin America 18310 Public Commemorator 20311 Twilight Church Historian 221Epilogue 240Notes 247Bibliography 293Index 309

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Revising Eternity indeed revises any misguided notions we might have of uniformity in the Latter-day Saint experience, boldly and candidly opening to view the sometimes intense, sometimes joyous, sometimes sorrowful lives of a wide variety of writers, and with its myriad perspectives the book invites us to more deeply know and thus achieve greater empathy with one another."--Patrick Madden, author of Disparates: Essays"This is a fascinating compilation, detailing as it does what happens when an exigent definition of righteousness and propriety meets the reality of human nature--a work at once sad, sobering, heartening, and above all enlightening. Highly recommended."--Levi S. Peterson, author of A Rascal by Nature, a Christian by Yearning: A Mormon AutobiographyTable of ContentsForeword: Mormon American Masculinities, Ideal and Actual Patrick Q. Mason xiAcknowledgments xvIntroduction: Personal, Contingent, and Incomplete Views on Eternal Marriage Holly Welker 1Part I. Revised Expectations Transgressors Stephen Carter 19A husband considers the ways his happymarriage violates the ideal praised by theProclamation on the FamilyBy the Drinking Fountain Eric Robeck 25A couple’s relationship seems like a Latter-dayfairy tale—until he loses his faithMy One and Only Clyde Kunz 31A gay man considers the way Latter-day Saints’expectations for straight marriage affect his ownsearch for a relationshipThere’s Something about Mary Kim Siever 37A husband learns to love his wife more deeply bystudying the example of her love for himFor Jess, after Eighteen Years of Marriage: Seven Fragments on Love; Or, Some Things I Carry Tyler Chadwick 42In a love letter to his wife, a husband lists someof the familiar mysteries he cherishes in theirmarriageAn Apology I’ve Been Working on for a While Joey Franklin 44A husband reflects on the division of labor inhis marriage and how it affects his and his wife’ssenses of selfNever Good Enough Michael Carpenter 52A lifetime of failing to meet Latter-day Saintideals exacts a tragic costMormon AF Nicholas Don Smith 58A stand-up comic from American Fork, Utah,reflects on what it means to be Mormon andsingleLiken the Scriptures Andrew Spriggs 63A young husband realizes that his gay marriageis the most Mormon thing about his lifeThe Care Package Kevin Barnwell 71A husband who has left the church works to findthe perfect anniversary gift for his still devout wifePart II. Sex and Its Consequences Fertility Theric Jepson 77After the birth of their fourth child, a husbandundergoes a vasectomy to spare his wife anymore worry about fertilityOpposites Robert Raleigh 82Newlyweds discover that their intense physicalattraction is not a strong enough basis for ahappy marriage—or even a satisfying sex lifeEternity in an Hour Boyd Jay Petersen 92On the eve of a trip abroad, a husband learnsthat his wife of thirty-three years is gay, afterwhich they negotiate a respectful separationPie Month Scott Russell Morris 105A young couple agrees to eat pie every day duringthe month of March 2014 while they also try toconceive a childThe Highest T. Kay Browning 119A young man determined to marry early learnsto be the man of integrity his marriage requiresof him, especially as he reckons with what the#MeToo movement means for menBeing Jane John Doe 129A bisexual cross-dresser and his wife learn tohave a mutually fulfilling sex life while honoringtheir temple covenants to one anotherSoul Mates Scott Blanding 133A gay man and a straight woman navigate amarriage both believe they committed to before birthHiding in Plain Sight David Nicolay 141A husband’s ability to connect to his wife isundermined by decades of sexual shame overmasturbation7:06 A.M. Kelland Coleman 151A lonely husband briefly attains the intimacy hehas longed for with his wife when she admits toherself and to him that she is gayUnsealed Dan Smith 160A husband learns that trying to practicepolygamy to please his wife does not heal theirtroubled marriagePart III. In Sickness and in Health Fear and Trepanation Ted Smith 171A midlife crisis helps a husband understandhow valuable his marriage is, just before it isthreatened by a dire medical crisisI’m Not Who I Thought You Married John B. Dahl 180A young husband is forced to confront his ownmisconceptions about mental illness when he isdiagnosed with depression—and discovers thatdoing so strengthens instead of harms his marriageHolding On and Letting Go Joseph Broom 190After decades in a straight marriage, a gay mandiscovers happiness with the love of his life—onlyto lose him to cancer after a short marriageDisability Check Caleb Scoville 198A young man reckons with the way his bipolardisease wreaks havoc on his marriageThe House of Infinite Regret Scot Denhalter 207Addiction to prescription narcotics destroys a life,a marriage, and a familyFrom Patriarchy to Matriarchy: A Marital and Spiritual Journey Thomas W Murphy 218A young man from an abusive household vows tocreate a family free of violence and coercion withhis wife, after which they learn about alternativeforms of strength and leadership—and aboutaspects of their own backgrounds—when theirwork leads them to Indigenous communitiesThe Marriage Bed: An Essay and Three Poems Robert A. Rees 231A widower reflects on his happy marriage andthe joy of sharing a bed with his belovedGlossary 239Discussion Questions 243Bibliography 245Contributors 249

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the nineteenth century, a fascination with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made Mormons and Mormonism a common trope in French journalism, art, literature, politics, and popular culture. Heather Belnap, Corry Cropper, and Daryl Lee bring to light French representations of Mormonism from the 1830s to 1914, arguing that these portrayals often critiqued and parodied French society. Mormonism became a pretext for reconsidering issues such as gender, colonialism, the family, and church-state relations while providing artists and authors with a means for working through the possibilities of their own evolving national identity. Surprising and innovative, Marianne Meets the Mormons looks at how nineteenth-century French observers engaged with the idea of Mormonism in order to reframe their own cultural preoccupations.Trade Review"An interesting and convincing read." --Association for Mormon Letters"Highly original, extremely interesting, and richly documented. The collection analyzed here is remarkable. A book that is superbly satisfying in terms of intellectual stimulation (because of its high erudition and in-depth analysis of how politics will impact cultural products), aesthetic curiosity, and humorous entertainment."--Bernadette Rigal-Cellard, author of La Religion des Mormons"Belnap, Cropper, and Lee teach the reader much about French debates during the nineteenth century and how Mormonism highlighted those heated conversations. The authors deserve praise for writing such an interesting book about Mormonism outside of America." --Journal of Mormon HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Chronology of Key Publications and EventsChapter 1. “Ils ont lâché le fou!”: Unleashing the Mormon JesterChapter 2. “La Loi nouvelle”: Mormonism and the Social Question in FranceChapter 3. Mormonism, Masculinity, and the Woman Question in Second Empire FranceChapter 4. Between Man and God: Mormons, Spiritualism, and the OccultChapter 5. From Page to Stage: Mormonism and the Woman Question in the Early Third RepublicChapter 6. “Ces mœurs sont bien les nôtres!” Mormons, Marriage, and the Divorce DebateChapter 7. Exotic Mormons and the French Colonial ProjectChapter 8. “La Fin du Mormonisme”Notes BibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisMass media and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints evolved alongside each other, and communications technology became a fundamental part of the Church's institutions and communities. Gavin Feller investigates the impact of radio, television, and the internet on Mormonism and what it tells us about new media's integration into American life. The Church wrestled with the promise of new media to help implement its vision of Zion. But it also had to contend with threat that media posed to the family and other important facets of the Latter-day Saint faith. Inevitably, media technologies forced the leadership and lay alike to reconsider organizational values and ethical commitments. As Feller shows, the conflicts they faced illuminate the fundamental forces of control and compromise that enmesh an emerging medium in American social and cultural life. Intriguing and original, Eternity in the Ether blends communications history with a religious perspective to examine the crossroadTrade Review“Focusing on the agency of a single institution, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Feller takes us beyond simple assumptions about representation and ideology to show us in finely grained detail how exactly Mormon theology, cosmological vision, community, bureaucratic authority, and public image work together--and sometimes, against one another--in an ongoing history of innovation, strategic management, struggle, and imagination. At each step, Eternity in the Ether sheds light on a remarkable terrain of creative energies, practical demands, and political possibilities, inviting us to see Mormonism in new ways, and by extension, to revisit many assumptions about how media work in the world. Essential reading for anyone interested in the relationship between religion and media.”--Jeremy Stolow, author of Deus in Machina: Religion, Technology, and the Things in Between"Gavin Feller's Eternity in the Ether: A Mormon Media History is an interesting book that brings together various academic disciplines and fields together -- weaving communication studies, religion, and history into one manuscript." --Association of Mormon LettersTable of ContentsPreface AcknowledgmentsIntroduction Sacred Cities, Stubborn People Voices in the West God Is Wireless Ethical Dilemmas and Technical Obstacles: Navigating Early Television Distance and Discipline: Television, Home, and Family Boundaries and Borders: Zion Online Community Here, Community Hereafter Conclusion: Control and Compromise NotesIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor more than twenty years, John Milton Bernhisel negotiated with the federal government on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bruce W. Worthen illuminates the life and work of the man whose diplomacy steered the Church's relationship with Washington, D.C. from its early period of dangerous conflict to a peaceful and pragmatic coexistence. Having risen from a Pennsylvania backcountry upbringing to become a respected member of the upper class, Bernhisel possessed a personal history that allowed him to reach common ground with politicians and other outsiders. He negotiated for Joseph Smith's life and, after the Church's relocation to the Utah Territory, took on the task of rehabilitating the public image of the Latter-day Saints. Brigham Young's defiance of the government undermined Bernhisel's work, but their close if sometimes turbulent relationship ultimately allowed Bernhisel to make peace with Washington, secure a presidential pardon for Young, and put Utah aTrade Review"What Worthen has given readers is a candidate for 'bookshelf essential,' especially for those looking for fresh perspectives on the often-told and widely-documented early events of Restoration history. Academically impeccable, Mormon Envoy is a good yarn, and Bernhisel's unique perspective makes for a narratively fascinating vantage amidst these dueling saints and senators." --John Whitmer Historical Association Journal"Worthen does an excellent job of emphasizing Bernhisel's accomplishments in Mormon Envoy." --Journal of Mormon History"Worthen's biography of Bernhisel is also an elegantly written history lesson." --Library JournalTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Diplomacy of John Milton Bernhisel “My Journey to the Westward” “Stand Still and See the Salvation of God” Four Miles from Carthage The Angry Apostle An Adopted Son and a Travelling Bishop Far from the Land of Our Enemies Correcting Public Opinion Old Rough and Ready Great Basin Confrontation “We Have Only Asked for Simple Justice” “Throwing Down the Glove” Dueling Discourses “A Most Turbulent, Disloyal, and Rebellious People” Wild Fire “When a Thousand Years Have Slept Away” “Let Uncle Sam Choose” Wrongs Real and Imaginary The Train of Hell The Great Wheel of Time Conclusion: Out of the WestAppendix: Bernhisel’s MarriagesNotesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the international religions that have arrived from abroad to find adherents in Ireland. Drawing on fieldwork in two LDS communities, Hazel O'Brien explores how these adherents experience the Church in Ireland against the backdrop of the country's increasingly complex religious identity. Irish Latter-day Saints live on the margins of the nation's religious life and the worldwide LDS movement. Nonetheless, they create a sense of belonging for themselves by drawing on collective memories of both their Irishness and their faith. As O'Brien shows, Irish Latter-day Saints work to shift the understanding of Ireland's religious landscape away from a predominant focus on Roman Catholicism. They also challenge Utah-based constructions of Mormonism in order to ensure their place in the Church's powerful religious and cultural lineage. Examining the Latter-day Saint experience against one nation's rapid social and religious changes, Irish Trade Review“Engaging and utterly original in its conception, this study of the Mormon faith in Ireland provides a fascinating lens for understanding the effects of globalization and secularization on religious faith. This deep dive into local congregational life demonstrates how the study of a historically marginalized faith sheds light on broader political and cultural patterns.”--Laurie Maffly-Kipp, coeditor of Proclamation to the People: Nineteenth Century Mormonism and the Pacific Basin Frontier“A very insightful look at globalization, colonialism, religious identity, and building communal memory, all through the lens of contemporary Ireland." --Association of Mormon LettersTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Religion in Contemporary Ireland The Challenges of Belonging in Modern Mormonism They All Seem Very Nice but It’s a Bit Weird Isn’t It? Their Ancestors Are Watching Them Irish-Irish and Mormon-Irish We Preach That Culture Conclusion: Reflections for the Future Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe life and thought of the founder of Christian ScienceTrade ReviewGottschalk's account is well told and enriched by fresh material now available from the Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity. * Christian Science Monitor *Gottschalk does a superb job of providing historical context for the chaotic events of Eddy's final decades. He analyzes frequently oversimplified disagreements between Eddy and Mark Twain, deftly highlighting the many points of agreement and parallel thinking that led Eddy and Twain to very different conclusions. Finally, Gottschalk makes accessible Eddy's mature theology, the product of controversy as well as deep reflection: a thoroughgoing rejection of all materialisms affirmed by her contemporaries (scientific, medical, ecclesiastical, spiritual) in order to seek 'something higher and better than matter, and apart from it.' * Choice *The book includes a great deal of fresh research and honest scholarship . . . [F]or the individual wanting to sink his or her teeth into a serious study of Eddy . . . you have a lot to look forward to in reading this book.Vol. 129, No. 5 May 2011 * The Christian Science Journal *Gottschalk has provided readers with a masterful account of Christian Science in its heyday. The book is a first-rate read for students of American religion and provides a look into how one of the country's more complex religious figures dealt with materialism in the late nineteenth-century America. * Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsContentsForewordAcknowledgmentsNote on Textual UsageIntroductionPrelude: The World's "leaden weight"1. "O God, is it all!" 2. Becoming "Mrs. Eddy"3. By What Authority? On Christian Ground4. By What Authority? Listening and Leading5. Woman Goes Forth6. "The visible unity of spirit"7. "The preparation of the heart"8. "Ayont hate's thrall"9. A Power, Not a Place10. "The outflowing life of Christianity"11. "The kingdoms of this world"12. Elijah's MantleCoda: The Prophetic VoiceChronologyNotesBibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamines the ways queer theory and Mennonite literature have intersected over the past decade and how these two traditions hold fundamental commitments to social justice in common.Trade Review“Queering Mennonite Literature takes up the intersections of two cultures (and academic fields) that rarely address one another—queer theory/literary studies and Mennonite/religious studies. In so doing, this engaging and accessible study makes a much-needed, highly original, and very important intervention. Cruz has an impressive familiarity with both queer theory and Mennonite studies, and he brings a wide selection from both fields to bear on his analysis.”—Christopher Castiglia,author of The Practices of Hope: Literary Criticism in Disenchanted Times“Daniel Shank Cruz uses the radical call of his Anabaptist heritage to embrace the notion of an ‘upside-down kingdom,’ a place in which order and boundaries might be overturned in the name of compassion and grace for every person’s (queer) story. Using a theoretically nuanced approach to an emerging group of writers of Mennonite identity, Cruz’s close readings invite the reader to understand how the personal and the public are always at play with one another, especially in the stories religious communities tell (or seek to omit) about themselves.”—Todd Davis,author of Kurt Vonnegut’s Crusade; or, How a Postmodern Harlequin Preached a New Kind of Humanism“Close to the bone and out on a limb, Daniel Cruz asks what Mennonite and queer have in common. The answer is traumatic bodily memories, dissent, and dreams of just and loving relationships. Critical necessity and personal urgency compel his readings of nine authors to demonstrate that ‘Mennonitism is queer,’ and prophetic provocations speak from the intersection of these minoritized identities.”—Julia Spicher Kasdorf,author of The Body and the Book: Writing from a Mennonite Life“Early in this provocative and illuminating book, Daniel Shank Cruz observes that literature provides the space that allows us ‘to begin reconciling the identities of queer and Mennonite.’ He populates his fresh, richly documented analysis with a memorable array of writers and texts, all the while offering his readers a timely and compelling archive of queer memory in the context of Mennonite literature and life.”—Hildi Froese Tiessen,coauthor of Woldemar Neufeld’s Canada: A Mennonite Artist in the Canadian Landscape, 1925-1995“Queering Mennonite Literature is both entirely new and long overdue in the field of Mennonite literary studies. It is the first collection of literary criticism that analyzes the small but burgeoning field of queer Mennonite creative writing. This book feels new because the major works it discusses (mostly novels) are all recent, published between 2008 and 2017. It also feels long overdue because, as the author notes, there have been queer people and queer impulses in Mennonite spaces forever, and it is past time to bring these perspectives into the wider conversation in Mennonite literary and theological circles.”—Anita Hooley Yoder Conrad Grebel Review“Claims a whole new set of social possibilities and, in doing so, makes them feel that much more durable.”—Peter Miller American ReligionTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionQueering Mennonite Literature1. Building a Queer Mennonite Archive2. Searching for Selfhood in Jan Guenther Braun’s Somewhere Else3 Queering Tradition in Jessica Penner’s Shaken in The Water4 Stephen Beachy’s Boneyard, The Martyrs Mirror, and Anabaptist Activism5 The Queer Ethical Body in Corey Redekop’s Husk6. Trans Mennonite LiteratureEpilogue: The Future of Queer Mennonite LiteratureNotesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamines the ways queer theory and Mennonite literature have intersected over the past decade and how these two traditions hold fundamental commitments to social justice in common.Trade Review“Queering Mennonite Literature takes up the intersections of two cultures (and academic fields) that rarely address one another—queer theory/literary studies and Mennonite/religious studies. In so doing, this engaging and accessible study makes a much-needed, highly original, and very important intervention. Cruz has an impressive familiarity with both queer theory and Mennonite studies, and he brings a wide selection from both fields to bear on his analysis.”—Christopher Castiglia,author of The Practices of Hope: Literary Criticism in Disenchanted Times“Daniel Shank Cruz uses the radical call of his Anabaptist heritage to embrace the notion of an ‘upside-down kingdom,’ a place in which order and boundaries might be overturned in the name of compassion and grace for every person’s (queer) story. Using a theoretically nuanced approach to an emerging group of writers of Mennonite identity, Cruz’s close readings invite the reader to understand how the personal and the public are always at play with one another, especially in the stories religious communities tell (or seek to omit) about themselves.”—Todd Davis,author of Kurt Vonnegut’s Crusade; or, How a Postmodern Harlequin Preached a New Kind of Humanism“Close to the bone and out on a limb, Daniel Cruz asks what Mennonite and queer have in common. The answer is traumatic bodily memories, dissent, and dreams of just and loving relationships. Critical necessity and personal urgency compel his readings of nine authors to demonstrate that ‘Mennonitism is queer,’ and prophetic provocations speak from the intersection of these minoritized identities.”—Julia Spicher Kasdorf,author of The Body and the Book: Writing from a Mennonite Life“Early in this provocative and illuminating book, Daniel Shank Cruz observes that literature provides the space that allows us ‘to begin reconciling the identities of queer and Mennonite.’ He populates his fresh, richly documented analysis with a memorable array of writers and texts, all the while offering his readers a timely and compelling archive of queer memory in the context of Mennonite literature and life.”—Hildi Froese Tiessen,coauthor of Woldemar Neufeld’s Canada: A Mennonite Artist in the Canadian Landscape, 1925-1995“Queering Mennonite Literature is both entirely new and long overdue in the field of Mennonite literary studies. It is the first collection of literary criticism that analyzes the small but burgeoning field of queer Mennonite creative writing. This book feels new because the major works it discusses (mostly novels) are all recent, published between 2008 and 2017. It also feels long overdue because, as the author notes, there have been queer people and queer impulses in Mennonite spaces forever, and it is past time to bring these perspectives into the wider conversation in Mennonite literary and theological circles.”—Anita Hooley Yoder Conrad Grebel Review“Claims a whole new set of social possibilities and, in doing so, makes them feel that much more durable.”—Peter Miller American ReligionTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionQueering Mennonite Literature1. Building a Queer Mennonite Archive2. Searching for Selfhood in Jan Guenther Braun’s Somewhere Else3 Queering Tradition in Jessica Penner’s Shaken in The Water4 Stephen Beachy’s Boneyard, The Martyrs Mirror, and Anabaptist Activism5 The Queer Ethical Body in Corey Redekop’s Husk6. Trans Mennonite LiteratureEpilogue: The Future of Queer Mennonite LiteratureNotesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisA riveting memoir of losing faith and finding freedom.

Read more less

Book SynopsisGet ready to present the case for Christianity with confidence and grace. This book will empower to share your faith and give you the language to do so effectively with people in the Mormon community.Trade Review“For many years, there has existed a tremendous need for a book explaining the biblical gospel of grace to LDS individuals transitioning out of their LDS faith tradition and, with hopeful and tender hearts, seeking Truth Himself. With expert knowledge of the Bible and a loving approach to sharing Truth, Eric Johnson has met this need. It should be a standard for many years to come in introducing biblical Truth to LDS.”—Dr. Lynn Wilder, author, Unveiling Grace: The Story of How We Found Our Way out of the Mormon Church“Introducing Christianity to Mormons is a unique book. Eric has studied and taught Christian beliefs for years, and so he captures the heart of core doctrines with clarity. And yet he has spent his life studying the LDS Church and engaging Mormons, so he presents Christian beliefs in a respectful and understandable fashion. This is the first book I will now recommend for those with an LDS background who want to understand Christian teachings.”—Sean McDowell, PhD Biola University professor, coauthor of Evidence That Demands a Verdict and More Than a Carpenter“With every passing year, the distinctions between Christianity and the LDS Church are increasingly confused. Most contemporary LDS consider Mormonism a denomination of Christianity, even though their founders would never have described it that way. Now more than ever, we need a guide to help us navigate the differences and engage our LDS friends with compassion and truth. That’s why this book is so timely. No one does a better job than Eric when it comes to understanding the differences, focusing on the essentials, and reaching Mormons with love and urgency. If you know Mormons, let this book prepare and guide you every step of the way.”—J. Warner Wallace, Dateline-featured Cold-Case Detective, author of Cold Case Christianity“Have you tried to share your faith with an LDS (Mormon) friend only to walk away confused by the discussion? Eric’s book offers the Christian great insights on Mormon beliefs, along with guides for more meaningful discussions.”—Sandra Tanner, cofounder of Utah Lighthouse Ministry, coauthor of Mormonism: Shadow or Reality“When sharing the Christian faith with members of the LDS Church, using precise language is always paramount. Christians have often expressed frustration when their LDS counterpart gives the impression that they have few disagreements with what Christians have historically believed, even though one of the foundational teachings of their church is that Christ’s church fell into a state of complete apostasy after the death of Jesus’ apostles. Eric Johnson cuts through this theological fog and offers information that will make for effective conversations.”—Bill McKeever, director of Mormonism Research Ministry (Utah), coauthor of Answering Mormons’ Questions“I have long felt the need for a book that takes LDS beliefs and language into account when explaining the message of Christianity. Eric Johnson has created that book. He has combined theological clarity and a lucid writing style with his extensive experience talking to Mormons to produce a resource I will give away often.”—Ross Anderson, author, Understanding Your Mormon Neighbor, executive director, Utah Advance Ministries“I wish I’d had this book when starting out in ministry in Utah. I’ll be giving many copies of it away. It will be a great help to those who don’t understand the differences between the religions that find their origin in the teaching of Joseph Smith and traditional Christianity, to those who are leaving some form of Mormonism for Christianity, and for Christians who live and serve in Mormon communities.”—Loren Pankratz, PhD, lead pastor, The Bridge Community, Centerville, Utah“Eric Johnson gives us a multifaceted jewel in this book. Viewed from one side, it is an articulate primer for the historic Christian faith. Viewed from another side, it gives Christians the resources to anticipate and field common LDS questions and objections. And from yet another angle, a Latter-day Saint could encounter the material as a winsome and conversational polemic for the core of Christianity. Truth and grace march in lockstep through its pages. As a pastor and theologian in LDS country, I heartily recommend it!”—Dr. Bryan Hurlbutt, lead pastor, Lifeline Community, West Jordan, Utah

Read more less

Book SynopsisArthur and Elena George utilize new historical and archaeological discoveries to reveal how the author of the Eden story uses veiled symbolism and mythological storytelling to convey his message about the most profound questions of human existence regarding the divine, life, death, and immortality.Trade ReviewIt is one of the most familiar stories in the human canon: Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the forbidden fruit, and the serpent. We know the story, but how many of us have really thought about what it means? I’ve always admired the focus and rigor of scholars who take a subject and examine it exhaustively, first from one perspective, then another, turning it like a prism in sunlight. This is what Arthur George and his wife, Elena George, have done with The Mythology of Eden. Examining the Eden tale in minute detail — and with numerous footnotes — the Georges employ their combined and considerable knowledge of mythology, archaeology, history, psychology, and religion to parse new meanings from a story that is fundamental in the Christian world. * Santa Barbara Independent *What a fascinating book! Though it starts with and returns to an analysis of the second creation story in Genesis, The Mythology of Eden is about far more than that particular myth. It includes material on the backgrounds of the likely authors of the two Genesis creation stories and two other likely authors of the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures, the history of the Ancient Near East (ANE) before and during biblical times as well as information that has been gathered in recent years from archeology and anthropology. And yes, there is material on the role of polytheism, including Goddess worship, especially of Asherah and Astarte. The book places the development of religion, religious beliefs, and practices in the context of the sociopolitical development of the ANE, including Egypt, Canaan, Palestine, and other cultures. . . .I consider The Mythology of Eden to be overall a very valuable book and expect it to be especially useful to people researching or teaching the Bible, the history of the Ancient Near East, Goddess history, and to the intellectually curious and many others. * Medusa Coils *A rich and well-illustrated work viewing the Eden story in its own natural genre as myth against the background of ancient Near Eastern mythology from which the mythological symbols in the story came. The book successfully clarifies many important aspects of the story that have eluded earlier interpreters, including the full meaning of the symbols used in the story, the goddess lurking in the background, and the cosmic nature of evil and sin. -- William G. Doty, emeritus professor and chair of religious studies, University of Alabama, author of Mythography: The Study of Myths and Myth: A HandbookA work of impeccable scholarship and interdisciplinary expertise that unfolds like a gripping detective story, affording us one illuminating insight after another. It is essential reading for anyone wanting to gain a clearer understanding of the mythic and psychological dynamics that have shaped Western civilization. -- Keiron Le Grice, professor of depth psychology in the Jungian and Archetypal Studies Program, Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, and author of The Archetypal Cosmos and The Rebirth of the HeroA comprehensive, illuminating, and profound study of the primary myth of Western civilization that elucidates its far-reaching effects on our culture and the great questions of our time. -- Anne Baring, Jungian analyst; author of The Dream of the Cosmos: a Quest for the Soul, co-author of The Myth of the GoddessThe Mythology of Eden is important to the mythology sector in many ways. As a well-researched and illustrated treatise on the history of the Garden of Eden, it is well worth the read. But as a source and segue to more contemporary issue concerning the old vs. new myth argument now percolating, it may prove even more important. -- Willi Paul, writer and publisher at NewMythologist.com and PlanetShifter.comTable of ContentsPreface Introduction: Mythology and the Eden Story Chapter 1: Who Wrote the Eden Story? Chapter 2: How the World of Palestine Led to Eden Chapter 3: The Genesis of Yahweh and His Wife, and Their Divorce Chapter 4: The Creation, the Garden in Eden, and its Restoration Chapter 5: The Creation of Adam Chapter 6: The Sacred Trees, the Cherubim, and the Flaming Sword Chapter 7: The Serpent Whose Powers Yahweh Usurped Chapter 8: Eve: The Hidden Goddess in the Garden Chapter 9: The Transgression and Our Transformation Epilogue: Taking the Eden Story Personally: Its Meaning for Us Today Abbreviations Used in Citations Cited Works and Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisMormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the world. For those who have wondered in what specific ways Mormonism differs from the Christian faith, Mormonism 101 provides definitive answers, examining the major tenets of Mormon theology and comparing them with orthodox Christian beliefs. Perfect for students of religion and anyone who wants to have answers when Mormons come calling.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhere others saw only sage, a salt lake, and a great desert, the Mormons saw their "lovely Deseret," a land of lilacs, honeycombs, poplars, and fruit trees. Unwelcome in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, they migrated to the dry lands between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada to establish Mormon country, a wasteland made green.Trade Review“Stegner’s book makes excellent reading and is also solidly based. . . . His residence of fifteen years in the region he is describing allows him to mingle ease with authority.”—New York Times“Stegner combines a great amount of information and lively comment with fine description of one of the most beautiful and least known regions of the United States.”—Boston Globe

Read more less

Book SynopsisPresents a collection of writings of diverse European travellers through Mormon settlements in the American West. They provide a counternarrative to typical accounts of encounters with Mormons in such sojourns.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe only religious unit in American military history. The Mormon battalion was unique in federal service, having been recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA stark exhibition of state repression of a minority faithTrade ReviewSaints Under Siege is a welcome corrective to the sensationalism surrounding the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...this book can heighten students' hermeneutic of suspicion towards [child abuse] allegations. -- John-Charles Duffy * Journal of American Academy of Religion *Saints Under Siege's strength resides in its multi-author and multi-hermeneutic approach as each chapter considers a distinct set of historical, cultural, and political/legal realities underlying the raid. -- Spencer L. Allen * International Journal for the Study of New Religions *A highly recommendable book for both academic and popular readers alike looking to gain further insight into government-sponsored religious intolerance in contemporary America. -- Johnathan W. Olson,Florida State UniversityIn this significant volume, noted scholars explore the historical, sociological, legal, law enforcement, media studies, and religious studies aspects of the 2008 raid on the Yearning for Zion ranch. A must-read for those concerned with the dynamics of how and why law enforcement agents take aggressive actions that harm children they are tasked with protecting. -- Catherine Wessinger,Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions, Loyola University New OrleansThere has been a disturbing recent trend toward military-style government raids on minority religious communities. This book offers an incisive set of analyses by distinguished religious movements scholars of the massive state raid on the FLDS community in 2008. [It] will be the book of record for interpreting this historic event. -- David G. Bromley,co-author of Cults and New Religions: A Brief HistoryWide-ranging and provocative collection. * Journal of Church and State *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Figures List of Tables Preface Abbreviations Introduction Part I: Historical Overview 1 Germania: Origins and Progress to World War I2 Retreat: The German Problem and Its Painful Resolution 3 Boom and Bust 4 Good Times, Hard Times in the Postwar Era Part II: Product, Distribution, and Expense Management 5 Product Development: The Actuarial Problem and Individual Insurance 6 Product Development: Group, Bene?ts, and Reinsurance 7 Spreading the Word 8 Selling Insurance 9 Administration: Process and People 10 Managing Administrative Expenses: Regionalization and Automation 11 Burdens of Corporate Citizenship: Regulation and TaxesPart III: Investments 12 Investing the Premiums: Asset Management to the Mid-Twentieth Century 13 Flexibility and Quality: George Conklin's Legacy Part IV: Mutuality and Performance14 Swimming against the Tide Appendix Notes Bibliography Index About the Authors

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow Native Hawaiians’ experience of Mormonism intersects with their cultural and ethnic identities and traditionsTrade Review"A Chosen People, a Promised Land is a fascinating book. Attending to fraught and revealing episodes in Hawaiian-Mormon history, Hokulani K. Aikau opens up new terrain for historical analysis in a manner that is theoretically engaged yet accessible."—Greg Johnson, author of Sacred Claims: Repatriation and Living Tradition"More than finding an eager audience, this pathbreaking book will add convincingly to the growing body of work inside and outside the continental United States and the Pacific Islands region that compels critical audiences in the studies of American culture and Native Pacific struggles of the absolute need to read work coming out of the other."—Vicente M. Diaz, author of Repositioning the Missionary"An excellent examination of the complex intersection of race, religion, and culture in Hawaii."—Indigenous Peoples Issues and Resources"Aikau's personal experiences, her interviews with LDS members in the islands, the inclusion of oral history and journal entires and her storytelling skills provide fresh and valuable insight into a fascinating segment of Hawaii's people and history."—Honolulu Civil Beat"This groundbreaking, transnational, and more inclusive approach to Hawaiian studies grants Native Hawaiians agency and offers a much needed alternative representation of Hawai’i within the national history of the United States."—American Studies"This book shows the complicated nature of colonial interactions. Aikau masterfully uses native voices, especially through oral histories, to critique existing scholarship that has not addressed the colonial legacy of the Church. This book is an important work for other scholars to build on as they do further research on Mormonism in the Pacific."—Journal of Mormon HistoryTable of ContentsContentsPrefaceIntroduction: Negotiating Faithfulness1. Mormonism, Race, and Lineage: The Making of a Chosen People2. Lā‘ie, a Promised Land, and Pu’uhonua: Spatial Struggles for Land and Identity3. Called to Serve: Labor Missionary Work and Modernity4. In the Service of the Lord: Religion, Race, and the Polynesian Cultural Center5. Voyages of Faith: Contemporary Kanaka Maoli Struggles for Sustainable Self-DeterminationConclusion: Holo Mua, Moving ForwardAcknowledgmentsNotesGlossaryBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“Building Zion surpasses all earlier studies of the Mormon cultural landscape. Through his astute readings of the buildings and towns of Utah’s Sanpete Valley, Thomas Carter offers a persuasive new interpretation of the Latter-Day Saints’ formative years. This book is required reading to understand how the built environment contributes to historical understanding."—Dell Upton, UCLA"An interesting take on the history and building of a community where many have the same faith and where church and government leaders were initially one and the same."—Deseret News"Building Zion effectively rewrites the narrative of the settling of the Great Basin as much less weird and un-American than it has been traditionally represented. In doing so, it pushes back against perceptions of Mormons as perennial outsiders. Instead, Thomas urges us to think of Mormons as the fringe of stereotypical America but not—as many others have argued—the fringe that defines the center."—InVisible Culture"Truly a lifetime project, this thoughtful, reflective, nuanced study of relationships between geographical space and social culture is more interpretive and sophisticated than Leonard Arrington, Feramorz Fox, and Dean May's Building the City of God."—CHOICE"Detailed and richly illustrated, Carter proves himself a historian at heart. "—Buildings & Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum"Thomas Carter’s lifetime work on Building Zion is a remarkable introduction to landscape and Mormon settlement. . . A classic."—Journal of Mormon History"In this important volume, Carter deftly and thoroughly explores the human, physical, and spiritual landscape of the Mormons in Zion. . . This book is required reading to grasp how the built environment contributes to the understanding of this history."—Bench Press"I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the nineteenth century Mormons of Utah. His novel approach of using evidence from built landscape studies contributes valuable insights to the understanding of this history."—Association for Mormon Letters"Building Zion is an important book, and it will take its place among the works of Glassie and Upton and others that have markedly influenced how landscape and architecture scholars view the worlds we study."—Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review"Building Zion deserves a prominent and abiding place on the bookshelves and in the classrooms of all who take seriously the academic study of the Latter-day Saints. Intellectually and rhetorically, the study is thorough and sophisticated. At the same time, Building Zion is also a distinct pleasure to read."—BYU Studies"A valuable addition to the already-extensive LDS canon."—Journal of American History"An unparalleled investigation into Mormon material culture and its development... Scholars in history and religious studies will find in it an essential guide to the development of the Mormon world-view, and both Saint and Gentile will appreciate Carter’s ability to craft a study that is respectful of Mormon culture while maintaining objectivity in its criticism."—Mormon Studies ReviewTable of ContentsContentsPrefaceNote on IllustrationsIntroduction: A Landscape of Difference1. Faith and Works: A Historical Framework2. The Settlement Matrix: Towns and Temples3. According to Need: Family Stewardships and the Distribution of Resources4. Frontier Fashion: Domestic Architecture and Individual Display5. Polygamy and Patriarchy: Women in the Landscape6. Business as Usual: The Americanization of the Mormon Main Street7. Meetinghouses: The Search for Mormon Identity8. Mansion on the Hill: The Temple as Ritual SpaceConclusion: The Enduring ZionAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn engrossing account of the way religion and the technological imagination come together in the world’s largest religious transhumanist organization.Table of ContentsPreface | ix A Note on Names and Terms | xxiii Series Zero: “Children of God would try to play God” | 1 Part I: Dramatis personae First Series: Mormonisms | 55 Second Series: Transhumanisms | 76 Third Series: Mormon Transhumanism | 94 Part II: Mormon/Transhuman Fourth Series: Kolob runs on Domo | 113 Fifth Series: Discipline, Belief, and Speculative Religion | 136 Part III: Science Fictions Sixth Series: Freezing, Burying, Burning | 161 Seventh Series: “as if awakening from a night’s sleep” | 211 Eighth Series: Worlds without End | 240 Ninth Series: Queer Polygamy | 256 Series: Problems, Planes, and Lines of Flight | 293 Acknowledgments | 303 Notes | 307 Bibliography | 327 Index | 353

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn engrossing account of the way religion and the technological imagination come together in the world’s largest religious transhumanist organization.Table of ContentsPreface | ix A Note on Names and Terms | xxiii Series Zero: “Children of God would try to play God” | 1 Part I: Dramatis personae First Series: Mormonisms | 55 Second Series: Transhumanisms | 76 Third Series: Mormon Transhumanism | 94 Part II: Mormon/Transhuman Fourth Series: Kolob runs on Domo | 113 Fifth Series: Discipline, Belief, and Speculative Religion | 136 Part III: Science Fictions Sixth Series: Freezing, Burying, Burning | 161 Seventh Series: “as if awakening from a night’s sleep” | 211 Eighth Series: Worlds without End | 240 Ninth Series: Queer Polygamy | 256 Series: Problems, Planes, and Lines of Flight | 293 Acknowledgments | 303 Notes | 307 Bibliography | 327 Index | 353

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhen Race, Religion, and Sport Collide tells the story of Brandon Davies' dismissal from Brigham Young University's NCAA playoff basketball team to illustrate the thorny intersection of religion, race, and sport at BYU and beyond. Author Darron T. Smith analyzes the athletes dismissed through BYU's honor code violations and suggests that they are disproportionately African American, which has troubling implications. He ties these dismissals to the complicated history of negative views toward African Americans in the LDS faith. These honor code dismissals elucidate the challenges facing black athletes at predominantly white institutions. Weaving together the history of the black athlete in America and the experience of blackness in Mormon theology, When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide offers a timely and powerful analysis of the challenges facing African American athletes in the NCAA today.Trade ReviewArguing that the close and complex relationship between race and religion can be uncovered through sports, Smith does a masterful job of weaving together critical race theory, US religious history, and sports to examine institutionalized racism in intercollegiate athletics. Specifically, Smith examines the realm of the sacred through the uneasy relationship between black student athletes and Mormonism’s larger theological constructions of race. Smith points out that within the Mormon Church blackness, especially in regard to black male athletes, is in tension with the notions of freedom, justice, and equality. However, Brigham Young University is not very different from other primarily white schools where, when it comes to sports, big money commands more interest than does the need of athletes. Black student athletes are especially under attack from the systemic white racism of the NCAA sports world. Perhaps most interesting here is Smith’s attention to how change can occur both within Mormon circles and in the sporting world at large. This book is timely, excellent, and worth a very close read. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. * CHOICE *I want to highlight this amazing book . . . [It] is a really fascinating read . . . I can’t plug this book enough and tell everybody they need to read it. * Mormon Stories *The intersecting of race, religion and sport (or perhaps in the author’s words, the ‘collision’ of the three) is a rare feat in the world of scholarship…. An analysis of their association is certainly warranted. Darron T. Smith does just this by wading into the waters of the sports programmes at the flagship university of the Mormon Church. His thesis, that long-standing tenets of Mormon theology have unduly served to punish black athletes at Brigham Young University, extends beyond the expected descriptive account of race, religion and sport converging. Smith bravely aims to expose the racist underbelly of BYU and other similar predominantly white institutions with sport acting as the prism through which to inspect. Hence, When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide stands as a critique of the kind of theologized institutionalized racism that hides within the ranks of big-time college athletics. More to the point, racism and its effects are unique and likely more ingrained and pernicious at religious schools – institutions that should be leading the charge in the opposite direction…. When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide is a respectable gambit into the literature that deals both with race and sport, as well as with sport and religion. Indeed the three are tightly intertwined forming a rope that can pull us out of our shameful racist past but also continue to pull us down into long-standing racist histories with nothing less than the force of God. * Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics *When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide: Black Athletes at BYU and Beyond takes us well past the Davies dismissal to consider the nexus of race, religion, sport, and economic inequality in American society writ large, using BYU as an exemplar of the nation’s colleges and universities…. Smith should be commended for taking on the herculean task of trying to unravel the complex intertwining of race, sports, inequality, and religion. * Mormon Studies Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1.The Meaning of Sport in the Popular Imagination: The Collision of Race, Religion and Sport 2.The Origins of Racism and Framing: Setting the Stage for the History of Blacks in Sport 3.The White Racial Framing of Blacks in Mormon Theology 4.Black Student Revolts and Political Uprising in the Late Sixties and Early Seventies: Fanning the Flame of Black Student-Athlete Revolts 5.Mormon Attitudes toward Civil Rights: It’s God’s Law, We’re Not Racist! 6.No Honor in the Honor Code: The Suspension of Brandon Davies and the Incompatibility Nexus between Blackness and Mormonism 7.Colorblindness and the Health Consequences to Black Male Student-Athletes through the Illusion of a Free Education 8.Pipeline to a Pipedream: The Elusiveness of Change in the Era of “Black Lives Matter” Notes

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less