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Book SynopsisThis is a memoir of the early years of a well-known Chicano scholar whose work and activism were motivated by his Mormon faith. The narrative follows him as an immigrant boy in San Antonio, Texas, who finds religion, goes to segregated schools, participates in the first major school boycott of the modern era in Texas, goes to Viet Nam where he heads an emergency room in the Mekong Delta, and then to college where he becomes involved in the Chicano Movement. Throughout this time he juggles, struggles, and comes to terms with the religious principles that provide him the foundation for his civil rights activism and form the core of his moral compass and spiritual beliefs. In the process he pushes back against those religious traditions and customs that he sees as contrary to the most profound aspects of being a Mormon Christian. This memoir is about activism and religion on the ground and reflects the militancy of people of color whose faith drives them to engage in social action that defies simple political terminology.Trade ReviewTo some, the identities of Chicano and Mormon may seem contradictory or oxymoronic. . . .[Yet] in this deeply personal narrative, Dr. Garcia addresses the tension of navigating two seemingly contradictory social groups while growing up in a segregated barrio, fighting for America abroad, and organizing for la raza at home. * New Books Network *Chicano While Mormon will help many readers understand the intersectional nature of American ethnic and religious identities, and Garcia is to be applauded for sharing this necessarily complicated story. Garcia’s book is a welcome addition to the emergent literature by Latinos outside traditional religious (read Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Pentecostal) affiliations. * Mormon Studies Review *Garcia demonstrates, through a personal and highly revealing work, how religious affiliation and belief can sustain an individual in trying social (including political) and personal circumstances. . . . .All of these situations Garcia details beautifully and extensively in his work and documents how his Mormon faith served as a bulwark against all manner of depravations and temptations. . . .In summary, I highly recommend this excellent and revealing book to individuals who are interested in Mormon biography and autobiography as well as the broad and expanding topic of Latino/Chicano biography/history. Readers will find much validation of their faith (Mormon or others) within the pages of Chicano While Mormon. . . .As Dr. Garcia notes, his worldview came into focus when ‘I remembered that life was about developing character, being tested by fire, and forgiving,’ and that is the true message presented in his life and careers, as well as in this inspiring autobiography. * BYU Studies Quarterly *Written as memoir, García's life provides readers with a fascinating experience that joins religion with civic participation, Chicano identity with surviving Vietnam, racism with reconciliation. García's book is especially poignant for Mormon Studies audiences whose vision of Mormon history must begin to include these complex and increasingly diverse voices.... García's life stories are a treasure for both Chicano and Mormon Studies scholars who are interested in engaging how someone negotiates both worlds seamlessly. Chicano While Mormon would make an excellent addition to those interested in Chicano History, Religious Studies, Ethnic Studies, Mormon Studies and Military History. It effortlessly brings the reader into a world unknown to many and might just enliven a hunger for history, stories, narrative, and lifeways that are sure to reach across various interests . * Journal of Mormon History *A unique, powerful, and inspiring memoir on the complexities of becoming a Chicano Mormon by one of the accomplished historians of his generation. -- Mario T. García, University of California, Santa Barbara, author of Mexican Americans: Leadership, Ideology & Identity, 1930-1960Think you know what it means to be Mormon? In this tough, tender memoir, Ignacio García reminds us that Mormon barrio girls with hair teased high, walkouts, grape boycotts, urban congregations run by tough-minded working-class women, soulful contemplations in the Vietnam barracks—these too belong to the modern LDS experience. His story reminds us that the Mormon faith can fuel a hunger for social justice, and that the Mormon people have a great deal to learn by turning the time over to our brothers and sisters of color. Thank you for the wisdom, Brother García. Adelante, and amen. -- Joanna Brooks, author, The Book of Mormon GirlBeautifully written and insightful, Chicano While Mormon weaves personal narrative with history through rich, deeply inspiring, moments of struggle and perseverance. García’s prose draws readers into his exhilarating odyssey across ethnicity, Chicano activism, working-class struggles, spirituality, el army, and academia. A treasure for multiple audiences, García’s refreshing journey into faith and complex is as captivating as it is insightful. -- Sujey Vega, assistant professor in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State UniversityAs we experience the browning of twenty-first-century Mormonism, Ignacio Garcia’s memoir will be remembered and appreciated as being perhaps the first of its kind: a poignant, unflinching, and deeply humane story of the complexities of identity and belonging for Hispanic Mormons (or Mormon Hispanics). For all those who have come to reflexively equate Mormonism with white American conservatism, behold here a very different, yet deeply authentic, kind of Mormonism—one equally committed not only to faith, morality, and individual achievement but also to grassroots activism for peace and social justice and solidarity with immigrants and the poor. “Pioneer” is a hackneyed term in Mormonism, but this memoir reminds us that Mormon pioneering truly did not end in the nineteenth century. -- Patrick Q. Mason, Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies, Claremont Graduate UniversityTable of ContentsDedication Table of Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Prologue Coming to America Growing Up Brown in Texas El Grito: Becoming Mexican Mormonismo: A Home for My Spiritual Yearnings Sidney Lanier High School: La Garra La Vida (not too) Loca of High School El Army Going to El Norte: Entering the Homefront Going to Viet Nam: the Brown Warrior Romance, Buddies, and Disillusionment Providing Mercy and Finding Death Again Flying Back to the Barrio Another Part of Texas: Another Part of the Spirit Two Steps Back into a Chicano World The College Life: Beyond the Activist Trenches United We Win: Politics in the Time of Chicanos El Final: Politics of Self-Destruction Final Thoughts on This Phase of My Life About the Author

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Book SynopsisIrenaeus, Joseph Smith, and God-Making Heresy seeks both to demonstrate the salience of “heresy” as a tool for analyzing instances of religious conflict far beyond the borders of traditional historical theology and to illuminate the apparent affinity for deification exhibited by some persecuted religious movements. To these ends, the book argues for a sociologically-informed redefinition of heresy as religiously-motivated opposition and applies the resulting concept to the historical cases of second-century Christians and nineteenth-century Mormons. Ultimately, Irenaeus, Joseph Smith, and God-Making Heresy is a careful application of the comparative method to two new religious movements, highlighting the social processes at work in their early doctrinal developments.Trade ReviewAdam J. Powell's work utilizes a robust theoretical framework to present the connection between the opposition faced by religious communities and the development of new doctrines, specifically deification.... This text offers an important contribution to the discussion of Mormon history and how doctrines form in light of exterior forces. This text is well researched and offers an important theoretical framework for the study of heresy's impact on religious movements. * Journal of Mormon History *In just over two hundred pages, Powell manages to produce not only a fascinating comparison between Joseph Smith’s nineteenth-century Mormonism and the religious thought of second-century church father Irenaeus, but also introduces an innovative application of the work of Max Weber and Hans Mol to the question of religious conflict management.... [B]ooks like Powell’s are important, pioneering steps toward a more mature notion of how Mormonism can function as a suitable subject of study for scholars interested in the nature of religion as a concept and as a fully integrated cultural agent. * Mormon Studies Review *At first glance, second-century bishop Irenaeus of Lyon and Joseph Smith . . . don't seem to have much in common. . . .However, as Dr. Adam Powell shows in his fascinating study, Irenaeus, Joseph Smith God-Making Heresy, they and their communities shared a great deal. * New Books Network *Powell does an admirable job of articulating many striking similarities surrounding the formation of early Christianity, as represented by Irenaeus, and the formation of early Mormonism. Those similarities are compelling, and well-worth examining. . . .Sociologists of religion will find this book of value. * AML's Dawning of a Brighter Day *Irenaeus, Joseph Smith, and God-Making Heresy is very highly recommended for academic library Christian Studies collections. * Midwest Book Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Approaching Answers Outline Part One 1.Heresy as Opposition: Debates and Definitions Available Definitions Relativity and Heresy The Ideal Type Toward a Sociology of Heresy Heresy and Soteriology: The Process of Interaction 2.The Heretical Process: Its Assumptions and Predictions The Sociology of Knowledge Hans Mol’s Adaptation/Identity Dialectic When Position becomes Confession From Opposition to Salvation Part Two 3.Locating Heresy: The Threefold Attack Pagans, Jews, Gnostics, and Rome: The Irenaean Antecedent Ministers, Mobs, Apostates, and “Gentile” (Protestant) America: The Early Mormon Example Ferment and Fecundity 4.Resolving Heresy: Soteriological Schemas Toward Resolution Order and Salvation Group and Self in the Soteriological Schema God, Humanity, Resolution, and Adaptation Conclusion: Salvation and Success God-making Heresy Finale Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisOne of the most pertinent questions facing students of Mormon Studies is gaining further understanding of the function the Bible played in the composition of Joseph Smith’s primary compositions, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. With a few notable exceptions, such as Philip Barlow’s Mormons and the Bible and Grant Hardy’s Understanding the Book of Mormon, full-length monographs devoted to this topic have been lacking. This manuscript attempts to remedy this through a close analysis of how Mormon scripture, specifically the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, integrates the writings of New Testament into its own text. This manuscript takes up the argument that through the rhetoric of allusivity (the allusion to one text by another) Joseph Smith was able to bestow upon his works an authority they would have lacked without the incorporation of biblical language. In order to provide a thorough analysis focused on how Smith incorporated the biblical text into his own texts, this work will limit itself only to those passages in Mormon scripture that allude to the Prologue of John’s gospel (John 1:1-18). The choice of the Prologue of John is due to its frequent appearance throughout Smith’s corpus as well as its recognizable language. This study further argues that the manner in which Smith incorporates the Johannine Prologue is by no means uniform but actually quite creative, taking (at least) four different forms: Echo, Allusion, Expansion, and Inversion. The methodology used in this work is based primarily upon recent developments in intertextual studies of the Bible, an analytical method that has proved to be quite effective in studying later author’s use of earlier texts.Trade ReviewThe strengths of the volume are many. The most striking is perhaps located in the way Frederick casually pioneers a route through terrain often deemed too treacherous for faithful Latter-day Saints.... Second, and more important, Frederick’s work consciously puts Joseph Smith’s intertextual production of scripture into conversation with ongoing work, especially in biblical studies, on texts that rework older authoritative material.... Third, the book presents a model of engagement that strives for methodological clarity. Even when one disagrees with his analysis and conclusions, one finds that Frederick has advanced the study of intertextual relationships in Mormon scripture because of this transparency. Even in his more technical discussions, Frederick writes in an engaging style and is appropriately flexible in his readings and categorizations of allusive devices..... Frederick is to be commended for advancing the conversation in a concrete and deliberate way, and for setting a constructive tone for future intertextual research. * Mormon Studies Review *Nicholas J. Frederick’s new book, The Bible, Mormon Scripture, and the Rhetoric of Allusivity, is a highly detailed analysis…. Frederick writes a thorough, probing example of scriptural close reading that would be valuable for any student of LDS scripture, believer or nonbeliever alike. When Frederick rolls up his sleeves and dives into scriptural analysis, identifying the Gospel of John in places previously unnoticed, the book fascinates and instructs. * BYU Studies Quarterly *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments Foreword Introduction Chapter 1: Mormon Scripture and the Echo of John Chapter 2: Mormon Scripture and the Allusion of John Chapter 3: Mormon Scripture and the Expansion of John Chapter 4: Mormon Scripture and the Inversion of John Epilogue Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisMormon Women’s History: Beyond Biography demonstrates that the history and experience of Mormon women is central to the history of Mormonism and to histories of American religion, politics, and culture. Yet the study of Mormon women has mostly been confined to biographies, family histories, and women’s periodicals. The contributors to Mormon Women’s History engage the vast breadth of sources left by Mormon women—journals, diaries, letters, family histories, and periodicals as well as art, poetry, material culture, theological treatises, and genealogical records—to read between the lines, reconstruct connections, recover voices, reveal meanings, and recast stories. Mormon Women’s History presents women as incredibly inter-connected. Familial ties of kinship are multiplied and stretched through the practice and memory of polygamy, social ties of community are overlaid with ancestral ethnic connections and local congregational assignments, fictive ties are woven through shared interests and collective memories of violence and trauma. Conversion to a new faith community unites and exposes the differences among Native Americans, Yankees, and Scandinavians. Lived experiences of marriage, motherhood, death, mourning, and widowhood are played out within contexts of expulsion and exile, rape and violence, transnational immigration, establishing “civilization” in a wilderness, and missionizing both to new neighbors and far away peoples. Gender defines, limits, and opens opportunities for private expression, public discourse, and popular culture. Cultural prejudices collide with doctrinal imperatives against backdrops of changing social norms, emerging professional identities, and developing ritualization and sacralization of lived religion. The stories, experiences, and examples explored in Mormon Women’s History are neither comprehensive nor conclusive, but rather suggestive of the ways that Mormon women’s history can move beyond individual lives to enhance and inform larger historical narratives.Table of ContentsContents Introduction Rachel Cope Chapter 1. Charting the Past and Future of Mormon Women’s History Keith A. Erekson Chapter 2. Sifting Truth from Legend: Evaluating Sources for American Indian Biography through the Life of Sally Exervia Ward Jenny Hale Pulsipher Chapter 3. Silent Memories of Missouri: Mormon Women and Men and Sexual Assault in Group Memory and Religious Identity Andrea G. Radke-Moss Chapter 4. Early Mormonism’s Expansive Family and the Browett Women Amy Harris Chapter 5. Poetry in the Woman’s Exponent: Constructing Self & Society Amy Easton-Flake Chapter 6. Aesthetic Evangelism, Artistic Sisterhood, and the Gospel of Beauty: Mormon Women Artists at Home and Abroad, ca. 1890–1920 Heather Belnap Jensen Chapter 7. Leah Dunford Witdsoe, Alice Merril Horne, and the Sacralization of Artistic Taste in Mormon Homes, circa 1900 Josh E. Probert Chapter 8. Double Jeopardy in Pleasant Grove: The Gendered and Cultural Challenges of Being a Danish Mormon Missionary Grass Widow in Territorial Utah Julie K. Allen Chapter 9. Kings and Queens of the Kingdom: Gendering the Mormon Theological Narrative Benjamin E. Park Chapter 10. Individual Lives, Broader Contexts: Mormon Women’s Studies and the Refashioning of American History and Historiography R. Marie Griffith Bibliography Contributor Biographies

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Book SynopsisMormon Women’s History: Beyond Biography demonstrates that the history and experience of Mormon women is central to the history of Mormonism and to histories of American religion, politics, and culture. Yet the study of Mormon women has mostly been confined to biographies, family histories, and women’s periodicals. The contributors to Mormon Women’s History engage the vast breadth of sources left by Mormon women—journals, diaries, letters, family histories, and periodicals as well as art, poetry, material culture, theological treatises, and genealogical records—to read between the lines, reconstruct connections, recover voices, reveal meanings, and recast stories.Mormon Women’s History presents women as incredibly inter-connected. Familial ties of kinship are multiplied and stretched through the practice and memory of polygamy, social ties of community are overlaid with ancestral ethnic connections and local congregational assignments, fictive ties are woven through shared interests and collective memories of violence and trauma. Conversion to a new faith community unites and exposes the differences among Native Americans, Yankees, and Scandinavians. Lived experiences of marriage, motherhood, death, mourning, and widowhood are played out within contexts of expulsion and exile, rape and violence, transnational immigration, establishing “civilization” in a wilderness, and missionizing both to new neighbors and far away peoples. Gender defines, limits, and opens opportunities for private expression, public discourse, and popular culture. Cultural prejudices collide with doctrinal imperatives against backdrops of changing social norms, emerging professional identities, and developing ritualization and sacralization of lived religion.The stories, experiences, and examples explored in Mormon Women’s History are neither comprehensive nor conclusive, but rather suggestive of the ways that Mormon women’s history can move beyond individual lives to enhance and inform larger historical narratives.Table of ContentsContentsIntroductionRachel CopeChapter 1. Charting the Past and Future of Mormon Women’s HistoryKeith A. EreksonChapter 2. Sifting Truth from Legend: Evaluating Sources for American Indian Biographythrough the Life of Sally Exervia WardJenny Hale PulsipherChapter 3. Silent Memories of Missouri: Mormon Women and Men and Sexual Assault in Group Memory and Religious IdentityAndrea G. Radke-MossChapter 4. Early Mormonism’s Expansive Family and the Browett WomenAmy Harris Chapter 5. Poetry in the Woman’s Exponent: Constructing Self & SocietyAmy Easton-Flake Chapter 6. Aesthetic Evangelism, Artistic Sisterhood, and the Gospel of Beauty: Mormon Women Artists at Home and Abroad, ca. 1890–1920Heather Belnap JensenChapter 7. Leah Dunford Witdsoe, Alice Merril Horne, and the Sacralization of Artistic Taste in Mormon Homes, circa 1900Josh E. Probert Chapter 8. Double Jeopardy in Pleasant Grove: The Gendered and Cultural Challenges of Being a Danish Mormon Missionary Grass Widow in Territorial UtahJulie K. AllenChapter 9. Kings and Queens of the Kingdom: Gendering the Mormon Theological NarrativeBenjamin E. ParkChapter 10. Individual Lives, Broader Contexts: Mormon Women’s Studies and the Refashioning of American History and HistoriographyR. Marie GriffithBibliographyContributor Biographies

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Book SynopsisThe backstory of finding Elizabeth Smart and how growing up in the Mormon culture pushed the author to develop the exact kind of intuition that was needed to help manage Elizabeth’s kidnapping and rescue while the world watched.Chris Thomas is not yet thirty years old when he finds himself managing the immense pressure, eccentric personalities, and extenuating circumstances of an international story, where one small misstep could adversely impact the search for a missing teenager and the reputation of her family. Now, twenty years later, Thomas takes readers behind the scenes, providing new details, perspectives, and commentary on finding Elizabeth Smart. In the process of reflecting on Elizabeth’s search and rescue, Thomas discovers how growing up in the culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as Mormon) helped push him to develop the exact kind of intuition needed to manage Elizabeth’s kidnapping and rescue, and to do so while the world watched. Unexpected juxtaposes crucial events from the Smart case with Thomas’s experience growing up in the Latter-day Saint culture, including coming to understand the secret of a broken war hero before it was too late.

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Book Synopsis• Eight noted theologians, each speaking on a topic of science • Builds on popular videos from the Day 1 radio program Science or faith? The battle rages, from millennials and GenXers questioning the relevance of religion to older adults who doubt the validity of science (and vice versa), but these two are not mutually exclusive. They can, in fact, be mutually enriching and complimentary, once their proper domains are understood and respected. The Episcopal Church, with its tradition of the “via media,” offers an ideal setting for conversations seeking to bridge the often antagonistic perspectives on both sides. Faith and Science in the 21st Century presents a way to start that conversation. Built on existing videos produced by the popular Day 1 program with assistance from a John Templeton Foundation grant, this series features notable faith leaders across the denominational spectrum in 3 to 5 minute video presentations on scientific topics in which they are experts. Intended for use in a variety of settings, including congregations, schools, and campus ministries, it can be presented as an eight-session series of studies, but each session can also stand on its own for a one-time formation offering. A single video download will offer all video presentations. This Leader Guide enables facilitators to foster fruitful discussions of each session topic. It includes an introduction about the program and how it can be used, and eight detailed session plans to utilize with a downloadable video sold separately on the Day 1 website.Trade Review"Not all of us are scientists. But we all do live in the universe, and we are hardwired to be curious about it––our curiosity is one of God's greatest gifts to us. Here are ways to harness our innate curiosity to the ancient texts and teachings of the church in an exciting spirit of awe and wonder." ––Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, author of The AlsoLife"For anyone wanting to lead a study on faith and science, this eight-session study guide for Faith and Science in the 21st Century is a wonderful resource. The guide provides everything a leader would need to confidently lead a group. The accompanying video clips from the Day1® Faith and Science series are visually stunning and theologically thought provoking." ––Charlaine Apsel, Executive Director for Practical Resources for Churches"Science and religion are not sparring partners looking for knockouts, but kissing cousins looking to build bridges. Faith and Science helps us span the wondrous gap between what we see and what we believe, sharpening our faith and opening our eyes to new ways of being in the world." ––Chris Yaw, Founder of ChurchNext"This is an excellent resource for groups to look into the biblical texts to find where God is still in the creation business. The universe expands and God continually speaks God's blessing, 'It is very good.' The ability to use this hybrid resource to explore faith, science, and technology will help those who struggle combining their faith beliefs with their scientific understanding of the world." ––Bill Campbell, Forma Executive DirectorTable of ContentsHow to Use This ResourceSession 1: How Can Faith and Science Inform Each Other?Session 2: God and CosmosSession 3: Creation and EvolutionSession 4: Quantum Physics and EternitySession 5: Science and the Image of GodSession 6: The Bible and GeneticsSession 7: Life and DeathSession 8: Continuing the ConversationFor Further ReadingMeet the Speakers

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Book Synopsis Joseph F. Smith was born in 1838 to Hyrum Smith and Mary Fielding Smith. Six years later both his father and his uncle, Joseph Smith Jr., the founding prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were murdered in Carthage, Illinois. The trauma of that event remained with Joseph F. for the rest of his life, affecting his personal behavior and public tenure in the highest tiers of the LDS Church, including the post of president from 1901 until his death in 1918. Joseph F. Smith laid the theological groundwork for modern Mormonism, especially the emphasis on temple work. This contribution was capped off by his “revelation on the redemption of the dead,” a vision accepted by Mormons as a prophetic glimpse into the afterlife. Taysom’s book traces the roots of this vision, which reach far more deeply into Joseph F. Smith’s life than other scholars have previously identified. In this first cradle-to-grave biography of Joseph F. Smith, Stephen C. Taysom uses previously unavailable primary source materials to craft a deeply detailed, insightful story of a prominent member of a governing and hugely influential Mormon family. Importantly, Taysom situates Joseph F. Smith within the historical currents of American westward expansion, rapid industrialization, settler colonialism, regional and national politics, changing ideas about family and masculinity, and more. Though some writers tend to view the LDS Church and its leaders through a lens of political and religious separatism, Taysom does the opposite, pushing Joseph F. Smith and Mormonism closer to the centers of power in Washington, DC, and elsewhere. Trade ReviewThis remarkable, path-breaking, sometimes jaw-dropping Joseph F. Smith biography makes an immense contribution to the fields of Mormon history and Mormon studies." —John Turner, George Mason UniversityTaysom has done a marvelous job of mining the voluminous primary sources available to him, primarily in church archives. He has produced a detailed, textured, and fascinating biography of a major but underappreciated figure in Latter-day Saint history." —Patrick Q. Mason, Utah State UniversityTable of Contents A Note on Sources Preface AcknowledgmentsIntroduction 1. Bloodlines 2. From Missouri to Nauvoo 3. The Murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith 4. Pioneer Days 5. Upon the Isles of the Sea 6. Returning to Utah and Finding a Wife 7. Mission to the British Isles 8. Marital Discord, Domestic Violence, and Divorce 9. JFS the Apostle, JFS the Polygamist 10. Mission President in England, Losing the Lion 11. Exile 12. “We were unsettled as a Quorum” 13. An Emerging Gospel Scholar, Iosepa, and the Manifesto 14. The Ever- Tightening Knot of Utah Politics 15. Politics, Economics, and Polygamy Collide 16. Presiding High Priest, 1901–1918 17. The Complexities of Religion in a New Century 18. From Salt Lake to Sharon 19. Dusk Afterword Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAn inside look at the foundational sacred text of one of the world's youngest and fastest growing religions The Book of Mormon stands alongside the Bible as the keystone of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church/Mormonism). Translated by the prophet Joseph Smith from ancient writings inscribed on golden plates, the Book of Mormon is an account of people living in the Western Hemisphere in a timeline that parallels that of the Bible. It covers a thousand years of loss, discovery, war, peace and spiritual principles that focus on the teachings of Jesus Christ, outlining a plan for salvation and the responsibilities we must assume to attain it. The Book of Mormon: Selections Annotated & Explained explores this sacred epic that is cherished by more than twelve million members of the LDS church as the keystone of their faith. Probing the principal themes and historical foundation of this controversial and provocative narrative, Jana Riess focuses on key selections that offer insight into contemporary Mormon beliefs and scriptural emphases, such as the atonement of Christ, the nature of human freedom, the purpose of baptism and the need for repentance from sin. She clarifies the religious, political and historical events that take place in the ancient communities of the Book of Mormon and their underlying contemporary teachings that serve as the framework for spiritual practices that lie at the core of Mormon life. Now you can experience this foundational sacred text even if you have no previous knowledge of Mormonism. This SkyLight Illuminations edition presents the key teachings and essential concepts of the Mormon faith tradition with insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that helps to dispel many of the misconceptions that have surrounded the Book of Mormon since its publication in 1830.Trade Review"Captures the spirit and gist of the distinctively Mormon scripture at one-tenth its length. Coupled with her informed, discerning and accessible commentary, Riess's editorial accomplishment is an act of interreligious generosity." —Philip Barlow, ThD, author of Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion "The most compelling, fascinating and gracious approach to the Book of Mormon that I have seen. Transforms dozens of cryptic passages and symbols into powerful messages that make the Mormon story shine with the beauties and mysteries of God's love." —Mary Ford-Grabowsky, editor of Spiritual Writings on Mary: Annotated & Explained “With her considerable historical and theological knowledge combined with her literary sensibilities, Jana Riess strikes precisely the right balance—an astute and sympathetic guide, not an overzealous proselytizer. Her informed and agile glosses help enormously in bringing the text to life.” —Randall Balmer, PhD, Ann Whitney Olin Professor of American Religion, Barnard College, Columbia University “At last, a version of the Book of Mormon that is suitable in both size and content for the classroom.… Manages to leave the sense of the whole intact, while commentary provides a simple guide to Latter-day Saint belief. A very useful, even necessary supplement to the study of Mormonism.” —Kathleen Flake, PhD, assistant professor of American religious history, Vanderbilt Divinity SchoolTable of ContentsForeword by Phyllis Tickle vii Introduction xi A Note about Language xxi The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi 1 Selections from the Book of Mormon 1. The First Book of Nephi 5 2. The Second Book of Nephi 51 3. The Book of Jacob 79 4. The Book of Mosiah 109 5. The Book of Alma 139 6. The Third Book of Nephi 185 7. The Book of Mormon 207 8. The Book of Moroni 219 Notes 232 Suggested Readings 234

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Book SynopsisCult Shock is an apologetic resource that teaches Christians how to defend their faith and evangelize Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. It explains the beliefs of these groups and how Biblical Christianity refutes their worldview. Readers will gain confidence witnessing to these groups based on the Stengler’s recommended engagement techniques from their years of experience. In no time short, Christians will go from a place of fear to fearless as they proclaim the real Jesus!

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Book SynopsisHave You Considered is the third in a series of unique devotionals which present the evidence for creation from every area of science. 365 different examples of how well science supports a biblical model for our origins are presented. Topics range from biology to geology, genetics to botany, anatomy to history, design to microbiology, Christian truths to cosmology. This book is marvelously illustrated with over 300 color illustrations. It is written in a style that is appropriate to be read to even young children yet profoundly enjoyable for adults. The book also contains extensive references and includes topical, Bible verse, and subject indexes. It is a phenominal source for homes schoolers, Christian parents, or anyone wanting to know more about nature or creation.

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Book SynopsisEvangelical mission work in Germany has made little inroads to reach secular people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. This book investigates diffusional patterns that enabled three evangelical church plants to guide converts through processes of transformational conversion. Each church plant in this multi-case study represents a salient expression of their correlating missional movement pointing to contemporary trends in German evangelicalism: Migrant missions, new Pentecostal churches, and American mission efforts in conjunction with globally active church planting organizations.Table of ContentsIntroduction — The Historical Context of Case Study Churches — Case Study 1: Hope Center in Berlin — Case Study 2: Gospel Church Munich — Case Study 3: ConnectKirche Erfurt — Cross Case Analysis — Conclusion — Bibliography.

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