Description
Book SynopsisLatter-day Saints have a paradoxical relationship to the past; even as they invest their own history with sacred meaning, celebrating the restoration of ancient truths and the fulfillment of biblical prophecies, they repudiate the eighteen centuries of Christianity that preceded the founding of their church as apostate distortions of the truth. Since the early days of Mormonism, Latter-day Saints have used the paradigm of apostasy and restoration in their narratives about the origin of their church. This has generated a powerful and enduring binary of categorization that has profoundly impacted Mormon self-perception and relations with others. Standing Apart explores how the idea of apostasy has functioned as a category to mark, define, and set apart the other in Mormon historical consciousness and in the construction of Mormon narrative identity. The volume''s fifteen contributors trace the development of LDS narratives of apostasy within the context of both Mormon history and America
Trade ReviewNo religion has more consistently defined itself against a religious other than the Latter-day Saints. Now Mormon intellectuals are asking what a Great Apostasy from early Christianity means in light of current historical scholarship and growing Mormon respect for other religions. This is one of the most significant books on Mormon thought in this generation and relevant to all religions who define themselves against a religious other. * Richard Bushman, author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ; Contributors ; Abbreviations and Notes on Sources ; Introduction, Miranda Wilcox and John D. Young ; PART I CONTEXTUALIZING THE LDS GREAT APOSTASY NARRATIVE ; Ch. 1 Historical Periodization in the LDS Great Apostasy Narrative, Eric R Dursteler ; Ch. 2 "Except among that Portion of Mankind": Early Mormon Conceptions of the Apostasy, Christopher C. Jones and Stephen J. Fleming ; Ch. 3 James Talmage, B.H. Roberts, and Confessional History in a Secular Age, Matthew Bowman ; Ch. 4 Narrating Apostasy and the LDS Quest for Identity, Miranda Wilcox ; PART II RE-NARRATING THE APOSTASY: NEW APPROACHES ; Ch. 5 Competing Histories in the Hebrew Bible and in the Latter-day Saint Tradition, Cory D. Crawford ; Ch. 6 Latter-day Saint Perceptions of Jewish Apostasy at the Time of Jesus, Matthew J. Grey ; Ch. 7 Purity and Parallels: Constructing the Apostasy Narrative of Early Christianity, Taylor G. Petrey ; Ch. 8 Rereading the Council of Nicaea and its Creed, Lincoln H. Blumell ; Ch. 9 Apostasy's Ancestors: Anti-Arian and Anti-Mormon Discourse in the Struggle for Christianity, Ariel Bybee Laughton ; Ch. 10 "Complexity and Richness": Re-envisioning the Middle Ages for Mormon Historical Narratives, Spencer E. Young ; Ch. 11 King Ratbod's Dilemma: Apostasy and Restoration in the Sixteenth and Twenty-First Centuries, Jonathan Green ; Ch. 12 Covenantal Pluralism in the Qur'an: Alternatives to the Binary Logic of Apostasy, David D. Peck ; Ch. 13 Long Narratives: Towards a New Mormon Understanding of Apostasy, John D. Young ; Epilogue: "We have only the Old Thing": Rethinking Mormon Restoration, Terryl Givens ; Appendix: First Presidency Statement on God's Love for All Mankind ; Index
