Mormon Studies : A Critical History.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Helfrich, Ronald, Jr.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Latter Day Saint churches--Study and teaching--History.

Latter Day Saint churches.

Latter Day Saints--Study and teaching--History.

Latter Day Saints.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--Study and teaching--History.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (240 pages)

Place of Publication:

Jefferson : McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, 2021.

Summary:

"Mormonism arose in early 19th century New York and has fired the imaginations of its devotees, critics, and students ever since. Some intellectuals and academics read Mormonism as the product of economic change wrought by the Erie Canal in the Burned-over District of western New York State and upper north-eastern Ohio. Others read Mormonism as an authoritarian reaction to Jacksonian democracy. Finally, some, including most of those who became Mormons in the early 19th century and most of those who are believing Mormons today, read Mormonism as the intervention of God in human history. This book engages with Mormon Studies from its beginnings in the early nineteenth century to the end of the 20th century. It covers those who fought over Mormonism's truth or falsity, on those who tried to understand Mormonism as a religious and sociological phenomenon, and on those who explored the history of Mormonism from a more dispassionate perspective. The book concludes with an exploration of the culture war that erupted as Mormon Studies professionalized particularly after the 1960s"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction : when intellectuals and academics do Mormonism

The polemics and apologetics of Mormon "otherness"

Intellectuals, academics, and Mormon "otherness"

The "old" Mormon studies

The "new" Mormon studies

Social theory, social movements, and Mormon origins

Culture theory and Mormon origins

Mormon studies and its discontents : the "new" Mormon culture war

Conclusion : Whither Mormon studies?

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Helfrich, Ronald, Jr. Mormon Studies

ISBN:

1-80316-158-2

1-4766-4511-6