From the Outside Looking In: Essays on Mormon History, Theology, and Culture

This book contains fifteen essays, each first presented as the annual Tanner Lecture at the conference of the Mormon History Association by a leading scholar. Renowned in their own specialties but relatively new to the study of Mormon history at the time of their lectures, these scholars approach Mormon history from a wide variety of perspectives, including such concerns as gender, identity creation, and globalization. Several of these essays place Mormon history within the currents of American religious history--for example, by placing Joseph Smith and other Latter-day Saints in conversation with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nat Turner, fellow millenarians, and freethinkers. Other essays explore the creation of Mormon identities, demonstrating how Mormons created a unique sense of themselves as a distinct people. Historians of the American West examine Mormon connections with American imperialism, the Civil War, and the wider cultural landscape. Finally the essayists look at continuing Latter-day Saint growth around the world, within the context of the study of global religions. Examining Mormon history from an outsider's perspective, the essays presented in this volume ask intriguing questions, share fresh insights and perspectives, analyze familiar sources in unexpected ways, and situate research on the Mormon past within broader scholarly debates.

Table of Contents:
General Introduction by Richard Lyman Bushman Part 1: The American Religious Landscape Introduction by Reid L. Neilson 1. Alan Taylor, "The Free Seekers: Religious Culture in Upstate New York, 1790-1835" 2. Richard H. Brodhead, "Prophets in America ca. 1830: Emerson, Nat Turner, Joseph Smith" 3. Stephen J. Stein, "Historical Reflections on Mormon Futures" 4. Catherine A. Brekus, "Mormon Women and the Problem of Historical Agency" 5. Leigh Schmidt, "Mormons, Freethinkers, and the Limits of Toleration" Part 2: The Creation of Mormon Identities Introduction by Matthew J. Grow 6. Charles L. Cohen, "The Construction of the Mormon People" 7. Elliott West, "Becoming Mormon" 8. Randall Balmer, "'Faith in the Religion of Their Fathers': Passing Mormonism from One Generation to the Next" Part 3: The Study of Western Histories Introduction by Matthew J. Grow 9. Dell Upton, "What the Mormon Cultural Landscape Can Teach Us" 10. William Deverell, "Thoughts from the Farther West: Mormons, California, and the Civil War" 11. Walter Nugent, "The Mormons and America's Empires" 12. George A. Miles, "Mormon Stories: A Librarian's Perspective" Part 4. The Study of Global Religions Introduction by Reid L. Neilson 13. David B. Marshall, "The Latter-day Saints, the Doughnut, and Post-Christian Canada" 14. Philip Jenkins, "Letting Go: Understanding Mormon Growth in Africa" 15. Jehu J. Hanciles, "'Would That All God's People Were Prophets': Mormonism and the New Shape of Global Christianity" Index

About the Author :
Reid L. Neilson is Assistant Church Historian and Recorder/Managing Director in the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Matthew J. Grow is the Director of Publications in the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Review :
"This anthology of recent Tanner Lectures represents cutting edge scholarship about the Mormon experience in America and worldwide. All of the authors are distinguished scholars who write from outside the tradition. Their perspective combines the analytic tools of the observer with the empathetic sensibilities of the believer. Taken together, they provide a plethora of insights about the growth, identity, and position of the largest and perhaps most important of the homegrown American religious movements." --Grant Wacker, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Christian History, Duke Divinity School