Mormonism For Dummies

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 384 pages
• Published by: For Dummies February 25, 2005
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0764571958
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0764571954
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.6 pounds

Product Description
Get the facts on temples, tithing, missions, and caffeine

Mormon doctrines, rituals, and history, demystified at last!

Mormonism, or the LDS Church, is one of the world’s fastest growing religions. But unless you were raised a Mormon, you probably don’t have a clear picture of LDS beliefs and practices. Covering everything from Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon to tithing and family home evening, this friendly guide will get you up to speed in no time.

Discover:

• How the LDS Church differs from other Christian churches
• What Mormons believe
• What happens in Mormon temples and meetinghouses
• The history of the LDS Church
• LDS debates on race, women, and polygamy

About The Author
Jana Riess, PhD, is the Religion Book Review Editor for Publishers Weekly magazine and is also the author of The Spiritual Traveler: Boston and New England (HiddenSpring) and What Would Buffy Do?: The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide (Jossey-Bass). She holds degrees in religion from Wellesley College and Princeton Theological Seminary, and a PhD in American religious history from Columbia University. She is frequently interviewed by the media on trends in religion and publishing. A convert to the LDS Church, Riess has spoken at Brigham Young University Women’s Conference and other Mormon gatherings, as well as professional conferences. She lives in Kentucky with her husband and daughter.

Christopher Kimball Bigelow is the great-great-great-grandson of a Mormon apostle who had more than forty wives. He served an LDS mission in Melbourne, Australia, and worked as an editor at the LDS Church’s official Ensign magazine. A graduate of Emerson College and Brigham Young University, Bigelow cofounded and edited the Mormon literary magazine Irreantum and the satirical Mormon newspaper The Sugar Beet, and he’s working on a memoir and a novel. A Hodgkin’s disease survivor and the oldest of ten siblings, he lives with his wife and four children in Provo, Utah. You can reach him at chrisbigelow@gmail.com.

Reader Reviews
(Full disclosure: I'm acquainted with Christopher Bigelow and have had friendly correspondence by e-mail with Jana Riess, the authors of this book.) The series title "...for Dummies" really bugs me, especially in this case, because this is not a book for stupid people. It's for intelligent people who don't have all the information they want. The authors of "Mormonism for Dummies" never talk down or condescend to you. Rather, they offer you a full smorgasboard of things you need to know about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). Like many faith traditions, Mormonism is something you can spend a whole lifetime investigating and never get to the bottom. But Bigelow and Riess, both faithful members, have put together what you could call a mini-encyclopedia that answers most of the questions you could come up with. They cover doctrine, history, and particularly culture, so that by the end of the book you get a vivid sense of just what it must be like to be a Mormon. If you think Mormons are somehow wacky or weird, this book will give you a glimpse of the power and breadth of Mormon thought, and may make you rethink your prejudices. The tone of this book is admirably moderate in its tackling of the many gray areas of Mormon practice, like whether it's OK for Mormons to see R-rated movies, or whether caffeinated sodas are against the health code called the "Word of Wisdom". If you aren't Mormon, this book is an excellent source of information; if you are Mormon this book is still illuminating in that you may find out that some things you thought weren't true really are, or vice versa. This gets my highest recommendation. Comments (2) | | (Report this)