LitArk » Books » Religion

Lee Trepanier - LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture

Here you can read online Lee Trepanier - LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 2012, publisher: Baylor University Press, genre: Religion. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

Book:
LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture
Author:
Lee Trepanier / Lynita K Newswander
Publisher:
Baylor University Press
Genre:
Books / Religion
Year:
2012
Rating:
3 / 5
Favourites:
Add to favourites
Your mark:
- 60
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5

Description
Author's other books
Similar books

LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

From the politics of Glenn Beck to reality televisions Big Love and the hit Broadway show The Book of Mormon, Mormons have become a recognizable staple of mainstream popular culture. And while most Americans are well aware of the existence of Mormonism--and some of the often exaggerated myths about Mormonism--the religions public influence has been sorely understudied.

Lee Trepanier and Lynita K. Newswander move beyond clichd and stereotypical portrayals of Mormonism to unpack the significant and sometimes surprising roles Mormons have played in the building of modern America. Moving from popular culture to politics to the Mormon influence in social controversies, LDS in the USA reveals Mormonism to be quintessentially American--both firmly rooted in American tradition and free to engage in the public square.

Trepanier and Newswander examine the intersection of the tension between the nations sometimes bizarre understanding of Mormon belief and the suspicious acceptance of the most well known Mormons into the American public identity. Readers are consistently challenged to abandon popular perceptions in order to embrace more fully the fascinating importance of this American religion.

Lee Trepanier: author's other books

Who wrote LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

LDS in the USA

Mormonism and the Making of American Culture

Lee Trepanier and Lynita K. Newswander

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PRESS

2012 by Baylor University Press

Waco, Texas 76798

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of Baylor University Press.

Cover Design by Zeal Design Studio

Cover Image Ashley Cooper/Corbis

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Trepanier, Lee, 1972-

LDS in the USA : Mormonism and the making of American culture / Lee Trepanier and Lynita K. Newswander.

176 p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 143) and index.

ISBN 978-1-60258-327-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--History.

2. Mormon Church--United States. 3. United States--Church history.

I. Newswander, Lynita, 1982 II. Title.

BX8611.T74 2012

289.3'3209--dc23

2011032169

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper with a minimum of - photo 2

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper with a minimum of 30% pcw recycled content.

To our families and our spouses,
for their constant love and unfailing support
in all our endeavors.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A lthough our names are listed as the authors, this book is the culmination of the shared efforts of our families, friends, and colleagues. To all of these people we certainly want to extend thanks for their support, patience, and good graces while we worked to complete this book. We especially want to thank Carey Newman, who has been instrumental in this book from its inception to its completion, as well as the staff of Baylor University Press. Without Careys and their assistance, this book would not only have been a much poorer product, but it would never have been published.

This book was a result of a chance meeting at Princeton University, where we were both participants at the Lehrman American Studies Center in the summer of 2009. Having learned about the Mormons from living in Utah for four years, Lee was looking for some project to explain his experiences with Mormon culture and its relationship to American civilization. Likewise, Lynita had just completed her dissertation on Mormonism in the Age of Jackson and had been searching for a venue to publish part of her findings. Without the sponsorship of the Lehrman American Studies Center, we would never have met and therefore been able to write this book. To Mr. Lehrman and his staff, we want to express our gratitude for his invitation to Princeton, where this fortuitous encounter took place and resulted in this book.

On a final personal note, we would like to express our thanks and love to our spouses, MiJung and Chad, and Lynitas children, Madison and Lincoln. Without your unwavering support, this book would never have been realized. And although our names are on the cover of this book, you are the true coauthors of our lives. It is to you that this book is rightfully and most properly dedicated.

INTRODUCTION

For Another Thousand Years

T he role of Mormonism in America has been simultaneously both exaggerated and undervalued. On the one hand, Mormons are seen with suspicion as part of a secret organization that seeks domination over the United States; on the other hand, they are marginalized and often excluded from national conversations about religion, culture, and politics in America. The fact is that neither account is accurate: Mormons have played a substantial role in the shaping of the social, cultural, political, and religious makeup of the United States, a role that is neither conspiratorial nor marginal and that has not been properly acknowledged in the academy or by the general public. This book is intended to remedy this deficiency. In it, we will explore the contributions Mormonism has made to American civilization and to the values that civilization claims to espouse.

When we speak of American civilization, we are attesting to those qualities that make the United States unique as a social, cultural, religious, and political entity. For example, the sociologist

The role of Mormonism in American civilization has been shaped by, as well as exposed the limits of, some of the values that Americans continue to espouse: religious tolerance, social pluralism, federalism, separation of church and state, the definition and importance of marriage, and Christianity. Mormons have been instrumental in representing and challenging these values in the realms of popular culture, the family, politics, and religion in the United States. As we will see, Mormons have not been completely accepted in mainstream American society. To a certain extent, the pattern of suspicion, accommodation, and eventual acceptance they have experienced is familiar to immigrant groups arriving in the United States, but what makes the Mormon experience unique is that they began within the United States and became outsiders within their own country. That is, the Mormons were forced to flee the United Statesto become emigrantsbefore they became accommodated and accepted.

Before proceeding further, we should begin by defining Mormons and Mormonism. A Mormon is a practitioner of Mormonism, the largest branch of which is The Church of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The term itself is derived from the Book of Mormon, a sacred text to the Mormons that they consider to be Although initially a derogatory nickname for members of LDS Church, Mormon became embraced by its followers. The term itself now not only refers to the religious aspect of these believers but also includes the social and cultural components that are associated with Mormonism.

The Mormons were forced to flee upstate New York to the Midwest and eventually to the West, where they established a theocratic state under the leadership of Brigham Young. As the U.S. federal government expanded its control westward, the Mormons became organized into the territory of and later state of Utah, where polygamy, separation of church and state, and federalism became contentious issues between the two parties. The tension between the Mormons and the federal government was such that an actual war, the Mormon War, broke out between the two groups.

When the Mormons decided to renounce the practice of polygamy, Utah was adopted as a state. However, they still were not fully accepted into the mainstream culture of the United States. Even today Mormons are often negatively portrayed in popular culture and are exposed to religious prejudice in the realms of politics and religion. This accommodationbut not acceptanceof Mormons raises questions about the faithfulness of the values to which Americans claim to adhere, such as religious tolerance and social pluralism.

In this book, we use the term Mormons to describe any believers who accept the Book of Mormon for their religious beliefs, while we use the term Latter-day Saints (LDS) to refer specifically to those who submit to the authority of the LDS Church headquartered in Salt Lake City. Besides the LDS Mormons, there exist the Missouri Mormons, who do not recognize the authority of the LDS Church, which include such organizations as the Community of Christ, the Church of Christ, and the Remnant Church Here we focus mostly on the experience of LDS Mormons in America, with some references to the polygamous practicing Mormons as they have received recent attention in the media (for example, Warren Jeffs), and in popular culture (for example,

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture»

Look at similar books to LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Adam Jortner

No Place for Saints: Mobs and Mormons in Jacksonian America

Drew Williams

The Complete Idiots Guide to Understanding Mormonism

Jay M. Hawkinson

Freemasonry Threaded Though Mormonism

Jana Riess

Mormonism for Dummies

Lynn Wilder

7 Reasons We Left Mormonism

Bill McKeever

Mormonism 101: Examining the Religion of the Latter-Day Saints

Judy Robertson

Out of Mormonism: A Woman’s True Story

Joanna Brooks

Mormonism and White Supremacy: American Religion and The Problem of Racial Innocence

Benson Richard

Secrets Mormons Dont Want You to Know

Stephen Mansfield

The Mormonizing of America: How the Mormon Religion Became a Dominant Force in Politics, Entertainment, and Pop Culture

Peter Levenda

The Angel and the Sorcerer

Matthew Bowman

The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith

Reviews about «LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture»

Discussion, reviews of the book LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.