The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith Rating :
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
28 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
A great overview
By jaybird
This book is a great overview of the history of the LDS church in America. Particularly his chapter on Mormonism during the progressive era is wonderfully insightful. It is easy to read, and provides fascinating context to the development of how Mormons view themselves and others. The New York Times criticized how middle of the road it is, but that is the beauty of the book, in my opinion. As a Mormon I wasn't particularly interested in reading from the point of view of someone who despises my faith, but I also had no interest in reading something that wasn't historically honest. This book is both respectful and frank in how it deals with it's history. He does a beautiful job of cramming a lot of history into under 300 pages without overwhelming the reader. For those who are interested in going even deeper into Mormon Studies, the book also has a fantastic bibliography. If you want a great introduction to the history of Mormonism, this is a great place to start.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
A Useful Overview
By Timothy Haugh
For one not of the faith, I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about Mormonism. I grew up in Quincy, Illinois, which is where, as Mr. Bowman relates in his informative new book, the group driven out of Missouri was cared for during the harsh winter of 1838-39. I also paid a few visits to nearby Nauvoo, where I picked up more of Mormon theology and history. Most importantly, I have been fortunate enough to have Mormon friends and neighbors. Still, there is always more to know and with Mitt Romney the likely Republican nominee for President this year, Professor Bowman has recognized a need for a reader-friendly book on the history of Mormonism and has provided a nice one with The Mormon People.
Mr. Bowman begins the story with Joseph Smith in the first part of the 19th century. He is particularly good in describing the religious milieu that inspired Joseph Smith and many of his followers. He outlines the development of the early church and how the Mormons were constantly being driven from place to place until the "exodus" to Utah, led by Brigham Young. He follows the Mormon state through its admittance as a state in the United States and is once again very strong in showing the transition from an inward looking group through correlation and growth into a powerful, missionary, active people.
Some will likely complain that Mr. Bowman doesn't spend enough time with the controversies surrounding the church. He does devote a chapter to a discussion of polygamy; however, like most of the book, it is quite bloodless. It is descriptive of the theology and the political impact of polygamy but there is very little about how it affected people's lives. The multiple wives of Joseph Smith, himself, for example, get almost no mention. And yet, it seems part and parcel to what Mr. Bowman is trying to achieve--lots of information and little judgment. A lot of doctrine gets mentioned but its meaning is never analyzed nor how it is really put into practice.
This can lead to somewhat divided feelings about the book overall. For a reader with little knowledge of Mormonism, many of the basics are here but there is little depth. I, for one, felt I learned more about Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and Mormon theology in other books. On the other hand, having less knowledge of 20th century Mormonism, I felt I learned more about this. Certainly, I felt I understood better why some of the best, nicest people I've ever known are Mormons even as I find the theology beyond my ability to believe.
In the end, realizing that Mr. Bowman is trying to give a readable overview of nearly 200 years of Mormon history, it is easy to forgive some of the lapses in depth. He certainly has given us an excellent bird's eye view of the creation of a religion from prophet to followers to consolidated practice. Anyone whose knowledge of Mormonism is basically hearsay will learn much from this book.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful.A good introduction, but...
By Kimberly H. Marsh
This book is an easy read, with a lot of basic, albeit colorful, information on the Mormon people and the history of their religion. If you read this book, you will understand the Church as the Mormons see it, which will be to some benefit. Yet, the book seems to tell a moderately "correlated" account of the church which ignores the complications of early Mormon history, or rather, the time before 1830 (around the beginning of the book). Thus, if you are interested in a more critical book, which does not take Joseph Smith Jr.'s sincerity for granted, look elsewhere (Rough Stone Rolling, No Man Knows My History, or Mormon America). If you understand Mormonism well enough, read Harrell's This is My Doctrine: The Development of Mormon Theology (written by a BYU professor I might add, and one of the best books I've read yet). I will say that my review is tainted by a secularish bias.
I purchased the audio version of The Mormon People, and I must say that it was narrated very well. I recommend the audio version if you are considering it.
Product Description
With Mormonism on the verge of an unprecedented cultural and political breakthrough, an eminent scholar of American evangelicalism explores the history and reflects on the future of this native-born American faith and its connection to the life of the nation.
In 1830, a young seer and sometime treasure hunter named Joseph Smith began organizing adherents into a new religious community that would come to be called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and known informally as the Mormons). One of the nascent faith’s early initiates was a twenty-three-year-old Ohio farmer named Parley Pratt, the distant grandfather of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. In The Mormon People, religious historian Matthew Bowman peels back the curtain on more than 180 years of Mormon history and doctrine. He recounts the church’s origin and development, explains how Mormonism came to be one of the fastest-growing religions in the world by the turn of twenty-first-century, and ably sets the scene for a 2012 presidential election that has the potential to mark a major turning point in the way this “all-American” faith is perceived by the wider American public—and internationally.
Mormonism started as a radical movement, with a profoundly transformative vision of American society that was rooted in a form of Christian socialism. Over the ensuing centuries, Bowman demonstrates, that vision has evolved—and with it the esteem in which Mormons have been held in the eyes of their countrymen. Admired on the one hand as hardworking paragons of family values, Mormons have also been derided as oddballs and persecuted as polygamists, heretics, and zealots clad in “magic underwear.” Even today, the place of Mormonism in public life continues to generate heated debate on both sides of the political divide. Polls show widespread unease at the prospect of a Mormon president. Yet the faith has never been more popular. Today there are about 14 million Mormons in the world, fewer than half of whom live inside the United States. It is a church with a powerful sense of its own identity and an uneasy sense of its relationship with the main line of American culture.
Mormons will surely play an even greater role in American civic life in the years ahead. In such a time, The Mormon People comes as a vital addition to the corpus of American religious history—a frank and fair-minded demystification of a faith that remains a mystery for many.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #460040 in Books
- Published on: 2012-01-24
- Released on: 2012-01-24
- Format: Deckle Edge
- Original language:English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 10.24" h x6.73" w x1.18" l,1.25 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 352 pages
No comments :
Post a Comment