50 Theological librarianship • Vol. 12, No. 1 april 2019

Understanding Mormonism: Foundational Sources on its Culture, History, and Theology

by Gerrit van Dyk

Abstract: Over the past couple of decades, the media and popular culture have shown growing interest in members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its leadership, its practices, and its splinter groups. With all of this recent interest, it is possible that a religious studies librarian at an institution of higher education or at a theological seminary could receive a query regarding Mormonism, the broad term used to include all groups within the Church tradition, either out of popular culture curiosity or for academic investigation. This essay reviews major sources in this growing field for any who wish to either assist patrons in comparative religion projects related to Mormonism, develop a working collection in Mormon studies, or both.

In 2002, the Olympics came to Utah for the first time. It was on this global stage that the traditionally myste-rious members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter the Church or members of the Church) were visible, in some cases for the first time, to the world. The Church launched a public relations initiative to assuage concerns about having the Games in such an openly religious location. Instead, journal-ists from all over the United States raved about the Games and the local hospitality, including Mitt Romney’s last-minute rescue of an Olympics plagued by poor management and scandal.

Over the twenty years since the Games, Church members have become increasingly visible in the media. Novelists like Shannon Hale (Princess Academy and Goose Girl), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, Wheel of Time, and Stormlight Archive), and Stephenie Meyer (Twilight), have played a significant role in contemporary young adult and fantasy fiction. Brandon Flowers from The Killers and Dan Reynolds from Imagine Dragons both are outspoken about their faith, as is fellow musician and YouTube sensation Lindsey Sterling. Athletes who practice the faith, like Jimmer Fredette and Jabari Parker, have also made a splash in the ocean of contemporary life. Mainstream pop culture creators have even found ways to explore outsider (mis)conceptions of Mormonism in such works as the satire The Book of Mormon Musical (2011) and HBO’s Big Love (2006-2011). Mitt Romney’s speech “Faith in America,” delivered in 2007, has been seen as a parallel to John F. Kennedy’s speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in 1960, in which Kennedy addressed his Catholic background as a candidate for the presidency.

In academia, Mormonism has similarly blossomed as a discipline, in which hundreds of scholarly monographs, a similar number of dissertations, and thousands of peer-reviewed articles have been published since 2000. Oxford University Press alone has published over fifty volumes in the past twenty years related to Mormon culture, history, or theology. As is to be expected, there are various programs and initiatives related to Mormonism in Utah, the headquarters of the Church, at the University of Utah, Utah Valley University, the University of Wyoming, and the Utah State University. This development has spread, however, to institutions in other states and regions. In 2008, Claremont Graduate University established the Howard W. Hunter Chair for Mormon Studies. Four years later, the University of Virginia created the Richard Lyman Bushman Chair for Mormon Studies. In 2015, the University of Southern California announced the John A. Widtsoe Chair for Mormon Studies. Most recently, in 2017, the Graduate Theological Union appointed Robert A. Rees Director of Mormon Studies.

With all of this recent activity and interest in Mormon studies, a religious studies librarian at an institution of higher education or at a theological seminary could conceivably receive a query regarding Mormonism,