Melvyn Hammarberg

This book helped me understand Mormon faith and culture much better than I previously had. I wanted to read this book because of the way that Mormonism has been rapidly gaining cultural acceptance since the mid 1990s (which this book primarily attributes to the church presidency of Gordon Hinckley.) Changes that seem to me to have had effects similar in magnitude to Vatican II were made in the LDS church in recent decades. Although Mormonism is very much a product of Victorian America, these changes, plus the fact that there are 50,000 Mormons missionaries at any given time, have raised the profile of this religion significantly. Mormonism is arguably the most American religion and is the religion that is most family oriented (this is much more theologically embedded in Mormonism than in orthodox Christianity). I appreciated the cultural and social insights that Hammarberg offered about Mormonism, though block quotes comprised an unusually large percentage of the book. I was glad that he had done the interviews that he had, but more summarization of his sources would have been helpful. His academic, sympathetic outsider's perspective is an asset to the book. I do recommend the book if you want to learn more about Mormonism.… (mehr)