Book picks similar to
Adventures of a Church Historian by Leonard J. Arrington
religion
mormonism
non-fiction
history
Crossings: A Bald Asian American Latter-Day Saint Woman Scholar's Ventures Through Life, Death, Cancer, and Motherhood (Not Necessarily in That Order)
Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye - 2019
As an Asian American Latter-day Saint feminist and scholar, she feels the urgency of the Lord's command that the Church be one (Doctrine and Covenants 38:27).With her unique mix of humor and candor, empathy and idealism, Inouye draws upon her academic training in Chinese history and religious studies, her rich cultural heritage, her experiences raising a family in an international setting, her tangle with cancer, and her resilient faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ to unfurl vibrant reflections on the enduring question of what it means to be a Latter-day Saint today.
The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance
Elna Baker - 2009
Every year, Elna Baker attends the New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance. This year, her Queen Bee costume (which involves a funnel stinger stuck to her butt) isn't attracting the attention she'd anticipated. So once again, Elna finds herself alone, standing at the punch bowl, stocking up on Oreos, a virgin in a room full of thirty-year-old virgins doing the Funky Chicken. But loneliness is nothing compared to what Elna feels when she loses eighty pounds, finds herself suddenly beautiful...and in love with an atheist.
Tramp for the Lord
Corrie ten Boom - 1971
Her brush with death lent a new meaning to her life. In her own words: "My life had been given back as a gift...for a purpose."After her release from the concentration camp, Corrie ten Boom set out to become what she calls a "tramp for the Lord," traveling around the world at the direction of God, proclaiming His message everywhere. And through her lifelong experiences, she has learned a few lessons in God's great classroom which she shares with the readers of Tramp For the Lord.So deeply has she touched the hearts of men and women during her years of ministry that she is known as the venerable "Double-old Grandmother" and "Tante" Corrie to them. And she , in turn, has been touched and taught by them.Let her introduce you to...-her former prison guard who asks her for forgiveness...a forgiveness that come hard and with much pain...-the war-crippled lawyer with a soul that was as twisted and deformed as his limbs...-an African who truly followed Christ's exhortation to forgive your neighbor seventy times seven (Matt. 18:22)...-the travel agent who learned that her ultimate destination could not be found on any map...-a missionary mother whose unwanted babe ended up saving her life...All these touchingly human vignettes from her life and travels are intertwined with the unique teaching trouch that has sustained Corrie throughout her days.
Me, Myself & Bob: A True Story about God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables
Phil Vischer - 2007
Bob. Archibald. These Veggie Tales stars are the most famous vegetables you'll ever eat. Oops, meet. Their antics are known around the world. But so much of the Veggie Tale story hasn't been told. In Me, Myself, and Bob, Phil Vischer, founder of Big Idea and creator of Veggie Tales, gives a behind-the-scenes look at his not-so-funny journey with the loveable veggies. From famed creator to bankrupt dreamer, Vischer shares his story of trial and ultimate triumph as God inspired him with one big idea after another.
Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther
Roland H. Bainton - 1950
This stunning biography looks at the German religious reformer and his influence on Western civilization.
Nothing New Under the Sun: A Blunt Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes
Adam S. Miller - 2016
Ecclesiastes is gloomy, skeptical, and irreverent. It is caustic and drolly splenetic. It is unapologetically human. It refuses to abet our hunger for clean narratives and happy endings. It is a hopeless book. Insisting on life’s futility, the world’s capriciousness, and God’s inscrutability, it deliberately cultivates despair. It sees such bone-deep hopelessness as the only cure for what ails us. Ecclesiastes is a hard book full of hard sayings. It is an anvil against which our hearts must be hammered. No wonder we avoid it. But the cost of avoidance is high. As Paul insists, in order to become Christian, we must first learn to be hopeless. Hopelessness is the door to Zion. Hopelessness is crucial to a consecrated life. Before we can find hope in Christ, we must give up hope in everything else." In "Nothing New Under the Sun," Adam S. Miller provides a sharp, contemporary paraphrase of Ecclesiastes, continuing to work in the same vein as the popular "Grace is Not God's Backup Plan: An Urgent Paraphrase of Paul's Letter to the Romans" (2015).
The Undaunted : The Miracle of the Hole-in-the-Rock Pioneers
Gerald N. Lund - 2009
But they had no other choice. At the call of their prophet, they left well-established farms and businesses to strike out yet again into the untamed wilderness. A small band of men, women, and children formed the 1879 pioneer company. Their mission: stand as a buffer between lawlessness and civilization. Their road: only what they created themselves, blasting out a perilous trail over slick rock and through desolate cliffs. Their hearts: UNDAUNTED When it comes to creating spellbinding historical fiction, nobody does it quite like Gerald N. Lund. In The Undaunted, he transports readers first to the coal mines of Yorkshire, then across the ocean and the plains to the territory of Utah, where, even in 1879, there is pioneering to be done. A little- known and perhaps even less- appreciated chapter in the Church s history comes to life in this gripping story of a stalwart group of Saints called to create a settlement to serve as a buffer between the established communities of Utah and the lawless frontier of the Four Corners area. Their challenge will be enormous but the biggest part of it just may be getting there in the first place. Skillfully interweaving historical figures and events with fictional characters, Gerald Lund takes us through the Hole in the Rock and over miles of uncharted country that even today is impassable without all- terrain vehicles. His account of the adventure, romance, and sacrifices of these undaunted pioneers will resonate with readers who love a good story as well as those who want to better understand the incomparable legacy and unconquerable faith of those valiant Saints.
The Other Eminent Men of Wilford Woodruff
Vicki Jo Anderson - 1994
Every parent needs resources that will add to the spiritual roots, and to the moral foundation their children build their lives upon. As we are shown how God has inspired eminent people in their pursuit of excellence, we see how to find His guidance in our lives. When we plant in their hearts a view of history as a legacy to live up to, children are empowered to prepare for, and then perform, the missions God sent them to earth to accomplish.”
Confessions
Augustine of Hippo
Written in the author's early forties in the last years of the fourth century A.D. and during his first years as a bishop, they reflect on his life and on the activity of remembering and interpreting a life. Books I-IV are concerned with infancy and learning to talk, schooldays, sexual desire and adolescent rebellion, intense friendships and intellectual exploration. Augustine evolves and analyses his past with all the resources of the reading which shaped his mind: Virgil and Cicero, Neoplatonism and the Bible. This volume, which aims to be usable by students who are new to Augustine, alerts readers to the verbal echoes and allusions of Augustine's brilliant and varied Latin, and explains his theological and philosophical questioning of what God is and what it is to be human. The edition is intended for use by students and scholars of Latin literature, theology and Church history.
Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife
Irene Spencer - 2007
Yet Irene managed to overcome these obstacles to seek a life that she believed would be better for her and her children. She made a bold step into the "outside world" and into a freedom she never knew existed.The details of her harrowing experience will appall, astonish, and in the end, greatly inspire. This dramatic story reveals how far religion can be stretched and abused, and how one woman and her children found their way into truth and redemption.
All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience
Neal A. Maxwell - 1979
Such concepts are not always easy to accept, but, as Elder Maxwell observes, "the hardness is usually not in their complexity, but in the deep demands these doctrines make on us." All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience focuses on some of the "hard doctrines" that members of the Church must grapple with in the latter days. This book will help the Saints prepare for the trials ahead, while assuring them that the power of God's love is constantly available to the faithful.
Saint Peter: A Life from Beginning to End (Biographies of Christians)
Hourly History - 2021
He began his life as a simple fisherman who caught fish in the Sea of Galilea, but one day, this fisherman became a “fisher of men” instead. In good time, he would help to form one of the largest religious movements the world had ever known, eventually giving his life to the cause when he was sentenced to death by crucifixion.Here in this book, we discover the life of Saint Peter from beginning to end.Discover a plethora of topics such asA Fisher of MenThe Rock of the Christian ChurchThe Denial of PeterPeter, the LeaderArrests and PersecutionCrucified by NeroAnd much more!
The Polygamous Wives Writing Club: From the Diaries of Mormon Pioneer Women
Paula Kelly Harline - 2014
In the mid- to late nineteenth century, however--the heyday of Mormon polygamy--as many as three out of every ten Mormon women became polygamous wives. Paula Kelly Harline delves deep into the diaries and autobiographies of twenty-nine such women, providing a rare window into the lives they led and revealing their views and experiences of polygamy, including their well-founded belief that their domestic contributions would help to build a foundation for generations of future Mormons. Polygamous wives were participants in a controversial and very public religious practice that violated most nineteenth-century social and religious rules of a monogamous America. Harline considers the questions: Were these women content with their sacrifice? Did the benefits of polygamous marriage for the Mormons outweigh the human toll it required and the embarrassment it continues to bring? Polygamous wives faced daunting challenges not only imposed by the wider society but within the home, yet those whose writings Harline explores give voice to far more than unhappiness and discontent. The personal writings of these women, all married to different husbands, are the heart of this remarkable book--they paint a vivid and sometimes disturbing picture of an all but vanished and still controversial way of life.
Listen, Learn and Love: Embracing LGBTQ Latter-day Saints
Richard Ostler - 2020
I invite all to increase trust in and develop a relationship with Heavenly Father, which will enable all to make thoughtful, faith-based decisions going forward. This is true of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, their families, and Church leaders. We all have a place in the plan of happiness and I hope to provide a glimpse of that. But if for whatever reason, anyone decides not to stay, we can support them as they move forward with their lives rather than cut them off. We can keep the family circle together and leave the judging to our Savior and His perfect understanding.