Category: Reviews of LDS Media
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Book Review: The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth & Corporate Power
By D. Michael Quinn Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 2017 Money makes the world go around The world go around The world go around Money makes the world go around It makes the world go ’round. –“Money,” from Cabaret When it comes to money, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has plenty.…
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A Mormon’s Disdain for Evidential Faith
Latter-day Saint Taylor Christensen recently posted a heartfelt video that begins, “This is not an anti-Mormon video.” Taylor talks about his own journey through so-called anti-Mormon information as he sought to understand why so many people were leaving the Mormon Church. In the process, Taylor discovered difficult truths about Mormon history including (but not limited…
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Book Review: Immersion in Mormonism: Especially for New Members and also Teens and Members who Struggle
By Charles Abbott Self-published, 2014 (Note: The subtitle of the book was later changed to “Follow the Path that Leads to an Unshakable Testimony”) Check out the 5-part Viewpoint on Mormonism podcast series that aired Feb. 12-16, 2018: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Introduction I don’t normally write reviews of books written by lay…
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Book Review: Confessions of a Molly Mormon
Confessions of a Molly Mormon: Trading Perfectionism for Peace, Fear for Faith, Judging for Joy (Orem, UT: Summit View Publishing, 2013) By Elona K. Shelley Reviewed by Eric Johnson Listen to a week-long Viewpoint on Mormonism podcast airing on January 29 through February 2, 2018 reviewing this book: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part…
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Book Review: Changed Through His Grace
Book written by Brad Wilcox Reviewed by Bill McKeever Check out the two-week Viewpoint on Mormonism series that originally aired June 19-30, 2017 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 When Brigham Young University professor, Brad Wilcox, gave his “His Grace is Sufficient” talk at…
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Joseph Smith Is Needed if the Atonement To Be “Fully Efficacious”
Note: The following was originally printed in the May/June 2017 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here. In the first volume of Doctrines of Salvation, tenth Mormon President Joseph Fielding Smith made it very clear that there is “no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith” (1:188). While some might think that Mormonism has matured…
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Movie Review: The Cokeville Miracle
Mormon filmmakers often use a real event to enhance the faith of fellow Latter-day Saints. Because of their limited audience, many of these films make the rounds on movie screens in the Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming; states with higher than average LDS populations. One such film is The Cokeville Miracle, a movie that recounts an event…
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Book Review: Conflict in the Quorum: Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith
Review of Conflict in the Quorum: Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) by Gary James Bergera. Forget the idea that general authorities in the LDS Church have always gotten along. If anything else, reading Conflict in the Quorum by Gary James Bergera will certainly take care of that idea. In…
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Book Review: “This is My Doctrine”: The Development of Mormon Theology
Review of “This is My Doctrine”: The Development of Mormon Theology (Greg Kofford Books, 2011) By Charles R. Harrell Check out the 25-part Viewpoint on Mormonism podcast series of this book that plays through the month of March and early April of 2018 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part…
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Finding Mormonism in All the Wrong Places
21 September 2017 Eric D. Richards is a popular LDS speaker and educator. Last week (12 September 2017), LDS Living magazine published an article Eric wrote that tells the story of how he and his mother came to be converted to Mormonism. It’s written as a sweet, Mormon-faith-promoting story, telling of the experiences that led…
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The First Vision: Key to Truth? A Review of Seventy Richard J. Maynes’ June 2017 Ensign article
There are two cornerstone events in the history of the Mormon religion that are as important as the literal resurrection of Jesus is to Christianity. Remember how the apostle Paul testified to the historicity of the raising of Jesus from the dead? He claimed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8: 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance…
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Mormons, Please Consider the Lesson of the Unwise Bee
The LDS Church’s February 2017 issue of Ensign magazine includes a parable written by LDS apostle James Talmage, originally published in the Improvement Era in September 1914. “The Parable of the Unwise Bee” poetically tells the story of a wild bee who becomes unwittingly trapped in Mr. Talmage’s office. No effort on Mr. Talmage’s part…
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Book Review: Mormons Believe…What?! Fact and Fiction About a Rising Religion
Check out a five-part Viewpoint on Mormonism podcast that originally aired on March 20-24, 2017 concerning Lawrence’s book: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Written by Gary C. Lawrence Synopsis: A Mormon pollster writes a book criticizing the views of outsiders of the Mormon Church who he believes present a wrong portrayal of…
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Mormon Apostle Offers Solutions To Counter Information on the Web
Note: The following was originally printed in the February 2017 edition of the MRM Update, offered to financial supporters of Mormonism Research Ministry. To request to a free subscription of our other periodical, Mormonism Researched, please visit here. The December 2016 issue of Ensign magazine carried an article by Mormon Apostle M. Russell Ballard that expressed a concern…
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Am I Good Enough? Will I Make It?
Note: The following was originally printed in the January/February 2017 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here. To listen to a 5-part Viewpoint on Mormonism series that originally aired January 2-6, 2017, click the following: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 By Eric Johnson The title for this article is the actual title for…
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Book Review: The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy
Note: The following was originally printed in the November/December 2016 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here. Issues related to Mormon polygamy have long been discussed and dissected, both inside and outside of the LDS Church. Once an official requirement for a bigger and better eternal glory, the practice of plural marriage was…
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I Love Mormons: A New Way to Share Christ with Latter-day Saints
I Love Mormons: A New Way to Share Christ with Latter‐day Saints (Baker Books, 2005) By David L. Rowe Reviewed by Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson November 2006 David L. Rowe, a professor at Salt Lake Theological Seminary and a Utah resident since 1975, has pooled his ministry experiences into a “how to” manual for Christians who…
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Review of Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Gordon B. Hinckley
During 2017 LDS members studied Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Gordon B. Hinckley. What follows is a chapter-by-chapter evangelical review. The manual Chapter reviews For a 5-part Viewpoint on Mormonism podcast that originally aired January 9-13, 2017, click Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5. To see reviews of each chapter of other…
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Book Review: Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess
By Richard S. Van Wagoner (Signature Books, 2007) Reviewed by Eric Johnson For years Sidney Rigdon was the right-hand man to Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion. Much of what the Mormon religion is about is directly connected with Rigdon, a former Disciples of Christ minister. While most Mormons are probably not familiar with this…
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Review of “Our Father, Our Mentor” from June 2016 Ensign
By Michael Rabus The June 2016 issue of the Ensign magazine, which is the official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, contained a short article by the Second Counselor in the First Presidency; President Dieter F. Uchtdorf titled “Our Father, Our Mentor. It made sense that the June issue would contain…