BYU Studies Quarterly
Keywords
Mormon studies, missionaries, Mormon missionaries
Abstract
Robert L. Lively Jr. is dean emeritus at the University of Maine at Farmington and holds a master’s degree from Yale University Divinity School and a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Oxford. The following are excerpts from his 2015 book The Mormon Missionary: Who Is That Knocking at My Door?, conceived after inviting missionaries to visit his religion classes and realizing that a non-Mormon had never written a book that tells the story of LDS missionaries. His research for this book involved over 275 interviews with past, present, and future missionaries, including individuals who served in every decade since the 1930s, in the United States and forty-seven countries around the world. Church officials were very supportive of his project. He was able to interview Church officials in Salt Lake City, including President Gordon B. Hinckley, as well as mission presidents, stake presidents, and local congregational leaders. He also had the rare opportunity of visiting Missionary Training Centers in Utah and England, where he conducted interviews with missionaries in training and with MTC presidents and their staff.
Recommended Citation
Lively, Robert L. Jr.
(2016)
"The Mormon Missionary: Who Is That Knocking at My Door?,"
BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 55:
Iss.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol55/iss1/7