Book Review: Stephen C. Taysom. Shakers, Mormons, and Religions Worlds: Conflicting Visions, Contested Boundaries. Religion in North America Series.

Keywords

Shakers, Mormonism, Mormon Studies, Religious Movements, Religion in North America

Abstract

Stephen Taysom offers a glimpse of what academic religious studies might mean for Mormon history. Taysom's comparative analysis of early Shaker ism and Mormonism injects familiar stories with new theoretical significance. Indeed, few works in Mormon history offer such theoretical sophistication, a fact that might polarize readers. The book tilts toward academics trained in religious studies and challenges conventional approaches to Mormon history by forsaking narrative for sociological models, comprehensiveness for interpretative imagination, and straightforward historicism for interdisciplinarity. As surely as its theoretical orientation will jar some Mormon history specialists, its conclusions defy some traditional interpretations of early Mormonism.

Original Publication Citation

Shakers, Mormons, and Religious Worlds, by Stephen C. Taysom, in Journal of Mormon History 39, no. 1 (Winter 2013): 247-51.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2013-12

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6388

Publisher

Journal of Mormon History

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

History

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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