Kathleen Flake and Carolyn Howarter, “Mormonism and American Culture”

In the nineteenth century, Mormonism had the distinction of being one of the most overtly persecuted religions in the United States. Today, its chief representative, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the nation’s fourth-largest religious body and has a reputation for hyper-patriotism and middle class mores. In addition to introducing who the Mormons are, their beliefs, and their religious practices, this seminar will use their story to better understand religion and its adaptive strategies. More specifically, we will be asking: What is the American idea of being properly religious? How did conflicts over Mormonism help define the legal limits of religious liberty and, even today, why does it serve as a test of public tolerance for religion? How have Latter-day Saint teachings about modern revelation, gender, race, sex and marriage, as well as controversies about whether or not Mormons are Christian, positioned and repositioned Mormons within American society? We will approach these discussions from a variety of perspectives: historical, sociological, ethnographic, and theological.