All Abraham's Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage
by Armand L. Mauss
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Description
All Abraham's Children is Armand L. Mauss's long-awaited magnum opus on the evolution of traditional Mormon beliefs and practices concerning minorities. He examines how members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have defined themselves and others in terms of racial lineages.Mauss describes a complex process of the broadening of these self-defined lineages during the last part of the twentieth century as the modern Mormon church continued its world-wide expansion through show more massive missionary work.Mauss contends that Mormon constructions of racial identity have not necessarily affected actual behavior negatively and that in some cases Mormons have shown greater tolerance than other groups in the American mainstream.Employing a broad intellectual historical analysis to identify shifts in LDS behavior over time, All Abraham's Children is an important commentary on current models of Mormon historiography. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A facinating look at "changing mormon conceptions of race and lineage". Mauss, himself a faithful LDS scholar of sociology and religious studies, shows how the LDS notion of race with regard to "Israelite", "Jew", "Black", "Lamanite" (an LDS term for native americans), "Indian" and others have morphed over time relative to sociological pressures.
Contrary to common belief, early LDS thought did not show the anti-black biases that came to be offical policy under church leader Brigham Young and his heirs to power. Mauss unpacks the notion of race and lineage and shows how it has evolved.
A facinating read that I would like to re-read (I didn't read the entire book during the class I took on the Anthropology of Mormonism, so I'm shelving show more this one as "currently-reading", but the truth is, I'm going to re-read it from the beginning. show less
Contrary to common belief, early LDS thought did not show the anti-black biases that came to be offical policy under church leader Brigham Young and his heirs to power. Mauss unpacks the notion of race and lineage and shows how it has evolved.
A facinating read that I would like to re-read (I didn't read the entire book during the class I took on the Anthropology of Mormonism, so I'm shelving show more this one as "currently-reading", but the truth is, I'm going to re-read it from the beginning. show less
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ThingScore 100
Mauss does a very impressive job of synthesizing four decades of research and making it accessible to lay persons as well as specialists.
added by Katya0133
Lists
Best in Mormon History
44 works; 2 members
Author Information
8+ Works 76 Members
Armand L. Mauss is a professor emeritus of sociology and religious studies at Washington State University.
Awards and Honors
Awards
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Anthropology, General Nonfiction, History
- DDC/MDS
- 261.8 — Religion Christian organization, social work & worship Social theology and interreligious relations and attitudes Christianity and socioeconomic problems
- LCC
- BX8643 .E85 .M38 — Philosophy, Psychology and Religion Christian Denominations Christian Denominations Protestantism Other Protestant denominations Mormons. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 24
- Popularity
- 1,106,566
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.25)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 2
