Book Review: Mormonism Explained

Jackson, Andrew. 2008. Mormonism Explained: What Latter-day Saints Teach & Practice.

"My goal in writing Mormonism Explained was to present a concise and thorough introduction to what Latter-day Saints (LDS) officially teach and practice today primarily for the broad Christian audience, although I also wrote it for interested non-Christians and Mormons." (9)

Well-written. Well-organized. Well-documented. It's easy, straight-forward, clear, and concise. The first three chapters explore "the origins of mormonism," the middle four chapters explore "what mormonism teaches and why," and the final three chapters explore "the salvation of mormonism." There are also four appendixes including the 13 articles of LDS faith, an explanation/introduction of the organizational structure of the LDS faith, a glossary of LDS terminology, and a thorough bibliography of sources both Christian and Mormon.

Definitely interesting. Definitely something I'd recommend. You can read an excerpt here.

http://www.mormonismexplained.com/

In Mormonism Explained you’ll read about...

• The charismatic founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, his successes, moral failings, and claims to have received new revelations from God.
• Fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith’s claim that all Christian Churches were an abomination to God.
• The dramatic details of the Mormon's western journey from New York to Salt Lake City.
• The motivation behind LDS' audacious claim to be the one and only true church on earth.
• The LDS belief in continual revelation and their four Scriptural books.
• Why the LDS believe that they are literally God's children, and that they lived in a previous life before being born on earth.
• What the LDS really mean by salvation, and their exclusive belief in salvation for the dead.

About the Author

Andrew Jackson (M.Div., Fuller Theological Seminary; D.Min., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is a seminary professor and an ordained minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He has traveled to the original homelands of all the primary religions of the world, taught world religions on the college level, is an author of numerous books and a blogger at SmartChristian.com. Dr. Jackson is presently working on his next book, Islam Explained: What Muslims Teach and Practice.

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