With any luck this will help call attention to the international nature of Mormonism today and to the study of Mormonism outside of the U.S. The list includes any work that talks about Mormonism more than just in passing (as far as I can tell without actually having the work in hand) and that is set or discusses areas outside of the U.S. It also includes every work about Mormonism I could find that is not in English.

Particularly interesting is the number of academic works written in German and French — apparently from non-Mormon researchers. It is also fascinating to see self-published books in both German and Spanish.

As I did last year, I’ve translated titles and added notes where possible. I think I’ve also improved the categories a bit, separating out books for the popular market and self-published works. I have not distinguished between ebooks and print books — both are included. Comments, criticisms and additions are welcome.

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Books

• Alandete, David. Los últimos extremistas mormones. (The Last Mormon Extremists) El País, 2012. [The publisher is the principle Spanish newspaper, so I assume this is either a compilation of news items or heavily influenced by news -- possibly about the FLDS Church.]
• Conrad, Penne D. Out of the Killing Fields–Into the Light: Interviews with Mormon Converts from Cambodia. Bonneville, 2011.
• Fluckiger, Jay D. Surviving the Taliban: The Incredible, True Story of a Convert. Cedar Fort, Inc., 2011.
• Hilton, Lynn M. El Teorema de Kólob, Una visión Mormona del universo estelar de Dios (Spanish Edition). (Spanish: The Kolob Theorem: a Mormon vision of God’s starry universe) Translated by Enrique Pulido. HiltonBooks LLC, 2011.
• Leather, Stephen. Le mormon et la lycéenne. (French: The Mormon and the schoolgirl) Bamboo Sinfonia, 2011. [While I'm not sure, the sense I have is that this book may be risqué.]
• Mclean, Julia Dalton. Der grosse Tag des Herrn. (German: The Great Day of the Lord) Bad Reichenhall: LDS Books, 2011.
• Ojeda-Mari, Victor. La Semaine Sainte. (French: The Holy Week) Syllabaire éditions, 2011.
• Roth, Eva Maria. 365 Vorlesegeschichten aus dem Buch Mormon. (German: 365 read-aloud stories from the Book of Mormon) Bad Reichenhall: LDS Books, 2011.
• Schuster, Eric. Katholische Wurzeln – mormonische Ernte. (German: Catholic Roots — Mormon Harvest) Bad Reichenhall: LDS Books, 2011.
• Stewart, George. Latter-day Pioneers. North Highland Publishing, 2011.
• Walker, Ronaldo J. Mejores Amigos (Spanish Edition). (Spanish: Best Friends) Nauvoo Libros, 2011.

Self-Published Works

• Andreadakis, John. From Pythagoras To Salt Lake City. AuthorHouse, 2011.
• Harmer, S. Dean. My Mission to French Polynesia. S. Dean Harmer, 2011.
• Skibbe, Gerd. Vom Fisch Zum Kreuz: Was Roms Kaiser Konstantin Aus Der Lehre Christi Machte. (German: From fish to cross: What the Roman Emperor Constantine did with the teachings of Christ) Books On Demand, 2011.
• Warr, James. Claves De Mormon. (Spanish: Keys to Mormon) lulu.com, 2011.

Periodical Articles

• Bartholomew, Ronald E. “Nineteenth-Century Missiology of the LDS Bedfordshire Conference.” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 206–245.
• Beatriz, Hernández, Graciela. “Conversiones Religiosas e Historia Oral: Pentecostales y Mormones En Contextos Migratorios, En Bahía Blanca y Área De Influencia.” (Spanish: Religious Conversion and Oral History: Pentecostals and Mormons in migration contexts, in Bahia Blanca and surrounding area.) Revista Cultura y Religión 5, no. 1 (2011): 135–155.
• Chan, Michelle. “Beyond Bountiful: Toward an Intersectional and Postcolonial Feminist Intervention in the British Columbia Polygamy Reference.” Appeal: Review of Current Law and Law Reform 16 (2011): 15–30.
• Clark, Anna. “James Hinton and Victorian Individuality: Polygamy and the Sacrifice of the Self.” Victorian Studies 54, no. 1 (October 2011): 35–61.
• Clark, David L., and Bart J. Kowallis. “The Fate of the Davao Penal Colony #502 ‘Branch’ of the LDS Church, 1944.” BYU Studies 50, no. 4 (2011): 108–135.
• Cope, Rachel. “‘With God’s Assistance I Will Someday Be an Artist’: John B. Fairbanks’s Account of the Paris Art Mission.” BYU Studies 50, no. 3 (2011): 133–159.
• Davis, Norma S. “Review of: Mormons as Citizens of a Communist State: A Documentary History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in East Germany, 1945–1990.” BYU Studies 50, no. 3 (2011): 183–190.
• DeVan, Benjamin B. “Religious Tolerance in World Religions.” Journal of Religion in Europe 4, no. 3 (October 1, 2011): 512–515.
• Dursteler, Eric R. “One-Hundred Years of Solitude: Mormonism in Italy, 1867–1964.” International Journal of Mormon Studies 4, no. 1 (2011): 119–148.
• Van Dyke, Blair G. “Review of Mark L. Grover, A Land of Promise and Prophecy: Elder A. Theodore Tuttle in South America, 1960–1965.” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 263–.
• Esplin, Scott C. “Closing the Church College of New Zealand: A Case Study in Church Education Policy.” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 86–114.
• Featherstone, Guy. “The Millennial Voice in Victoria to 1914.” Journal of Religious History 35, no. 2 (June 1, 2011): 233–263.
• Fer, Yannick. “Religion, Pluralism, and Conflicts in the Pacific Islands.” In The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence, edited by Andrew R. Murphy, 461–472. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
• Gavin, Sherrie L. M. “An Independent Companion: Ethel Parton and the Australian Relief Society.” Journal of Mormon History 36, no. 1 (2011): 145–178.
• Gessel, Van C. “Coming to Terms: The Challenge of Creating Christian Vocabulary in a Non-Christian Land.” BYU Studies 50, no. 4 (2011): 33–59.
• Hall, Andrew R. “Review of: Reid L. Neilson, Early Mormon Missionary Activities in Japan, 1901–1924.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 44, no. 4 (Winter 2011): 221–226.
• Hardy, Jeffrey S. “Review of: E. N. Mel’nikova, O. G. Moiseenko, and M. I. Odintsov, Eds., Svoboda Sovesti v Rossii: Istoricheskii i Sovremennyi Aspekty, Vol. 6. Moscow and St. Petersburg: Rossiiskoe Ob’edinenie Issledovatelei Religii, 2008. Softcover.” International Journal of Mormon Studies 4, no. 2011 (2011): 181–184.
• Head, Ronan J. “‘An American Enterprise’: An Interview with Massimo Introvigne.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 44, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 162–170.
• Hogge, Robert M. “Review of Roger P. Minert, In Harm’s Way: East German Latter-day Saints in World War II.” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 250–254.
• Jones, Zachary Ray. “‘War and Confusion in Babylon’: Mormon Reaction to German Unification, 1864–80.” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 4 (Fall 2011): 115–150.
• Keele, Alan. “Review of Raymond Kuehne, Mormons as Citizens of a Communist State: A Documentary History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in East Germany, 1945–1990.” Journal of Mormon History 38, no. 1 (Winter 2012): 235–239.
• Knowlton, David Clark. “Parley Pratt and the Problem of Separating Latin and Anglo America.” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 194–199.
• Minert, Roger P. “Review of: Mormons As Citizens of a Communist State: A Documentary History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in East Germany: Raymond Kuehne.” Mormon Historical Studies 12, no. 1 (Spring 2011).
• Rasmussen, Matthew Lyman. “A Home for the Saints: Developments in LDS Worship Accommodation in Lancashire, England.” International Journal of Mormon Studies 4, no. 1 (2011): 66–107.
• Sherlock-Taselaar, Ingrid. “Review of: Raymond Kuehne, Mormonen Und Staatsbürger: Eine Dokumentierte Geschichte Der Kirche Jesu Christi Der Heiligen Der Letzten Tage in Der DDR.” International Journal of Mormon Studies 4, no. 2011 (2011): 169–172.
• Silva, Silva Antônio. “O pecado chamado prazer: análise do paradigma sexual entre os adolescentes membros da Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias a partir da ótica de Michel Foucault.” (Portuguese: The Sin Called Pleasure: An analysis of the sexual paradigm among adolescents in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the perspective of Michel Foucault.) Anais dos Simpósios da ABHR 12, no. 1 (May 25, 2011).
• Tamez, Jared. “Indians, Mestizos, and Parley P. Pratt’s Chilean Mission.” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 200–205.
• Tamez, Jared. “Review of Kevin L. Mortensen, Comp. and Ed. Witnessing the Hand of the Lord in the Dominican Republic.” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 2 (Spring 2011): 234–237.
• Timothy, Dallen J., and Kevin R. Schmidt. “Personal Heritage and Return Visits to American Colonies in Mexico.” Tourism Review International 14, no. 4 (2011): 179–188.
• Vousden, Peter. “‘We Do Not Make Fun of Any Religion in My Newspapers’: The Beaverbrook Press Coverage of Mormon Stories in Britain, 1912–1964.” International Journal of Mormon Studies 4, no. 2011 (2011): 108–118.
• Woods, Fred E. “Making Friends Down Under: The Beginnings of LDS Missionary Work on Thursday Island, Queensland, Australia, 1961.” Mormon Historical Studies 12, no. 1 (Spring 2011).

Academic Books

• Cannon, Hugh J. To The Peripheries of Mormondom: The Apostolic Around-the-World Journey of David O McKay, 1920-1921. Edited by Reid L Neilson. 1st ed. University of Utah Press, 2011.
• Charles, Carter. “Des Mormons Et Des Chiffres: Statistiques Et Conversions Dans l’Église De Jésus-Christ Des Saints Des Derniers Jours”. (French: Mormons and Numbers: Statistics And Conversions In The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints) Chaiers de l’Institut Religioscope, Université Michel de Montaigne, 2011.
• Dennis, Ronald D. Zion’s Trumpet: 1850 Welsh Mormon Periodical. BYU Religious Studies/ Deseret Book Company, 2011.
• Dubois, Guy. La Conquête De L’ouest En Chansons?: Etude Sociohistorique Des Chants De Soldats, De Hors-la-loi, De Chercheurs D’or, De Mineurs, De Mormons Et De Fermiers Américains Du XIXe Siècle. (French: The Conquest of the West in Song?: Socio-historical study of the songs of soldiers, of those outside the law, of gold seekers, miners, Mormons and American farmers of the nineteenth century.) L’Harmattan, 2011.
• Eberle, Edward J. Church and State in Western Society. Ashgate, 2011.
• Gailus, Manfred, and Armin Nolzen. Zerstrittene?»Volksgemeinschaft«: Glaube, Konfession und Religion im Nationalsozialismus. (German: Fractious National Community?: faith, creed and religion in the Third Reich.) Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011.
• James, William Closson. God’s Plenty: Religious Diversity in Kingston. Mcgill Queens Univ Pr, 2011.
• Jeier, Thomas. Die ersten Amerikaner: Eine Geschichte der Indianer. (German: The first Americans: A History of the Indians.) Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2011.
• Kuehne, Raymond. Henry Burkhardt and LDS Realpolitik in Communist East Germany. 1st ed. University of Utah Press, 2011.
• Löffler, Beate. Fremd und Eigen: Christlicher Sakralbau in Japan nach 1853. (German: Foreign and Separate: Christian religious construction in Japan since 1853) Frank & Timme, 2011.
• Mardon, Austin. The Mormon Contribution to Alberta Politics. Golden Meteorite Press, 2011.
• Paye-Moissinac, Lucie, Pierre Allorant, Walter Badier, and Collectif. Voyages en Amérique?: La société américaine vue par Marcel Jozon en 1869 et par Alexandre Ribot en 1886-1887. (French: Travels in America?: American society as seen by Marcel Jozon in 1869 and Alexandre Ribot in 1886-1887.) L’Harmattan, 2011.
• Tonk, Moritz. “Die Zähmung des Wilden Westens”: Landerschließung und Raumnutzung in den USA im 19. Jahrhundert. (German: “The Taming of the Wild West”: Land development and land use in the United States in the 19th century.) Grin Verlag, 2011.

Thesis and Dissertations

• Ball, Katie Nichole. “‘When They Called Us Jie Mei (sister)’ An Autoethnographic and Narrative Study of Religious Development in Emerging Adulthood”. M.S., Family, Consumer and Human Development, Utah State University, 2011.
• Beazer, Jaclyn Ann. “Religious Space in Transition: A Comparison of Latter-Day Saint and Nonconformist Worship in Victorian England”. Utah State University, 2011.
• Harthoorn, E.M. “Heiligen Van De Laatste Dagen: Over Groei Van Het Mormonisme”. (Dutch: Latter-day Saints: About the Growth of Mormonism) Bachelor thesis, Universiteit Utrecht, 2011.
• Swanberg, Michael E. “Alberta Federal Politics in an Era of Socioeconomic Realignment 1953–1958”. M.A., University of Calgary (Canada), 2011.

If you know of a work published in 2011 that isn’t listed above, please don’t hesitate to mention it in the comments below.

On the other hand, the Mormon who wishes to understand evangelical Christianity takes up quite the task of her own. I’ll be the first to admit that we’re a large, unruly, confusing movement, and if you’re looking to me to sort things out for you, you’re already on the wrong track because so far I’ve been formally trained by Mormon scholars, not evangelical Christian ones. I’m still trying to understand all that there is to us, which is part of why I’m looking to attend an evangelical Christian college in the fall. I do know enough to know that if you’re interested in us, you’re going to have to study and understand the following: Arminians v. Calvinists v. Open Theists, Credobaptists v. Paedobaptists, Complementarians v. Egalitarians, Charismatics v. Cessationists, Creationism (of the soul, not protological) v. Traducianism, Regula Fidei v. Sola Scriptura v. Solo Scriptura, and Justification v. Sanctification v. Glorification. If you’re really dedicated, you can add our various beliefs on protology and eschatology to your study, and those are just the basics. It won’t help that some evangelicals are a little bitter about these divides and will misrepresent the opposing positions when asked about it. As Douglas A. Sweeney put it in The American Evangelical Story, “In short, when viewed from the perspective of our multiplicity, we evangelicals hold hardly anything in common. We are a people more remarkable for our differences than our union.”²

However, there’s more to consider as we search for the wellspring of our mutual confusion. Evangelical Christianity is a movement whose estimated adherents number somewhere between 700 million and 812 million.³ Mormonism’s boasted 13 million membership figure pales in comparison to those numbers, with Mormonism being about the size of a single Protestant denomination, say the United Methodist Church (12 million members) or the Southern Baptist Convention (16.2 million members). Does the diversity and variety found throughout all of evangelical Christianity outdo Mormonism’s diversity and variety? Definitely. Does the diversity and variety found within a single Protestant denomination of comparable size outdo that of Mormonism? Unlikely, and there’s a good reason for that. A Mormon who begins to reject some of the positions being officially articulated by church leaders or desires to see change within the church is still going to believe that those leaders are God’s prophets who hold the keys to the priesthood, so he’ll probably stay in the church. A Southern Baptist who begins to disagree with some of the pronouncements and beliefs of her denomination will likely shift to another Baptist denomination more suited to her beliefs, or another form of Christianity altogether. There’s a reason there isn’t a sprawling network of UMC or SBC bloggers discussing doctrine, analyzing the statements of leaders and suggesting changes those denominations could make like there is with Mormonism and the Bloggernacle. In Protestantism, it’s more trouble to reform your own denomination than it is to simply move on to one that suits you better. In Mormonism, you have no where else to go.

In conclusion, you’re confused by us because we’re big and confusing, and we’re confused by you because we’re not used to encountering so much diversity within such a (comparatively) small religious movement.

In my next post, I hope to cover the specifics of some of that diversity and focus on how we can categorize common strains of LDS thought and positions for the benefit of non-members in general and evangelical Christians in particular.

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[1] Fair is fair: I do believe that there are some Mormons who only study evangelicalism for the purpose of looking for the best place to hang a target. They don’t have the grassroots organizational presence that evangelical anti-Mormons do, but they do exist. For my own part, I try to be an adherent of the interfaith dialogue philosophy of Krister Stendahl: If we’re going to compare, let’s compare your best with our best, though I sometimes fail in this goal.

[2] Douglas A. Sweeney, The American Evangelical Story: A History of the Movement (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005), 20.

[3] See Robert L. Millet and Gregory C.V. Johnson, Bridging the Divide: The Continuing Conversation Between a Mormon and an Evangelical (Rhinebeck: Monkfish, 2007), 124 and Sweeney, 9. Sweeney estimates that there are 570 million Pentecostals and charismatics alone in addition to 242 million other types of evangelicals; however, there is some debate among scholars as to whether or not Pentecostalism should continue to be counted as part of evangelical and therefore Protestant Christianity or if it should be considered a new, fourth major wing of Christianity. See this post at Todd Wood’s “Heart Issues For LDS” blog for some discussion of this.

My brother’s new wife curls up against him on the pew, toying with his hair. Two of my little girls sit on his lap. A third stands on the bench next to him to better rub his back. He stares rigidly at the speaker and blushes. His wife smirks.

A morose priest slouches morosely to the podium and morosely gives a 15-minute talk he wrote himself. He morosely bears his testimony and sinks back into his chair.

My girls tire of my brother. They squall up and down the bench, bearing their testimony in ribbons and ruffles of the natural man.

Comment at the Junior Ganymede.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great acommandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Thus Christ’s summary of the Mosaic law.

But Christ came to fulfill the law. He gave a new commandment:

As I have loved you, love one another.

Loving our neighbors the way we love ourselves is no longer enough. We must love our neighbors with the love that Christ has–swift, implacable, the love that moves the stars.

Comment here.

He tells the Nephites that they are “lifted up in the pride of their hearts.” . He says that “pride” and “being proud in your heart” are “abominable to him who created all flesh.” He is not pulling punches.

But then he says,

And now I make an end of speaking unto you concerning this pride. And were it not that I must speak unto you concerning a grosser crime, my heart would rejoice exceedingly because of you.

He then speaks against unchastity. So according to Jacob, pride is bad but sexual sins are lots, lots worse.

That’s interesting because, well, President Ezra Taft Benson said differently.

He gave a talk famous among Mormons called Beware of Pride. Like Jacob, he’s against it, but he doesn’t say that pride is relatively minor when compared to sexual sin.

In fact, President Benson says that

Pride is the universal sin, the great vice. Yes, pride is the universal sin, the great vice.

President Benson draws heavily on C.S. Lewis, who also thought that pride was the worse sin, certainly worse than unchastity. Remember The Great Divorce? The sinner who is afflicted with sexual sin (in the form of a lizard) is in a bad way, but the sinners who suffer from naked pride are much worse off. The sexual sinner repents and sees his sin turn to glory. The proud sinners do not and are condemned to hell.

Each prophet has a message for his own time, so they can contradict each other. But we should go out of our way to avoid dismissing *anything* we have that came through one of God’s mouthpieces. So how to reconcile the American prophet Ezra Taft Benson with the Nephite Prophet Jacob?

My opinion: the key is in President Benson’s statement that “pride is the universal sin.” Unlike Jacob, he is not talking about pride as one specific kind of sin. He is talking about pride as the common factor in every sin. If President Benson had written Jacob 2, he would have denounced the pride that led the Nephites to get wealth and think well of themselves, but he would have denounced even more the pride that led them to use women as status symbols and tools for the satisfaction of lust.

There’s pride, and then there’s pride.

Comment here.

[they] are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens

So, the deepest, most mystical, most mind-blowing things are . . . passwords? Secret handshakes? Door codes? Jon Stewart says, “Really, Brigham Young? Angel security guards. Really?”

How crude. How earthy. How unspiritual. Its like God is some kind of man and salvation is a thing and the Kingdom isn’t a metaphor. Really.

Mormonism is the deal God makes us:
Less vanity, more reality.
Less discussion, more answers.
Less everywhere, more somewhere.
Less theology, more God.

A prophet has no honor in his own country, Jesus says. In Mormonism, God asks us to honor a prophet from our own country. He asks us to honor a God from our own country.

If I had to bet, I’d bet that the Navajo didn’t really used to do that, or if they did they didn’t do it to all adulterers, male and female, in-group or out-group, alike. But that’s not the point. Adultery is something that matters a lot to people. It hits them in the gut. And widespread tolerance of adultery is an acid to the institution of marriage. But our law hardly does anything about it.

Today Maggie Gallagher proposed a revived adultery tort (alienation of affection) that would make the other man or the other woman liable to the wronged spouse. Something like it sounds like a good idea to me.

I would also favor making adultery a prominent factor in determining custody in a divorce. Making adultery a crime again has its attractions to, though whether we should have laws on the books that rarely get enforced is a question.

My (limited) understanding is that a law to this effect has been in place for awhile but that the current budget bill overrides this law. The amendment that was just defeated sought to restore it.

I suppose a Mormon could make an argument for involuntary sterilization under some circumstances. Is there any Mormon argument to be made coerced abortion? I don’t see any, but the bloggernacle often surprises me. What about this amendment–is there anyone out there convinced that the United Nations Population Fund is doing such good work that the good outweighs the bad? Or has China been misrepresented and local authorities there aren’t really coercing abortions like people say?

When I was a law clerk, I worked on a fair number of immigration cases. Chinese often claimed asylum because of fear of coerced abortion or sterilization or severe persecution for having more than one kid. Under the circumstances, they would have an incentive to lie, of course. But much of the evidence, including some medical evidence, seemed credible to me. Still, the scope of the problem might be exaggerated, at least.