Bialecki, Jon. “The Mormon Archive’s First Ten Thousand Years: Infrastructure, Materiality, Ontology, and Resurrection in Religious Transhumanism.” Comparative Studies in Society and History (2025): 1-19.
One of the chief debates in the academic study of transhumanism is whether or not this emergent movement that advocates for the technological overcoming of the limits of humanity should be considered religious in nature. This question stems from the fact that, while the vast majority of transhumanists explicitly reject established religion, elements of transhumanism seem strikingly similar to Christian eschatology. This article explores this question by asking how the ontology of an avowedly religious transhumanist movement, the Mormon Transhumanist Association, differs from the informatic ontology identified in secular transhumanism. It shows how contemporary Mormon Transhumanist imaginings of various forms of technological resurrection are informed by the infrastructure and materialist ontology associated with the Mormon practice of “Proxy baptisms” (otherwise known as baptisms for the dead) and other initiatory rituals conducted by proxy on behalf of the deceased. This influence suggests that, at least in this case, there are identifiable differences between secular transhumanism and religious transhumanism that complicate any easy reading of secular transhumanism as being crypto-religion.
Brunson, Samuel D. Between the Temple and the Tax Collector: The Intersection of Mormonism and the State. University of Illinois Press, 2025.
The founding and development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints run parallel to the rise of the modern tax system and administrative state. Samuel D. Brunson looks at the relationships between the Church and various federal, state, local, and international tax regimes.
The church and its members engage with the state as taxpayers and as members of a faith exempt from taxes. As Brunson shows, LDS members and the Church have at various times enacted, enforced, and collected taxes while also challenging taxes in the courts and politics. Brunson delves into the ways LDS members used their status as taxpayers to affirm themselves as citizens and how outsiders have attacked the Church’s tax-exempt status to delegitimize it. Throughout, Brunson uses the daily interactions between the Latter-day Saints and taxation to explain important and inevitable holes in the wall between church and state.
Enlightening and informed, Between the Temple and the Tax Collector provides general readers and experts alike with a new perspective on a fundamental issue.
Calvert, Isaac, A. LeGrand Richards, and Jessica Ashcraft. “Examining “The Mormon Puzzle”: Progressive Education and Mormon Educational Ideas in Late Nineteenth-Century Utah.” History of Education Quarterly (2025): 1-38.
This article describes the multifaceted origins and dynamics of pedagogic progressive edu- cational ideas among Mormon educators in the Utah Territory during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We propose four principal avenues through which progres- sive educational ideas reached these Mormon educators. These include the exigencies of desert frontier living that predisposed early Utah Mormons to progressivism’s focus on practical education; the arrival of denominational schools sponsored by the New West Education Commission (NWEC), which sparked educative improvement within Mormon communities; the Pestalozzian teachings of Karl Maeser via the Brigham Young Academy’s Normal School; and the visits of eastern progressive educationalists through Benjamin Cluff’s leadership at the BYA Summer Institutes. We additionally situate nineteenth- century national perceptions of Mormon educational ideas within this more nuanced backdrop of the migration of progressive ideas to Utah. We describe unique dimensions of Mormon educational progressivism that might set it apart from educational progressivisms elsewhere, including tensions within Utah’s Mormon educative community.
Hutchins, Zachary McLeod. Shall I Have Pleasure?: An Answer for Sarah. Greg Kofford Books, 2025.
Shall I Have Pleasure? An Answer for Sarah explores the complex relationship between faith, desire, and the pursuit of joy through a spiritual and philosophical lens. Drawing from religious narratives, scriptural analysis, and theological insights, the book delves into how pleasure is perceived within Christian traditions, particularly among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Through reflective anecdotes, historical context, and doctrinal interpretations, the author challenges the tension between spiritual duty and sensory enjoyment, encouraging readers to reconcile divine purpose with the pursuit of happiness.
Rooted in scripture and enriched by personal storytelling, this thought-provoking work invites readers to reconsider long-held beliefs about pleasure and self-denial. By examining biblical stories like Sarah’s incredulous laughter at the promise of joy in old age, as well as Christ’s compassionate acceptance of human love and generosity, the book offers a fresh perspective on living a life of spiritual fulfillment that embraces joy as an essential part of divine intent. Through this lens, Shall I Have Pleasure? becomes a call to rediscover pleasure as a God-given gift intertwined with human purpose and eternal potential.
Schettini, Clara Varjão. “Latter-day Saints in Brazil: The Reaction of Religious Leaders in the South, 1923–1935.” Mormon Studies Review 12 (2025): 15-24.
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Matas, Caroline. ““They Get Zero Say in How We View It”: Ex-Mormon TikTok as Spectacle.” Mormon Studies Review 12 (2025): 46-56.
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Stanton, Megan Ann. “Community of Christ: Developing an Independent Message.” Mormon Studies Review 12 (2025): 4-14.
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Davis, Kate. “Technologies of the Selfie: Mormon Influencers and the Performance of Gender Online.” Mormon Studies Review 12 (2025): 35-45.
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Coviello, Peter. “Have Joy: Queer Theory and Mormon Studies.” Mormon Studies Review 12 (2025): 57-69.
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