Peck, Steven L. Duane Jeffery: A Mormon Evolutionist. University of Illinois Press, 2026.
Controversy and strong official disfavor failed to shake Duane Jeffery’s tenacious efforts to fit the theory of evolution into the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Steven L. Peck traces Jeffery’s life from his rural upbringing and training as a geneticist through a career marked by conflict around his dedication to taking science into classrooms at Brigham Young University. As Peck shows, Jeffery met resistance from Church leaders with a patient, years-long campaign to build understanding. He corrected misinformation within Church culture and educational systems and defended science’s place in education and faith. Jeffery’s commitment to honesty, intellectual curiosity, and openness encouraged and smoothed often tense conversations about the union of scientific evidence and religious faith. At the same time, his work gave Brigham Young credibility as a research university while his writing and mentorship inspired later generations to continue the dialogue.
An overdue look at a singular figure, Duane Jeffery tells the story of the scientist whose work reshaped how many Church members understand evolution.
Dayley, Glenn. “BYU-Idaho’s Mighty Oaks Prophecy.” Journal of Mormon History 52, no. 4 (2026): 133-142.
No abstract.
Kirk, Mary Ann. “Clarity and Correction: The Women with the Mormon Battalion.” Journal of Mormon History 52, no. 4 (2026): 105-132.
No abstract.
Stainton, Geoff. “Diamond Cockling and the First Edition Book of Mormon.” Journal of Mormon History 52, no. 4 (2026): 76-104.
No abstract.
Christensen, Jessie. “¡ Buen provecho!: Recipes for Mexican Food in The Relief Society Magazine.” Journal of Mormon History 52, no. 4 (2026): 1-32.
No abstract.
Compton, Todd M. ““Having Been Convinced of the Truth of Poligamme I Therefore Enter’d into the Order”: Primary Documents Since In Sacred Loneliness.” Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 59, no. 3 (2026): 1-44.
No abstract. ChatGPT-generated abstract.
This article surveys significant primary sources concerning Joseph Smith’s plural wives that have emerged or become accessible since the publication of In Sacred Loneliness (1997). Drawing on the Bullock–Kimball list of Smith’s wives, Andrew Jenson’s research notes, D. Michael Quinn’s archival transcriptions, and newly available letters, diaries, and autobiographical accounts, it assesses how these materials corroborate, refine, and complicate existing interpretations. The evidence strengthens the identification of several disputed wives, supports additional possible marriages, revises biographical chronologies, and illuminates the women’s later religious commitments and family relationships. Particular attention is given to secrecy, marriages to women already married to other men, and the emotional and economic hardships of plural marriage. The article emphasizes the importance of evaluating contemporary and retrospective testimony together, acknowledging uncertainties in dates, memory, and provenance. Although the new sources do not fundamentally alter the author’s earlier interpretations, they deepen understanding of the women’s experiences and reveal unresolved questions about the practice of early Mormon plural marriage.
Faulconer, James E. “Who is the Real Jacques Derrida?.” The Interpreter. (2026).
Jacques Derrida and deconstruction are frequently invoked, by both admirers and critics, as arguing for relativism, denying stable meaning, and dissolving the possibility of truth. This essay argues that such characterizations misunderstand Derrida’s project. Beginning with Nietzsche’s diagnosis of the collapse of the metaphysical foundations of Western thought and tracing its development through Heidegger, the essay explains Derridean deconstruction as an attempt to think truthfully and meaningfully without appealing to a metaphysical antecedent. For Derrida, the limits of language do not imply that truth is arbitrary or merely subjective. Rather, meaning is structured in coming to be through difference and deferral and—more important—by an anticipation of truth and justice always still “to come.” Deconstruction therefore functions less as the destruction of meaning than as an ethical practice of attending to what texts, practices, and systems necessarily overlook or exclude in order to think what those exclusions point to. Read in this way, Derrida’s thought has unexpected affinities with negative theology, religious hope, and ethical responsibility and may offer Latter-day Saint thinkers useful resources for reflecting on scripture, interpretation, and the limits of human knowledge without either requiring them to become Derrideans or preventing them from doing so.
Lefevor, G. Tyler, Sydney A. Sorrell, Emalee Willis, and Jane H. Bell. ““My love for them can’t be conditional”: how active Latter-day Saint parents foster positive relationships with their LGBTQ+ teens and barriers to doing so.” Children and Youth Services Review (2026): 109261.
Introduction
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This study considers the relation between institutional adaptation and long-term behavioral change. Often, behavioral interventions weaken over time as prior norms reemerge. As a contradictory case, we focus on the practice of tobacco abstention within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although originally taught in 1833, tobacco abstention was not standardized until a 1921 requirement of tobacco abstention for Latter-day Saint temple participation, a powerful symbol of collective attachment. Drawing from this narrative, we offer an analytic framework called symbolic resonance (SR) that accounts for how behaviors embedded within symbolically resonant institutions can promote durable normative change. We then compare this case to broader U.S. tobacco trends to illustrate SR’s diagnostic value. As an empirical demonstration, we compare changes in tobacco-related health outcomes both before and after the 1921 ban by temple participation utilizing the Utah Population Database. We find that tobacco-related health advantages were confined to later cohorts who engaged in temple rituals. These results suggest that institutions may influence behavior durability when expectations are paired with symbols. SR provides analytic leverage for understanding connections between organization, individual behavior, and health beyond the Latter-day Saint case.
Peterson, Lance T., Angela Baerwolf, Sarah C. Peterson, and Katelyn Opperman. “Acceptance Journeys of LDS Families of Their LGB Child: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.” Families in Society (2026): 10443894261471608.
Family acceptance is strongly associated with improved mental health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) youth. Using podcast interviews with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (CJCLDS), we use interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore how CJCLDS parents came to accept their lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) child. We analyzed 10 episodes and produced four themes characterizing families’ acceptance journeys: Self-education and internal reflection/growth, creating support and finding community, encouraging spirituality, and sacred advocacy and spiritual work. We expound on these themes demonstrating how parents navigated thorny church culture and doctrinal issues, ultimately leaning into their faith in a loving God. Implications include research on theological affirmation for LGBTQ+ youth as well as clinicians helping parents strive for maintaining connection and flexibility with their LGBTQ+ children.
Goodman, Nathan P., and Jordan K. Lofthouse. “Polycentric Solutions to Stigmatization in Salt Lake City’s Queer Communities.” In Rainbow Liberty, pp. 119-138. Routledge.
Salt Lake City famously houses the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS Church). The LDS Church is dominant throughout Utah. It opposes same-sex romantic and sexual relationships, does not recognize same-sex marriages, and opposes social and medical transition for transgender individuals. Despite this, Salt Lake City is home to many robust formal organizations and informal groups that provide friendship, mutual assistance, and other forms of social support for queer individuals. For example, the Utah Pride Center facilitates youth and family programs, provides education, promotes community health, and organizes the city’s pride festival. Other queer organizations and associations in Salt Lake City include the Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, Equality Utah, Stonewall Sports Salt Lake, and UAF Legacy Health, among others. Queer Utahns have engaged in Tocquevillian self-governance by creating formal and informal groups to address a diversity of needs and challenges. This chapter analyzes how queer individuals have used civil society and markets to address political and social pressures that are sometimes antagonistic to their preferences and interests. The main implication is that polycentric social arrangements can help LGBTQ individuals live healthier, happier, and more connected lives when a dominant culture is not particularly welcoming.
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