{"id":35808,"date":"2016-09-29T18:29:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T23:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=35808"},"modified":"2016-09-29T18:32:11","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T23:32:11","slug":"what-is-zion-and-how-do-we-get-there-31-mormons-weigh-in-youll-definitely-find-your-zion-somewhere-in-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2016\/09\/what-is-zion-and-how-do-we-get-there-31-mormons-weigh-in-youll-definitely-find-your-zion-somewhere-in-here\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Zion and how do we get there? 31 Mormons weigh in: You&#8217;ll definitely find your Zion somewhere in here"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.whitecloudpress.com\/product\/a-book-of-mormons\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-35809 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/a-book-of-mormons.jpg\" alt=\"a-book-of-mormons\" width=\"384\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/a-book-of-mormons.jpg 600w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/a-book-of-mormons-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/a-book-of-mormons-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/a-book-of-mormons-360x360.jpg 360w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/a-book-of-mormons-260x260.jpg 260w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/a-book-of-mormons-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px\" \/><\/a><i>A review of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whitecloudpress.com\/product\/a-book-of-mormons\/\">A Book of Mormons: Latter-day Saints on a Modern-Day Zion<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<div>In this useful collection of brief essays, an impressively wide array of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints describe what Zion means to them. As the editors write in their introduction, &#8220;Forget about glossy Mormon-produced documentaries. Forget about funny Broadway musicals. &#8230; Here you will find a potent mixture of everyday and extraordinary Mormons speaking in their own voice about tough issues and hard-won testimonies.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>The range of approaches is wonderfully expansive. Some of the authors speak of how Zion means better inclusion of groups that have historically been under-empowered.<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.neylanmcbaine.com\/\">Neylan McBain<\/a>, whose book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/customer-reviews\/R3F6PIB7WQ9AUB\/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&amp;ASIN=1589586883\">Women at Church<\/a> I can&#8217;t say enough good things about, writes, &#8220;As we stretch toward a new identity of Mormon womanhood, our community craves a vision of how we can honor our priorities without being slaves to their former trappings.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/gregkofford.com\/collections\/julie-m-smith\">Julie Smith<\/a> explores the question &#8220;does Mormonism oppress women&#8211;or liberate them?&#8221;, providing a typology for how different women approach their relationship to the Church (the Sariahs, the Abishes, and the Morianton&#8217;s maids), useful in thinking of how women with different views can still &#8220;all pull together,&#8221; as the <a href=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/harchive\/2011\/11\/as-sisters-in-zion\/\">old hymn suggests<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/femwoc.com\/meet-the-femwocees\/kalani-tonga\/\">Kalani Tonga<\/a> invites readers to bring members who feel marginalized (or &#8212; for whatever reason &#8212; are &#8220;not at the table&#8221;) into an active embrace, particularly highlighting the challenges of women of color.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/history.byu.edu\/Pages\/Faculty\/Garcia.aspx\">Ignacio Garc\u00eda<\/a> uses the history of the Church&#8217;s engagement with Latino members and Spanish-language units to propose that &#8220;Latino Mormonism, even with normal human weaknesses and flaws, offers a way forward.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>Other authors focus on our Zion responsibility to care for the poor. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.byui.edu\/history-geography-and-political-science\/history\/faculty\/david-pulsipher-x97394\">J. David Pulsipher&#8217;s<\/a> powerful essay about how his family learned to find surplus even in times of relative poverty moved my wife and I deeply as we read it. <a href=\"https:\/\/faculty.utah.edu\/u0033169-W._PAUL_REEVE\/biography\/index.hml\">W. Paul Reeve&#8217;s<\/a> essay on how humanitarian work changed his life and his reflections on judging the poor were also thoughtful and instructive.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>For those who principally know the Communities of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) through the lens of seminary teachers, <a href=\"https:\/\/bycommonconsent.com\/john-hamer\/\">John Hamer&#8217;s<\/a> essay on how the Community of Christ seeks to establish peace on earth was eye-opening and inspiring.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>Because Zion means different things to different people, not all the essays move every reader. Beyond the half that I strongly enjoyed, I moderately enjoyed most of the others. Only a couple really disagreed with me. Of course, if I&#8217;m ever talking to those authors, I can adhere to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dialoguejournal.com\/contact-us\/staff\/#_mb\">Molly McLellan Bennion&#8217;s<\/a> wise counsel that &#8220;We not only cannot find a Zion in which to isolate ourselves within our comfort zones; we shouldn&#8217;t try,&#8221; and then I can use <a href=\"http:\/\/gregkofford.com\/collections\/michael-austin\">Michael Austin&#8217;s<\/a> principles for disagreeing with others in Zion. As <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lindahoffmankimball.com\/lhk_website\/Home.html\">Linda Hoffman Kimball<\/a> wrote, &#8220;I have to learn to make room for those whose approach is different from mine &#8212; for those whose brains and hearts crave the concrete and defined where mine feasts on paradox and koan.&#8221; Both of those approaches are represented in this book &#8212; albeit there is more of the latter than the former.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>In terms of the pure quality of the writing, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aecannon.com\/main.html\">Ann Cannon<\/a> &#8212; a columnist with the Salt Lake Tribune &#8212; stands out with her essay (which I would re-title &#8220;Why I stay&#8221;). And let me just add one crotchety note: This volume needed a serious copy edit. We found typos in many of the essays.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>There is much to love in this collection. I am a believing member of the Church, and still I struggle internally with various Church stances as well as cultural practices. Within this book are people who think like me and others who don&#8217;t. This book fed both my thought and my faith.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>Other reviews<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Exponent II (Spunky):\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.the-exponent.com\/book-review-a-book-of-mormons\/\">http:\/\/www.the-exponent.com\/book-review-a-book-of-mormons\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Association for Mormon Letters (Julie J. Nichols):\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/associationmormonletters.org\/blog\/reviews\/current-reviews\/jensen-and-mckay-lamb-a-book-of-mormons-latter-day-saint-on-a-modern-day-zion-reviewed-by-julie-j-nichols\/\">http:\/\/associationmormonletters.org\/blog\/reviews\/current-reviews\/jensen-and-mckay-lamb-a-book-of-mormons-latter-day-saint-on-a-modern-day-zion-reviewed-by-julie-j-nichols\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A review of A Book of Mormons: Latter-day Saints on a Modern-Day Zion In this useful collection of brief essays, an impressively wide array of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints describe what Zion means to them. As the editors write in their introduction, &#8220;Forget about glossy Mormon-produced documentaries. Forget about funny Broadway musicals. &#8230; Here you will find a potent mixture of everyday and extraordinary Mormons speaking in their own voice about tough issues and hard-won testimonies.&#8221; The range of approaches is wonderfully expansive. Some of the authors speak of how Zion means better inclusion of groups that have historically been under-empowered. Neylan McBain, whose book Women at Church I can&#8217;t say enough good things about, writes, &#8220;As we stretch toward a new identity of Mormon womanhood, our community craves a vision of how we can honor our priorities without being slaves to their former trappings.&#8221; Julie Smith explores the question &#8220;does Mormonism oppress women&#8211;or liberate them?&#8221;, providing a typology for how different women approach their relationship to the Church (the Sariahs, the Abishes, and the Morianton&#8217;s maids), useful in thinking of how women with different views can still &#8220;all pull together,&#8221; as the old [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10383,"featured_media":35809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/a-book-of-mormons.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10383"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35808"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35814,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35808\/revisions\/35814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}