cover image Mormon Christianity: What Other Christians Can Learn from the Latter-day Saints

Mormon Christianity: What Other Christians Can Learn from the Latter-day Saints

Stephen H. Webb. Oxford Univ., $27.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-19-931681-6

With the end of the Romney presidential run, the cultural "Mormon Moment" appears to be over. But the author of this groundbreaking work insists that Mormonism and its unique metaphysics occupy a special place in American religious thought. Webb is a retired professor of theology and philosophy who brings to his subject a passion for understanding Mormonism's view of God as a corporeal being, one who shares the universe with his creation and, contrary to mainstream Christian thought, possesses body, parts, and passions. The author then presents Mormonism's teachings as extensions of this viewpoint, breathing new life into the church's doctrinal foundation. Polygamy, temples, and the whole range of LDS thought, are imbued with fresh meaning. Matter and spirit are no longer strangers, as Deity assumes human shape. Webb views "the single most significant cultural revolution in the history of the world" as "the severing of the supernatural from the natural." If this is true, then Mormonism's theology of an immanent, like-us God is an answer to this dilemma. Highly recommended essential reading. (Oct.)