A Frank Analysis of a Troubling Legacy: Review of Armand Mauss, All Abraham's Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 36.4 (Winter 2003): 238-241
2 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2013
Date Written: 2003
Abstract
Armand Mauss, professor emeritus of sociology and religious studies at Washington State University, has produced the authoritative and definitive study of the evolution of Mormon conceptions of race and lineage. As a practicing Latter-day Saint, former editor of Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, and former president of the Mormon History Association, Mauss brings together the intimacy of an insider, the empirical rigor of a social scientist, and a historian's attentiveness to change in an admirable weaving of three intertwined story lines: "the power of religious ideas and human behavior on each other," the role of "religious ideas in the creation of racial prejudice and invidious ethnic distinctions,"and the "construction and reconstruction of various people's identities." While this book is an exceptional evaluation of Mormon constructions of race and lineage, it does not fully examine the influence of LDS scriptures on racialism and prejudice in LDS thought. Mauss appears to have left a fuller exploration of the constructions of race and lineage in Joseph Smith’s cultural environment and his scriptural productions to other scholars. Given the necessity of focusing his narrative and the costs that such endeavors may entail for a practicing member of the LDS Church, this omission is understandable, even if regrettable. All Abraham’s Children is not only a book for scholars; it needs to read widely by church members and leaders alike. Mauss does a very impressive job of synthesizing four decades of research and making it accessible to lay persons as well as specialists. The book is an excellent testament to the compassion, integrity, balance, and enduring legacy of one of Mormonism’s best social scientists.
Keywords: Armand Mauss, Abraham, sociology, religious studies, Mormon, race, lineage, scripture, Joseph Smith, LDS
JEL Classification: Z10
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation