Thoughtful Faith for the 21st Century

A Thoughtful Faith for the 21st Century is a collection of personal essays by Latter-day Saint thinkers who give reason for the spiritual hope that is in them. Some are household names in educated circles; others are fresh voices. Many are Americans; others from other lands. They include historians and scientists, philosophers and psychologists, political scientists and poets.

Religion ("to bind together," as by a ligament) is about shared beliefs and relationships as much as it is anything else. It is thus natural that churches work to systematize these beliefs and relationships into a disciplined and official whole, lest they become inefficient, incoherent, or self-contradictory. One might call this organizing process "correlation."

Individual human experience, however, is not readily correlated. Thoughtful people come to their faith commitments variously, reflecting the diverse tenor of human probing and the rich variety of God's response. The disciples in this volume have given voice to the hope that is in them. Their voices are not homogenous. They are instead a genuine choir, singing with candor of struggle and grace.

Nonetheless, the collection is held together by several strands. Among them is the proposition that a devout life of heart and spirit need not be blind. A second is that a life of the mind need not be spiritually arid. One cannot be too inspired, but neither can one think too well. For embodied intelligence and spirit is what we are. These twin elements are what tethers us to Divinity.

Contributors include Astrid S. Tuminez, Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Richard L. Bushman, Thomas McConkie, David F. Holland, Terryl Givens, Fiona Givens, Richard D. Poll, Bonnie Young, Samuel Morris Brown, Ben Schilaty, J. Spencer Fluhman, Eugene England, Kristine Haglund, Emma Lou Thayne, Michelle Louise Toxværd Graabek, Melanie Riwai-Couch, Jenny Pulsipher, Ugo A. Perego, Steven L. Peck, Deidre Nicole Green, Joseph M. Spencer, Francine Bennion, Leonard Arrington, and Philip Barlow.