PapersFlow Research Brief
Mormonism, Religion, and History
Research Guide
What is Mormonism, Religion, and History?
Mormonism, Religion, and History is an interdisciplinary academic field encompassing 109,575 scholarly works that examine the origins, doctrines, practices, and historical development of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints within broader American religious and cultural contexts.
The field includes 109,575 works analyzing Mormon theology, institutions, and social impacts alongside general American religious history. Steensland et al. (2000) in "The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art" (1372 citations) critiques classification schemes for religious groups in U.S. surveys, highlighting needs for precise categorization including emerging denominations like Mormonism. Warner (1993) in "Work in Progress Toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States" (1229 citations) describes a shift to viewing U.S. religion as thriving in an open market system.
Research Sub-Topics
Lived Religion in America
This sub-topic examines the everyday practices and experiences of religious individuals and communities in American contexts, moving beyond institutional structures. Researchers study how ordinary people enact faith through rituals, relationships, and routines.
Sociological Paradigms in American Religion
This sub-topic explores evolving theoretical frameworks for studying religion's role in U.S. society, critiquing and advancing methodologies. Researchers analyze measurement issues and paradigm shifts in religious sociology.
British Folkways in American Religious Culture
This sub-topic investigates how British regional cultures shaped American religious traditions and folk practices. Researchers trace migrations and cultural persistence in Protestant denominations.
Reduplicative Identity in Religious Faith
This sub-topic delves into reduplicative constructions in religious language, like 'faithful Mormon,' and their role in identity formation. Researchers explore linguistic and psychological dimensions of religious self-concepts.
Evangelicalism in Modern Britain
This sub-topic charts the historical development of evangelical movements in Britain from the 1730s to the 1980s. Researchers examine theological shifts, social impacts, and transatlantic influences.
Why It Matters
Studies in this field refine tools for measuring religious affiliation and behavior, enabling better analysis of U.S. demographics; Steensland et al. (2000) in "The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art" (1372 citations and 1059 citations across editions) propose RELTRAD, a scheme distinguishing evangelical, mainline, black Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and other groups, applied in thousands of surveys to track Mormon adherence rates. Hall (1997) in "Lived religion in America: toward a history of practice" (731 citations) shifts focus to everyday practices like gift exchange and hymn singing, revealing how Mormon communal rituals shaped 19th-century settlements. Recent grants from the Church History Department (2025) and fellowships at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute support archival research on Joseph Smith's papers and LDS humanitarian aid, estimated at contributions amid $293 billion church wealth (2024), informing policy on religious nonprofits.
Reading Guide
Where to Start
"The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art" by Steensland et al. (2000; 1372 citations), as it provides foundational tools for classifying Mormonism within U.S. religious surveys, essential for contextualizing historical data.
Key Papers Explained
Steensland et al. (2000) "The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art" (1372 citations) builds classification foundations that Warner (1993) "Work in Progress Toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States" (1229 citations) extends into market dynamics, explaining Mormon institutional vitality; Hall (1997) "Lived religion in America: toward a history of practice" (731 citations) complements by grounding these in practices, while Fischer (1990) "Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America" (898 citations) traces cultural precursors to Mormon folkways.
Paper Timeline
Most-cited paper highlighted in red. Papers ordered chronologically.
Advanced Directions
Recent preprints like "Gender, Authority, And the History of Latter-Day Saint Patriarchy" analyze women's roles in church patriarchy; Joseph Smith Papers Project publishes comprehensive writings; Maxwell Institute emphasizes discipleship transformation; GitHub tools like lds-data-analysis process conference texts and bomdb queries Book of Mormon editions.
Papers at a Glance
| # | Paper | Year | Venue | Citations | Open Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Faithfulness and Reduplicative Identity | 1995 | Rutgers University Com... | 1.6K | ✓ |
| 2 | The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State o... | 2000 | Social Forces | 1.4K | ✓ |
| 3 | Work in Progress Toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological St... | 1993 | American Journal of So... | 1.2K | ✕ |
| 4 | The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State o... | 2000 | Social Forces | 1.1K | ✕ |
| 5 | Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to ... | 1991 | The American Historica... | 922 | ✕ |
| 6 | Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America | 1990 | The New England Quarterly | 898 | ✕ |
| 7 | The redemptive self : stories Americans live by | 2005 | — | 856 | ✕ |
| 8 | The Anchor Bible dictionary | 1993 | Choice Reviews Online | 790 | ✕ |
| 9 | Lived religion in America: toward a history of practice | 1997 | Project Muse (Johns Ho... | 731 | ✕ |
| 10 | The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal i... | 1965 | American Quarterly | 661 | ✕ |
In the News
2025 Call for Applications: Research Grants at the Church History Department
(no content)
Graduate Research Fellowship in Mormon Studies - Mormon Studies
**Past Applications (for reference only):**
The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
In the journey of discipleship we lose our old selves. The natural man and the natural woman are “put off,” and then we find ourselves having become more saintly. We see such saintliness all about ...
Part 1: 1830–1845
Women and men who embraced Latter-day Saint theology sought to become a “pure people,” “a kingdom of priests,” and a “holy nation” worthy to build a literal city of Zion where Jesus Christ would ru...
LDS Church humanitarian aid: In 2024, it increased — again
The Utah-based faith —whose[overall wealth has been estimated at $293 billion](
Code & Tools
With the technology of the twenty-first century, it's time to build an open source database that serves historians and other researchers in their s...
With the technology of the twenty-first century, it's time to build an open source database that serves historians and other researchers in their s...
## Repository files navigation # mormon\_queer\_analysis Historical analysis of reddit discourse regarding LGBT issues on the LDS-related subredd...
## Repository files navigation # lds-conference-analysis This repository contains Python code for analyzing data associated with the Church of Je...
BomDB is a command-line tool (packaged as a Ruby gem) that provides multiple editions of the Book of Mormon in machine-readable form. At its heart ...
Recent Preprints
Gender, Authority, And the History of Latter-Day Saint Patriarchy
Since the establishment of the Church, Latter-day Saint (Mormon) women have had a longstanding relationship with the Church’s patriarchy. While polygamy was oppressive to some through limitations ...
Mormon Studies: Home
personnel. Interpreter Foundation The Interpreter Foundation is a nonprofit educational organization focused on the scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Book of Mormon...
Joseph Smith (1805–1844) was the founding prophet and first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Joseph Smith Papers Project is an effort to transcribe, contextualize, ...
Mormonism Research Ministry - Challenging the claims of The ...
NOTE: This article was published in the March/April 2025 Mormonism Researched newsletter, a free publication. To subscribe, please visit the registration site. Over the years, Latter-day Saint lead...
Investigating the Evidence for Mormonism In Six Steps
describes some of what I discovered about Mormonism.
Latest Developments
Recent developments in Mormonism, religion, and history research include the publication of the final volume of the Joseph Smith Papers, completing a 27-volume project that documents Joseph Smith’s surviving papers and foundational documents of the LDS Church, available online and in print as of June 2023 (churchofjesuschrist.org). Additionally, new online content featuring Nauvoo-era tithing records was released in November 2023 (churchofjesuschrist.org). Recent updates also include minor adjustments to study helps in the Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon, made in October 2025 (churchofjesuschrist.org).
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
What classification improvements does 'The Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art' propose?
Steensland et al. (2000) introduce RELTRAD, categorizing U.S. religions into evangelical, mainline Protestant, black Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and other groups. This addresses flaws in prior schemes like T.W. Smith's (1990), improving survey accuracy for studying groups including Mormons. The paper has 1372 and 1059 citations across editions.
How does Warner (1993) describe changes in U.S. religious sociology?
Warner (1993) in "Work in Progress Toward a New Paradigm for the Sociological Study of Religion in the United States" (1229 citations) argues organized religion thrives in an open U.S. market, contrasting older monopoly models. This paradigm explains robust denominational competition, applicable to Mormon growth. The shift draws from recent literature on religious institutions.
What is the focus of 'Lived religion in America: toward a history of practice'?
Hall (1997) (731 citations) examines religion through practices in social contexts, such as gift exchange, cremation, and hymn singing. It reorients American religious history dynamically, including Mormon communal observances. Essays link practices to specific historical settings.
What recent resources support Mormon history research?
The Joseph Smith Papers Project transcribes all writings of Joseph Smith (1805–1844), including revelations and journals. GitHub projects like todrobbins/Mormon-Primary-Sources consolidate primary documents for historians. Church History Department grants (2025) fund archival studies.
How do recent preprints address Mormon gender dynamics?
"Gender, Authority, And the History of Latter-Day Saint Patriarchy" examines Mormon women's relationship with church patriarchy since its founding. Polygamy limited some speech but empowered internal authority in others. It traces historical shifts in authority structures.
Open Research Questions
- ? How did British folkways in "Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America" (Fischer, 1990; 898 citations) influence early Mormon migration patterns and communal structures?
- ? What unresolved tensions exist between lived Mormon practices, as in Hall (1997), and formal institutional authority in 19th-century Zion-building efforts?
- ? In what ways does the open religious market paradigm (Warner, 1993) fail to account for centralized Mormon hierarchies today?
- ? How do contemporary LDS humanitarian initiatives, with 2024 increases amid $293 billion wealth, reflect or diverge from redemptive self-narratives in McAdams (2005; 856 citations)?
- ? What primary source gaps persist in digital databases like bomdb and Mormon-Primary-Sources for reconstructing early missionary networks?
Recent Trends
Preprints from the last six months, including "Gender, Authority, And the History of Latter-Day Saint Patriarchy" and Joseph Smith Papers updates, emphasize primary sources and gender history; news highlights 2025 research grants from Church History Department, Maxwell Institute fellowships, and 2024 LDS humanitarian aid increases with church wealth at $293 billion; GitHub repositories like todrobbins/Mormon-Primary-Sources and qhspencer/lds-data-analysis enable digital analysis of documents and conferences.
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