Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is about Mormons as much as Mormonism, and how each shapes the other. It offers an overview of key events in Mormon history because it is impossible to understand Mormon identity, theology, culture, and practice without at least a basic understanding of the religion's past. The book offers a semi-fictional account of a week in the life of a "typical" Mormon family. Like every other religion, Mormonism emerged from and continues to operate in the particularities of history, geography, and culture. Identifying Mormonism as a historical religion allows us to appreciate its capacity to adapt in response to changing conditions. Nineteenth-century Mormons and non-Mormons alike spoke of Mormonism as a new "race," though they differed on whether that was a good thing. Mormonism proposed that such fissures could be and were meant to be healed, and humanity made whole.