Latter-day Dissent

Latter-day Dissent is the first single volume to document the turbulent relations between the LDS (Mormon) Church and its recent intellectual dissenters, giving voice to those disciplined and charting their respective histories. The book's core features an historical treatment of LDS disciplinary practice, and exclusive interviews with members of the September Six - six prominent academics, writers, and activists charged with "apostasy" and officially purged from the LDS Church in September of 1993. Those interviews are complimented by the stories of intellectuals who subsequently faced discipline in 1995, 2000, and 2003, as well as a conversation with Donald B. Jessee, formerly of the LDS Public Affairs Department, who responded for the Church when LDS authorities declined to comment.


The inquiry of Dr. Philip Lindholm (Oxford) isolates the common cause of tension between LDS authorities and members of the intelligentsia, and unfolds a stimulating exchange of penetrating questions and thoughtful answers that speak to the very core of what it means to be, and not to be, a Latter-day Saint. As the Church continues to exponentially diversify, there is no matter more relevant.