Is the LDS Church really an international church? More than half of the world’s Mormons live outside the U.S., but the editors of a new book say decisions are made by white, mostly American men.
The LDS Church has congregations around the world, but is it really an "international" church? It's headquartered of course in Salt Lake City, and the programs, policies, curricula, and leadership emanate from that seat of power. More than half of the world’s Mormons live outside of the United States though. Scholars Joanna Brooks and Gina Colvin join us Tuesday to talk about the particularly American nature of the Church, and what that means for Saints of different cultures and experiences.
Gina Colvin is a New Zealand Maori scholar. She’s a research fellow at the University of Canterbury. Colvin is host of the podcast A Thoughtful Faith, and she writes KiwiMormon for the religion blog Patheos.
Joanna Brooks is a scholar of American culture and religion. She's Associate Vice President of Faculty at San Diego State University. She’s also chair of the foundation behind Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.
They are co-editors of the book Decolonizing Mormonism: Approaching a Postcolonial Zion. [Indie bookstores|Amazon]
