 | All Abraham''s Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage Subjects: Ethnic relations -- Religious aspects -- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- History of doctrines; Race relations -- Religious aspects -- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- History of doctrines; Ethnicity -- Religious aspects -- Chu; All Abraham's Children is Armand L. Mauss's long-awaited magnum opus on the evolution of traditional Mormon beliefs and practices concerning minorities. He examines how members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have defined themselves and others in terms of racial lineages. Mauss describes a complex process of the broadening of these self-defined lineages during the last part of the twentieth century as the modern Mormon church continued its world-wide expansion through massive missionary work. Mauss contends that Mormon constructions of racial identity have not necessarily affected actual behavior negatively and that in some cases Mormons have shown greater tolerance than other groups in the American mainstream. Employing a broad intellectual historical analysis to identify shifts in LDS behavior over time, All Abraham's Children is an important commentary on current models of Mormon historiography. Armand L. Mauss, a professor emeritus of sociology and religious studies at Washington State University, is the author of The Angel and the Beehive: The Mormon Struggle with Assimilation, and Social Problems as Social Movements, and the coeditor of Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church. |
