Sunday, January 11, 2015

Top 27 overlooked books of 2014

Slate Book Review critics tagged 27 great books you never heard about—but should’ve, including:
Michael Robbins recommends Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Cosmos, God, Humanity, by Terryl L. Givens:

This whole-hog study, the first of two volumes, just came out, and I haven’t finished it, but given its subject matter and publisher, its inclusion here seems proleptically justified. Even if, like me, you’re inclined to view Joseph Smith as a Blakean rather than Mosaic figure, you have to dig the audacious weirdness of our indigenous religion. Givens provides an expert Baedeker, placing Mormon theology in conversation with mainline Christian thought, freeing the faith from caricature without shying away from its more controversial facets. Smith emerges from Givens’ pages as a religious genius, although not a great writer, who would scarcely recognize the current Latter-day Saints Republican oligarchy.
Read about another book on the list.

Learn more about Wrestling the Angel.

--Marshal Zeringue