Jana Riess
Senior columnist Jana Riess is the author of many books, including "The Prayer Wheel" (Random House/Convergent, 2018) and "The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church" (Oxford University Press, 2019). She has a PhD in American religious history from Columbia University.
All Stories by Jana Riess
An in-depth look at every individual excommunicated by Jesus Christ in scripture
By Jana Riess — June 19, 2014
With at least a dozen Mormons now facing church discipline, it's logical to take a step back and ask ourselves what Jesus would do. Here is an in-depth look at all the people Jesus excommunicated.
LDS Social Services to halt adoption placements with Mormon families
By Jana Riess — June 18, 2014
The LDS Church says its decision to stop overseeing adoptions is not due to a refusal to place children with same-sex couples, but an overall decline in the number of babies available.
Mormon bloggers and podcasters emphasize there is “room for all” in the LDS Church
By Jana Riess — June 16, 2014
Dozens of Mormon bloggers have expressed their hope that the LDS Church will avoid excommunicating prominent activists and "consider other ways of maintaining boundaries, strengthening Church members, and encouraging them to grow spiritually within Mormonism’s large and embracing community."
Father’s Day wisdom from . . . Rob Lowe?
By Jana Riess — June 14, 2014
Rob Lowe's new memoir isn't deeply philosophical, but as a Father's Day gift you can't go far wrong. Bonus points if your dad is a fan of The West Wing, votes Republican, and still has a childhood crush on Melissa Gilbert.
Portland school shooter was a Mormon teen
By Jana Riess — June 13, 2014
What will it take for Americans in general (and perhaps Mormons in particular) to stop the insanity and admit that there need to be reasonable limits on the availability of guns? How many children have to die?
Are we looking at a Mormon purge?
By Jana Riess — June 11, 2014
If the point of these pending excommunications is to strike fear in the hearts of other Latter-day Saints who love the Church but do not always agree with it on matters of social justice, then it has already failed. For Zion's sake, and for my own, I will not keep silent.
NPR at the MTC: Mormon missionaries’ impressive foreign language skills
By Jana Riess — June 9, 2014
An optimistic estimate is that only one in four Americans speaks a foreign language competently. But because of Mormons' missionary work, far higher percentages of Mormons are fluent in other languages. What can this teach us?
The Mormon “Shoulder War”: What’s at stake?
By Jana Riess — June 5, 2014
Mormons act out discomfort with women’s power by covering their shoulders, the part of the body that most represents responsibility, capability, and authority.
Should you make your self-published book available for free?
By Jana Riess — June 3, 2014
What are the advantages to making your book temporarily free through Amazon's KDP Select program? And what's the catch? (It's Amazon. There's always a catch.)
The Lazy Mormon’s Pareto Principle
By Jana Riess — May 30, 2014
This is Mormonism’s Pareto Principle: 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. And without those stalwart few, the rest of us would be sitting in Cheerio-encrusted chapels.
Maya Angelou is not in heaven
By Jana Riess — May 29, 2014
Over the last 24 hours I've seen several people refer to Angelou as the "caged bird" of her writings, saying she is now free of the mortal body that caged her, that cages us all. I beg to differ.
Mormons face challenges on social media
By Jana Riess — May 27, 2014
One challenge for the hierarchical LDS Church is that the same centralized structure that enables its strong and unified social media presence is also a potential obstacle to the participatory give-and-take of social media.
How many Mormons seek an expanded role for women?
By Jana Riess — May 23, 2014
We often hear the 2011 Pew statistic that only 13% of Mormon men and 8% of women support women's ordination. But what if that figure is already out of date?
The pain of being gay and Mormon at BYU
By Jana Riess — May 21, 2014
Homosexuality is not a phase someone is going through. It isn't a temporary condition with which some people "struggle." LGBT Mormons cannot "pray the gay away" or cure themselves by marrying someone of the opposite sex.
The Walking Wounded
By Jana Riess — May 20, 2014
A couple of weeks ago I posed a question on Facebook: What was the most discouraging thing a teacher ever told you about yourself? I was surprised by the dozens of answers I received – and by their specificity.
