Flunking Sainthood
Juicing up your Book of Mormon reading this year (Part 1, with Grant Hardy)
By Jana Riess — January 4, 2024
(RNS) — Hardy’s ‘The Annotated Book of Mormon’ promises to enrich Latter-day Saints’ yearlong study of the scripture.
The top 10 Mormon news stories of 2023
By Jana Riess — December 30, 2023
(RNS) — There's a mix of good news (more missionaries!) and bad news (more sexual and financial scandals).
Study: Utah is no longer a majority-Mormon state
By Jana Riess — December 28, 2023
(RNS) — With more nonmembers moving into the state and smaller Mormon birthrates, Utah is no longer a majority-Mormon state.
I volunteered with ‘Light the World’ Giving Machines for Christmas. Here’s what I saw.
By Jana Riess — December 22, 2023
(RNS) — A church that has been criticized for its vast wealth is trying to do more for charity.
New Mormon apostle is a bridge builder, and a Brit
By Jana Riess — December 11, 2023
(RNS) — The LDS Church didn't wait until April's General Conference to fill the vacancy, appointing British convert and longtime Church leader Patrick Kearon as its newest apostle.
What the Camino shows us about travel and mortality
By Jana Riess — December 4, 2023
(RNS) — Travel teaches us how fragile life is and what a holy gift every day can be. (Also, it shows us we can be fear-based idiots.)
A fire at a historic Chevy Chase ward raises the question: What is Mormon community now?
By Jana Riess — November 22, 2023
(RNS) — Latter-day Saints used to be geniuses at creating community. We need that again now more than ever.
Mormonism and the soft prosperity gospel
By Jana Riess — November 17, 2023
(RNS) — The LDS Church doesn't teach that God wants you to be rich. But it does promote a 'Plan of Happiness' that emphasizes your very own personal flourishing.
Remembering LDS apostle M. Russell Ballard
By Jana Riess — November 13, 2023
(RNS) — M. Russell Ballard, a longtime apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died at 95.
Suffering is a feature, not a bug, of Latter-day Saint life, says author Melissa Inouye
By Jana Riess — October 26, 2023
(RNS) — 'We want a world where God keeps us safe and none of us is gonna strike out or have problems,' Inouye said. 'But in Latter-day Saint theology, that is precisely the plan of Lucifer.'
Kiersten White, bestselling novelist, explains why she left Mormonism
By Jana Riess — October 5, 2023
(RNS) — 'There’s no part of me that regrets the choices that we made in leaving the church,’ the writer says.
The Mormon prophet’s test kitchen
By Jana Riess — October 3, 2023
(RNS) — Why do mature adults practice obedience? Hint: It’s not because someone told them, again and again, to obey.
Changes coming for Mormon service missions
By Jana Riess — September 28, 2023
(RNS) — LDS service missionaries will now be integrated more fully into the Church's overall proselytizing mission structure.
Wallace B. Smith, great-grandson of Joseph Smith and pioneer for women’s ordination, dies at 94
By Jana Riess — September 26, 2023
(RNS) — The leadership of Wallace B. Smith, who headed the RLDS movement from 1978 to 1994, was a game changer.
A fifth of Mormon college students in the US say they’re LGBQ, new study shows
By Jana Riess — September 22, 2023
(RNS) — Among US Mormon college students, 78% said they were heterosexual and 22% identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or something else.
Jana Riess
Flunking Sainthood
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.
