Tabernacles of clay : sexuality and gender in modern Mormonism /

Petrey (religion, Kalamazoo College) looks at how post--WW II political, social, and cultural transformations shaped LDS church leaders' conceptions of race, sexuality, and gender. Petrey argues that modern church leaders were not gender essentialists; rather, they believed that gender and sexuality were malleable and fluid, that the church needed to police the boundaries of heteronormative behavior, and that Latter-day Saints must properly perform their roles as men and women. Following in the footsteps of historians like Matthew Harris, Petrey shows that Spencer Kimball's 1978 revelation that the LDS priesthood should not exclude African Americans did not immediately put an end to racism within the church. (Petrey points out that repudiation of interracial marriage continued to be part of instruction for young adults until at least 2011.) Petrey's book is a model for those seeking to incorporate the voices of church leaders into their work on contemporary Mormonism. The Church History Library (Salt Lake City) restricts access to the personal papers and records of modern church leaders, but Petrey's monograph demonstrates that scholars can overcome this research hurdle and probe the minds of modern church leaders through their published writings and LDS periodicals. Adding nuance to the history of Mormonism, Petrey's book is a remarkable addition to the literature. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --David Dmitri Hurlbut, Boston University

Petrey, a professor of religion at Kalamazoo College, combines meticulous research with illuminating insight in this landmark work on gender and sexuality in Mormon thought. Petrey shows how Latter-day Saint teachings about race, marriage, homosexuality, and gender roles have adapted to different social contexts between post-WWII America and today, and argues that opposition to same-sex marriage has replaced opposition to interracial marriage or egalitarian marriage as a lightning rod for LDS leaders. He also examines contradictions in LDS ideologies--such as church leaders explicitly teaching that gender roles are inherent, while also fretting about parents not properly teaching their children how to "perform" their gender role properly. Information-packed, with a forceful thesis and jargon-free prose, this is an important contribution to Mormon studies as well as a convincing consideration of the ways religions construct and maintain frameworks. Any academic studying the intersection of religious practice and progressive social change will want to pick this up. (Jun.)