Does science have anything to contribute to Mormon theology? Peck argues that it does, and offers this book as an attempt to start a conversation on that notion. But fair warning: The theology ahead will be chaotic, emergent, ecological, and evolutionary. There will be few answers and much with which to argue. If you find yourself arguing with the book as you read it, the book’s purpose will have been fulfilled. Peck hopes the questions you are left with will leave you curious, excited, or angry enough to keep the conversation going.

Science the Key to Theology: Volume One: Preliminaries

Religion & Spirituality

Peck, Steven L.

Christian Books & Bibles

By Common Consent Press

Coming in July 2017I’m scared. No, you’re not. Yes, I am. Of what? What if I can’t do it? What if you can? 
When the call came, when the letter arrived, when the sunlight finally fell on your face—the struggle fell away, and you only remembered the beauty. It was like childbirth, but constantly, for your whole life. Every day we brought forth our future, every choice we made determined what raw materials would be in the hands of tomorrow. Some days took years and were times of transition where we thought we might die, and some years were full of euphoria or rushing release. Most years were slightly uncomfortable until we remembered how to breathe. 
Everything didn’t always work out. Sometimes things were just hard. Sometimes life hurt too much, and people did break. Sometimes, you had to wait for a long time for the sun to rise. While it’s true the sun always rose, not everyone lived through the night, and the stars didn’t give a damn.
The Burning Point will be available from By Common Consent Press on July 1, 2017.

The Burning Point: A Memoir of Addiction, Destruction, Love, Parenting, Survival, and Hope

McKay, Tracy

In this stunning new collection of poems, Rachel Hunt Steenblik (Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings) explores the deep, human longing for a divine mother to complement the male God that has long dominated our culture. Lovingly illustrated by Ashley Mae Hoiland (One Hundred Birds Taught Me to Fly).
Praise for Mother's Milk
“In these brief and moving poems, Rachel Hunt Steenblik recalls and reimagines the relationship between the daughters of God and their hidden and distant mother. Using her own experience and revelation as well as her wide research, Rachel recreates the Heavenly Mother many dream of knowing, a woman not unlike our own mothers, one who shares our own experience of motherhood.” —Claudia L. Bushman, author of Contemporary Mormonism
"The warm, delicious, delicate and strong poems in Mother’s Milk moved and delighted me. Without doubt this book is a major step toward filling the Mother-sized hole in our hearts. Boldly pulling back the curtain of patriarchy to show that “God” is not a boy’s name and that we have never lived in a one-parent family, Rachel reminds us that our Mother has never ceased to nourish and love us." —Carol Lynn Pearson, author of Mother Wove the Morning, and The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy
“Rachel Hunt Steenblik is Mormonism's most essential and necessary poet since Carol Lynn Pearson. Out of her hunger for a mother God, she has made food for us all. Out of her losses, she has made milk. It's what women's bodies know how to do, of course. But Rachel, oh honey, few of us do it so openly, so truthfully, so plainly, so well. Come, come, everyone—Mormon or not, brothers, sisters, kindred—and take these words. I am so proud that this book will teach the world what Mormon women know—perhaps uniquely—about God."—Joanna Brooks, author of Book of Mormon Girl.

Mother's Milk

Literature & Fiction

Steenblik, Rachel Hunt

Poetry

This volume contains two AML-award-winning plays by the Mormon world’s uppingnest and comingnest playwright. And these are both plays that deal fearlessly with important issues. “Little Happy Secrets,” which won the AML award for drama in 2009, explores same-sex attraction among a pair of roommates at BYU. “The Pilot Program,” which won the same award in 2015, imagines the re-introduction of polygamy in a childless Mormon family. Utah audiences have seen these plays on stage already, and now everybody has a chance to read them.

Third Wheel: Peculiar Stories of Mormon Women in Love

Larson, Melissa Leilani

Dramas & Plays

Mette Harrison is one of the best-known Mormon authors currently writing about Mormonism for a national audience. Her Linda Wallheim mystery series (The Bishop’s Wife, His Right Hand, For Time and All Eternities, and, one hopes, many more to come) marks the first time ever that a strong and intelligent Mormon woman (or any other kind of Mormon woman for that matter) has had a starring role in a nationally marketed mystery series. In The Book of Laman, Harrison takes a concept that others have used for a quick joke–the idea of narrating the first part of the Book of Mormon from Laman’s perspective–and turns it into a serious and profoundly moving story of redemption that has the ability to make us all better readers, and, more importantly, better people.
 From the Forward
 The central conceit of The Book of Laman—telling the story of 1 Nephi from Laman’s perspective—seems like a perfect device for a funny book. Indeed, Bob Lewis used it precisely this way in his satirical 1997 novel, The Lost Plates of Laman. Here we see all of the jokes implied the first time we hear that Laman is the narrating the Book of Mormon: the villain becomes the hero, and the hero becomes an insufferable know-it-all, the archaic language is peppered with anachronisms and modern values, and the devotional content of the original text is sacrificed on the twin altars of mocking Mormon weirdness and having a grand time. 
 But Mette Harrison’s Book of Laman is not funny. It does not try to be funny. It doesn’t use intentional archaisms to make fun of the Book of Mormon’s language; rather, it tells its story in a non-distracting modern style. The characters are not simply reversed. Nephi is sometimes an annoying brat, but he is also a real prophet who sees and speaks for the Lord. Laman is neither a comic book villain nor a long-suffering ironist. He is a flawed human being struggling to live well and usually coming up short. And in some of the book’s very best scenes, he is touched unexpectedly by grace and God. 
 Harrison’s characters are the sorts of people who might actually have existed in history. She does not naturalize the miracles in the Book of Mormon—there really are angels and visions and smiting and all the rest—but she humanizes the actors. And this is important, as it corrects for a reading bias that plagues Latter-day Saints. Simply put: we want the Book of Mormon to be history, not fiction, but we expect the people in it to act like characters in a (not very good) novel and not as the kinds of people who have actually ever existed.

The Book of Laman

Harrison, Mette Ivie

Like Adam Miller's work on Ecclesiastes and Romans, The Sun Has Burned My Skin is a loose paraphrase that aims more for the replication of a certain mood than for the correspondence of particular words and phrases. The songs themselves are a collection of age-old Israelite love songs, searing and intense, sung principally by a young woman who is bold, confident, and only just exposed to the tidal pull of love and sex.

The Sun Has Burned My Skin: A Modest Paraphrase of Solomon's Song of Songs

Miller, Adam S.

Inspirational! Reading this book was a “tender mercy” for me. I found myself laughing, crying, and thanking God for His goodness as I feasted upon its pages. This book provides a remarkable insight into this good man’s soul, the process of his conversion to Mormonism, and his faith-filled life thereafter. It is spirit-filled and engaging. I couldn’t put it down. I consider it a must-read and I intend to get a copy of it for each of my children and grandchildren!--E. Jeffrey Hill, Ph.D., Camilla Eyring Kimball Professor, BYU School of Family Life 
 God’s Tender Mercies offers hope that a lost and obscure soul can recognize, embrace, and be transformed by the marvelous work and wonder that is the restored gospel. As we progress through this vulnerably personal narrative, we see a directionless boy become a man of profound faith. From his reading of, and response to, a single book, we see an intellectually lethargic teen experience authentic conversion and become one whose vision has influenced the global Church. Dave’s story is a remarkable one and he is a master storyteller. This combination provides a feast. And yet, as we are continually reminded, the center of this history is not Dave but the Father of us all. At its core, this work is an account of a Heavenly Father who relentlessly seeks after one of His children through the dark veil that enshrouds this world until He finds him, saves him, and blesses him beyond measure. It is a story of grace, challenge, growth, and redemption. It is a sacred narrative that has blessed my life and urged me to more clearly recognize “the hand of the Giver” as He spreads His tender mercies on each one of us.--Loren Marks, BYU School of Family Life and co-Director of the American Families of Faith Research Project

God's Tender Mercies: Sacred Experiences of a Mormon Convert

Dollahite, David C.

Sex Educated: Letters from a Latter-day Saint Therapist to Her Younger Self is a fine example of how to delicately and appropriately discuss matters of sexuality with girls and women. By using the approach of writing letters to her younger self as a frame for teaching about sexuality the author presents sexuality in a wonderful tone from a trusted source. She does so with an engaging and gradual discussion of sexual maturity for younger girls and then transitions to a more direct description of sexuality as her letters progress to her older self. In this way the added level of directness does not come across as jarring or inappropriate, rather it is just a natural progression like sexuality development is in life. It is a good model for parents to follow in their attempts to educate children. Additionally, by having consistent discussion across the lifespan this book includes enough detail to be much more useful than the general talk about sexuality many parents are prone to give in their awkward "birds and bees" discussion, yet this additional detail is in no way tawdry or inappropriate. It includes discussing specific body parts and purposes, ways of managing sexual arousal and desire during adolescence and dating relationships, learning to adjust to sexuality during marriage, challenges that may occur during pregnancy and child rearing and aging, and above all the importance of expressing sexuality in a way that honors the needs of women within a spiritual framework. I think this is an invaluable book for both mothers and fathers and daughters. -Dr. Dean Busby, Director of BYU's School of Family Life

Sex Educated: Letters from a Latter-day Saint Therapist to Her Younger Self

Young, Bonnie

Religious Studies

In the Image of Our Heavenly Parents: A Couples Guide to Creating a More Divine Marriage

Self-Help

Krishna, McArthur

Brady Spalding, Bethany

Relationships

Birds to Bones: Writings on Grief, Gender, Mormonism, and Magic

Rowan, Aisling

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