Mormon Lit: A Twenty-Something's Guide to Spirituality

By Jennifer Larson
Deseret Morning News
Published: Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008 12:29 a.m. MST
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“A Twenty-Something’s Guide to Spirituality” by Jacob Werrett and David Read, published by Deseret Book, 320 pages, $15.95.

In “A Twenty-Something’s Guide to Spirituality,” authors Jacob Werrett and David Read ask 10 of their peers attending colleges and universities across the country this question: “If you could ask any question of a prominent LDS scholar, what would it be?”

The result is a compilation of questions and answers that offer readers a thought-provoking guide to how to hold onto faith and increase spirituality while pursuing collegiate success and launching professional careers.

“Guide to Spirituality” is specifically aimed at college-age readers who are wondering how to deal with the inclusion of real life while making it cohesive with church obligations, commitments and personal testimony.

The questions posed in the book will make many readers stop and ponder what it is they are doing in their own lives to achieve balance of mind and spirit during these important years of their lives. The book encourages thoughtfulness and a conscience evaluation of the life-changing choices we make as we pursue an education. And it stays focused on these significant matters without stopping or stooping to explore comparatively inconsequential — and overly discussed — topics like balancing the pressures of dating and homework, avoiding the “freshman 15” or whether you will meet more boys in ballroom dancing or aerobics.

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While a few of the answers read more like a talk given from the pulpit, most of answers are intimate and profound. Some of the featured scholars and educators providing answers include the late Elder Neal A. Maxwell; William Hayes Pingree, a visiting professor of International Studies and Political Thought at the University of Utah; Virginia H. Pearce, who has a masters in social work from Utah State University as is a former counselor in the General Young Women’s Presidency; and Phillip Barlow, professor of theological studies at Hanover College in Hanover, Ind.

Other responders include Susan Easton Black, President Kim B. Clark, James S. Jardine, Dr. Truman G. Madsen, Dr. Robert L. Millet and Camille Fronk Olson.

“A Twenty-Something’s Guide to Spirituality” would make a great gift to a young person getting ready to head off to college for the first time or for anyone wanting to spend some time considering intellectual questions and answers that correspond to an LDS lifestyle.

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