In Heaven As It Is on EarthIn Heaven as It Is on Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death (Oxford University Press, 2012) reinterprets earliest Mormonism by viewing it through the lens of founder Joseph Smith Jr.'s complex, intimate, and conflicted relationship with death and dying. When approached from this perspective many of the unusual or striking aspects of earliest Mormonism begin to make sense, allowing outsiders and insiders a refreshing new look at a much-discussed but poorly understood religious tradition. In Heaven as It Is on Earth also provides insight to the ongoing problem of the tragedy of early mortality, an eloquent and complex response to death. UpdatesReligion in American HistoryAt the Religion in American History blog, historian John G. Turner praised In Heaven as “a rich and persuasive reinterpretation of Joseph Smith’s most significant theological and ritual innovations.” Contextualizing early Mormon beliefsIn Heaven tried not only to think through the big problem of explaining death but also to make sense of early Mormonism for outsiders. In this post on the Oxford UP blog, I contextualize two of the beliefs currently circulating in the media. On Doug Wright’s Everday Lives, Everyday Values on KSL radioSunday, January 15, around 9:05 am, tune in to KSL’s live feed to hear a discussion with Doug Wright about In Heaven. The show has archived our interview. The interview starts around 04:07 in the MP3 file. CW Pick for City WeeklyCity Weekly has a very gracious review and designated the book a “CW Pick”: In Heaven is “compelling new book” and “a detailed piece of social history.” Video from Benchmark ReadingThe Benchmark crew have graciously provided video footage from the book talk I gave on January 10. Brad Kramer at BCCBrad Kramer’s highly complimentary review at BCC:
Five Best on MormonismFeatured in the Wall Street Journal weekend books section, my column on the Five Best Books on Mormonism. The Blood of the MartyrsJohn Taylor, in the canonized eulogy, brought the blood of the Mormon martyrs through each of the rhetorical phases, ending with the Apocalypse.
Starred Review, Publishers Weekly
most this amazingI spent the weekend analyzing John Harris’s diatribe against the poignancy of mortality (Enhancing Evolution) and caring for patients at a remote hospital in northern Idaho. Harris, in arguing for the moral necessity of medical immortality, is adamant that we have deluded ourselves into thinking that the fact of our mortality is central to our identity as humans, openly mocking the emotional language of various ethicists and philosophers. Harris’s rebuttal, both flippant and vitriolic, is that only puritanical dimwits find beauty in the rich transience of physical life. His harangue, balanced against millennia of religion, literature, and folklore placed these questions squarely in my view. (more…) |
   
Samuel Brown—ICU physician, medical researcher, and cultural historian—is Assistant Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Division Associate in Medical Ethics and Humanities at Intermountain Medical Center/University of Utah. Trained at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Brown researches and writes at the interfaces among medicine, religion, culture, and history. 
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