Perspectives on Latter-day Saint Names and Naming

Book excerpt: Perspectives on Latter-day Saint Names and Naming approaches cultural, historical, and doctrinal dimensions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through a fresh lens that explores how these dimensions intersect with names and naming. Featuring a collection of chapters from multiple authors, its bipartite structure examines fascinating topics in relation to the Church, looking first at cultural and historical perspectives before analyzing doctrinal and scriptural perspectives. The book discusses such matters as how contemporary naming practices of Latter-day Saints compare to those outside the faith, how code names were used in one of the faith’s books of scripture to protect Church leaders from persecution, and how names and naming relate to the covenant identity of Church members. Through its fresh approach to understanding religious identity and belief in relation to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this book is an invaluable resource for scholars and students of Mormon studies and will also be of interest to people with a fascination with names and naming issues as those occur in a variety of settings, including religious ones.