Mediated Mormons: Shifting Religious Identities in the Digital Age

Rosemary Avance

Book cover for Mediated Mormons: Shifting Religious Identities in the Digital Age
Book cover for Mediated Mormons: Shifting Religious Identities in the Digital Age
Book cover for Mediated Mormons: Shifting Religious Identities in the Digital Age
Book cover for Mediated Mormons: Shifting Religious Identities in the Digital Age

Mediated Mormons: Shifting Religious Identities in the Digital Age

Mediated Mormons: Shifting Religious Identities in the Digital Age

Rosemary Avance

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Description

In the early- to mid-2010s, Mitt Romney's presidential candidacy, the hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' "I'm a Mormon" media campaign brought critical media attention to Mormonism. In this first lengthy treatment of Mormon identities as they intersect with their religious institution, the internet, and modernity during the so-called "Mormon Moment," Rosemary Avance explores how LDS stakeholders challenged traditional notions of what it means to be Mormon, vying for control of their own public narratives.

Mediated Mormons uses a case study approach to consider various iterations of Mormon identity as presented by church authorities, faithful members, the secular media, and heterodox and former adherents. These often-conflicting perspectives challenge traditional models of LDS authority, dismantling a monolithic view of Mormons and offering a window into processes of social activism and institutional change in the internet era.

About the Author

Rosemary Avance is assistant professor of media and strategic communications at Oklahoma State University.

Critical Reviews

"A provocative and quite needed volume on the rise of internet culture and its influence on the modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."--Matthew Bowman, Claremont Graduate University

Publishing Information

Publisher: University of Utah Press
Pub date: 2025-02-27
Length: 216 pages

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