American Child Bride


Book Description

Most in the United States likely associate the concept of the child bride with the mores and practices of the distant past. But Nicholas L. Syrett challenges this assumption in his sweeping and sometimes shocking history of youthful marriage in America. Focusing on young women and girls--the most common underage spouses--Syrett tracks the marital history of American minors from the colonial period to the present, chronicling the debates and moral panics related to these unions. Although the frequency of child marriages has declined since the early twentieth century, Syrett reveals that the practice was historically far more widespread in the United States than is commonly thought. It also continues to this day: current estimates indicate that 9 percent of living American women were married before turning eighteen. By examining the legal and social forces that have worked to curtail early marriage in America--including the efforts of women's rights activists, advocates for children's rights, and social workers--Syrett sheds new light on the American public's perceptions of young people marrying and the ways that individuals and communities challenged the complex legalities and cultural norms brought to the fore when underage citizens, by choice or coercion, became husband and wife.




Joseph Smith's Polygamy


Book Description

In the last several years a wealth of information has been published on Joseph Smith's practice of polygamy. For some who were already well aware of this aspect of early Mormon history, the availability of new research and discovered documents has been a wellspring of further insight and knowledge into this topic. For others who are learning of Joseph's marriages to other women for the first time, these books and online publications can be both an information overload and a challenge to one's faith. In this short volume, Brian C. Hales (author of the 3-volume Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology) and Laura H. Hales wade through the murky waters of history to help bring some clarity to this episode of Mormonism's past. As Joseph Smith's participation in plural marriage involved more than just the Prophet and his first wife Emma, this volume also includes short biographical sketches of the 35 other women who were sealed to Joseph but whose stories of faith, struggle, and courage have been largely forgotten and ignored over time. While we may never fully understand the details and reasons surrounding this practice, Brian and Laura Hales provide readers with an accessible, forthright, and faithful look into this challenging topic so that we can at least come toward a better understanding. Praise for Joseph Smith's Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding "Few matters of LDS history have proven to be as faith-sensitive as Joseph Smith's plural marriages. While a number of efforts have been made in recent years to shed light on this challenging phenomenon, nothing has brought greater clarity, enlightenment, and, particularly for believing Saints, spiritual reassurance, than has the work of researcher Brian Hales. He and his wife Laura have now rendered a monumental service to Mormons and interested observers by bringing clarity and better understanding to this topic. I for one am grateful for the context, perspective, and both straightforward and faithful answers provided for so many of the questions surrounding Nauvoo polygamy. It is a book that will be read and discussed for years to come." - Robert L. Millet, Professor Emeritus of Religious Education, Brigham Young University




The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men


Book Description

"Polygamy?" says the mainstream Mormon Church. "We gave that up long ago." Not so, claims noted LDS poet and author Carol Lynn Pearson, who examines the issue as it has never been examined before. Any member of the LDS Church today who enters the practice of polygamy is immediately excommunicated. However, Pearson claims, polygamy itself has never been excommunicated, but has an honored and protected place at the table. It has only been postponed, a fact confirmed by thousands of "eternal sealings" giving a man an assurance that he will claim as wives in heaven the two, three, or even more women he has sequentially married during his lifetime. No such opportunity is available to women. Through her own personal stories, those of her ancestors, and the thousands of stories that came to her through an Internet survey, Pearson shows the power of the Ghost of Eternal Polygamy as it not only waits on the other side to greet the most righteous in heaven, but also haunts the living-hiding in the recesses of the Mormon psyche, inflicting profound pain and fear, assuring women that they are still objects, harming or destroying marriages, bringing chaos to family relationships, leading many to lose faith in the church and in God. Mormon historian and author Dr. Gregory Prince says of The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: "Carol Lynn Pearson has hit a home run in her quest to illuminate both the damage that Mormonism's de facto practice of polygamy continues to inflict, and the route to a better, more humane place. Those who truly hope for eternal polygamy or who resent any call to institutional reform will be upset, but countless others will rejoice that she has shown 'a more excellent way.' "




Webster's II Children's Dictionary


Book Description

A dictionary for elementary school students featuring word histories, synonym paragraphs, a spelling table, and a reference appendix with maps and tables.




Macmillan Dictionary for Children


Book Description

Provides valuable information on usage in the English language and helps build vocabulary.




Macmillan Dictionary for Children


Book Description

Inlcudes 35,000 up-t0-date entries and more than 3,000 detailed images.




Introducing Cultural Anthropology


Book Description

What is the role of culture in human experience? This concise yet solid introduction to cultural anthropology helps readers explore and understand this crucial issue from a Christian perspective. Now revised and updated throughout, this new edition of a successful textbook covers standard cultural anthropology topics with special attention given to cultural relativism, evolution, and missions. It also includes a new chapter on medical anthropology. Plentiful figures, photos, and sidebars are sprinkled throughout the text, and updated ancillary support materials and teaching aids are available through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.




Sex and Sects


Book Description

With a revolution behind them, a continent before them, and the First Amendment protecting them, religio-sexual pioneers in antebellum America were free to strike out on their own, breaking with the orthodoxies of the past. Shakers followed the ascetic path; Oneida Perfectionists accepted sex as a gift from God; and Mormons redefined marriage in light of new religious revelations that also redefined God, humankind, spirit, and matter. Sex became a powerful way for each group to reinforce their sectarian identity as strangers in a strange land. Sex and Sects tells the story of these three religiously inspired sexual innovations in America: the celibate lifestyle of the Shakers, the Oneida Community’s system of controlled polyamory, and plural marriage as practiced by the Mormons. Stewart Davenport analyzes why these bold experiments rose and largely fell over the course of the nineteenth century within the confines of the new American republic. Moving beyond a social-scientific lens, Davenport traces for the first time their fascinating shared trajectory as they emerged, struggled, institutionalized, and declined in tandem—and sheds historical light on the way in which Americans have discussed, contested, and redefined the institutions of marriage and family both in our private lives and in the public realm.




Dictionary of Jewish Usage


Book Description

Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms is a unique and much needed guide to the way many Hebrew, Yiddish, and Aramaic words and meanings are used by English speakers. Sol Steinmetz draws upon his years of dictionary editorial experience, as well as his lifelong study of Jewish history, traditions, and practices, to guide the reader through the essentially uncharted territory of Jewish usage. Dictionary of Jewish Usage clarifies the meanings of Jewish terms that have been absorbed into English, as well as the transliterated Hebrew terms from sacred texts that reflect differing pronunciations. The Dictionary also explains terms that are often misused, sheds light on the meaning of clusters of terminology, and delineates the etymology and pronunciation of many words, making this Dictionary an invaluable guide for anyone curious about Jewish usage.




The Meaning and Purpose for Life on Earth


Book Description

Imagine you are a young person seeking an education, career, a loving family, a dream home, and all the good things this world has to offer. Having gone to college, married your soul mate, conceived a miraculous son, and built your dream home, you are well on your way when you are diagnosed with a brain tumor and told by a neurosurgeon that you are going to go blind and die. But God saves your life in an eight-hour brain surgery. He gives you an incredible near-death experience in a second brain surgery in which you are shown amazing knowledge that is so far above what this world knows that you are filled with the unspeakable joy of being able to understand this knowledge. Then God removes all this understanding from you except for two words and calls you to recreate this knowledge from the pages of Bible and share it with others. Come with me as we recreate this knowledge by piecing together amazing truths and hidden wisdom found in the Word of God, and we will learn things we never knew that we never knew. The word mystery is found in the Bible some twenty-one times along with many parables, signs, metaphors, and symbolic language. We will piece together these truths, going into the ancient Hebrew and Greek definitions when necessary, to understand what the writers of the Bible understood, to create a picture of reality that goes far beyond this world we know. This understanding will challenge what we believe to be true in our minds and change what we desire in our hearts. And that is exactly what the Bible was meant to do. The goal of this book is to unite the church of Christ with an understanding of the Word of God that can replace the traditions of man that are not Biblically based.