Description

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In the single month of September 1993, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excommunicated or disciplined six of its members. These six individuals–some of them intellectuals, some activists, and some both–were soon dubbed the “September Six.” In The September Six and the Struggle for the Soul of Mormonism, Sara M. Patterson challenges readers to think more deeply about the events of that month and the era in which they unfolded. Patterson argues that the clever alliterative phrase “September Six” masks our ability to see that what happened that month was part of a much broader, decades-long cultural and theological debate over the nature of the church and its restoration narrative. During those decades the institutional church invested in and policed a purity system, expecting believers to practice doctrinal, familial, and bodily purity. Dissenters within the institution pushed back, imagining instead a vision of the Restoration that embraced personal conscience, truth-seeking and telling, and social egalitarianism at its core. Both sides were profoundly shaped by the cultural milieu that surrounded them. What happened in September 1993 continues to echo in the church today, having lasting effects on the institution, its believers, and the broader culture.

About the Author

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Sara M. Patterson (she/her) is a professor of theological studies and gender studies at Hanover College, where she holds the inaugural Barron Professorship in Social Justice Education. She is the author of multiple articles addressing the intersections of gender, sexuality, and religion. Her research also explores the intersections of religion, space, and material culture, a topic she most recently explored in Pioneers in the Attic: Place and Memory Along the Mormon Trail (Oxford University Press, 2020). She is a former board member of the Mormon History Association.

Praise For…

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"In The September Six Patterson offers a portrait of church conflict in the late twentieth century, a time when many churches began to see fissures that are cracking denominations apart today. The September Six is a fascinating read that offers insights into how a religious culture gives way to authoritarianism when attempting to preserve the purity of its own history and doctrine. So timely, so engaging. This book is for anyone trying to understand the White Christian nationalist agenda to undermine honest historical inquiry.­­"––Sara Moslener, author of Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence

"With careful detail, brilliant analysis, and generous empathy, The September Six  is both page turning and deeply moving. It is an impressive work of scholarship that illuminates nearly two-hundred years of history while also speaking to some of the most pressing questions of belief, authority, identity, and belonging today. Patterson's book is a remarkable achievement."––Neil J. Young, contributing columnist for The Week magazine and author of We Gather Together: The Religious Right and the Problem of Interfaith Politics

"I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in September of 1993, precisely when the church was purging members who seemed a lot like me. I wish I’d had Sara Patterson’s book years ago to help me make sense of that tumultuous era. Patterson has expanded my understanding of the September Six, challenging the narrative that the 1993 disciplinary actions were an anomaly. Rather, she takes the long view of a gifted historian, understanding those and other excommunications in the context of a vigorous late-twentieth-century purity culture that placed a premium on obedience to authority."––Jana Riess, senior columnist for Religion News Service and author of The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church

"Well-researched and deftly written, The September Six situates the infamous excommunications within a longer history of church surveillance. As such, her book is indispensable for understanding how the LDS Church defended and continues to defend orthodoxy against challenges from feminists, scholars of color, and intellectual dissidents. This book is the story of generations of scholars who saw their research as an extension of their faith but found themselves under scrutiny when their conclusions pushed too strongly against established orthodoxy."––Amanda Hendrix-Komoto, author of Imperial Zions: Religion, Race, and Family in the American West and the Pacific

"This is a serious book about a serious subject for anyone wishing to understand modern Mormonism and the complexities within the contemporary church. The ultimate realization of the restoration inevitably involves a struggle between the past and the future, between those who see their primary charge as preserving and protecting what Patterson calls the Latter-day Saint “purity system” and those who at times feel called by their discipleship to respectfully challenge certain aspects of that same system."––Robert A. Rees, editor, Why I Stay: The Challenges of Discipleship for Contemporary Mormons

“'The September Six' is a catchy moniker for the feminists and intellectuals whom the LDS church excommunicated or disfellowshipped in September 1993. Still, it threatens to obscure that month’s events as isolated anomalies. Patterson skillfully situates the six within the larger era as church leaders and members clashed over which narratives of the Restoration were okay to publish. This book provides an accessible and illuminating view of historical tensions still felt in the church today."––Katie Ludlow Rich, writer at Exponent II and independent scholar of Mormon women's history