Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.45 AVERAGE
4.45 AVERAGE
This book came at the recommendation of a good friend, and I'm glad it did. Miller's book was one of the most thought-provoking texts I've ever encountered. Yes, it is written to a Mormon audience, but I felt as though many of the principles and ideas found in this collection of letters could be appreciated by many.
What I appreciated most was Miller's ability to articulate how supposed contradictions can exist in a life of faith and what that means for the believer. I also fully agreed with his proposal that a true life of faith requires much more than is typically given or assumed.
I would highly recommend this book.
What I appreciated most was Miller's ability to articulate how supposed contradictions can exist in a life of faith and what that means for the believer. I also fully agreed with his proposal that a true life of faith requires much more than is typically given or assumed.
I would highly recommend this book.
I love this book. I wish I had had it when I was younger. I can't wait to share it with my daughters.
Good insights addressing many topics that are typically overlooked in raising youth
These are great! I wish I had read them as a teenager, although I wonder if I would have gotten as much out of them. I think my favorite letter was the one about work, and that I will be rereading it regularly for a while.
This a very short book (which was its intention, of course). It was also a very personal and idiosyncratic book. It performs its stated function well. If I say that I did not love it, it is with an acknowledgment that I am not its audience. Would I give it to someone who is part of the target audience? Probably. There are parts that express things beautifully (by which I mean the way that I would or wish I could). There are others parts of this book that didn't really do it for me.
This is short, and it has the ugliest cover of any book published in 2014, but this is probably the best book of this nature I've ever read. Formatted as a series of letters from the author to a "young Mormon," it's author Adam S. Miller's thoughts on twelve topics. It reminds me of my best conversations about religion with friends and family members and colleagues. Some of the topics are more conventionally religious, like Faith, Prayer, and Scripture; others are more secular, but where religion and religious thought are often seen as intrusions or barriers -- Science, History, Sex. It's the kind of book I wish the LDS Church brochure "For the Strength of the Youth" was more like.
This was published by BYU's Neal A. Maxwell Institute, and although all things BYU make me shudder and arch a skeptical eyebrow, this book is all win. It manages to balance rational thought, observation, faith and our rich-but-complicated history as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I picked up this copy at my library, but I'll be purchasing it. Great read for Mormons of any age, or people who live with them and are trying to understand them.
This was published by BYU's Neal A. Maxwell Institute, and although all things BYU make me shudder and arch a skeptical eyebrow, this book is all win. It manages to balance rational thought, observation, faith and our rich-but-complicated history as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I picked up this copy at my library, but I'll be purchasing it. Great read for Mormons of any age, or people who live with them and are trying to understand them.
Adam Miller is my current favorite LDS writer. He is at times (ha! almost always) a little too earnest for me but he does have a way of putting a new twist on Mormon doctrine that make it resonate with me in ways I didn't think were possible. He is one of the reasons I have softened my "I left the church" declaration to "I have taken a significant step back". While I can't support the current leadership, there is something quite powerful about basic Mormon doctrine. and Miller reminds me of this.
I will be thinking about this one for a long time. It brings up excellent feelings. Just wonderful. You find yourself saying, “I know that. That’s familiar.”
This book is a treasure to keep close to the heart. It’s a quick read and I have reread it several times because the light shines so brightly on the truths of the gospel. Sunday School teachers sometimes force-feed applications of principles addressed in this book, building a mountain of shame and guilt for youth. Sometimes when a disciple is adept at following and obedience, motivation by guilt or shame continues into adulthood until you’ve lost your life and become spiritually dead, as Miller describes. Rather than filling pages describing the abstract of God’s grace and mercy, Miller shows us what that can look like in the messiness of our daily lives, and leaves us with the question to answer, how does this look for me?