Latter Day Dissent: At the Crossroads of Intellectual Inquiry and Ecclesiastical Authority

This volume collects, for the first time in book form, stories from the “September Six,” a group of intellectuals officially excommunicated or disfellowshipped from the LDS Church in September of 1993 on charges of “apostasy” or “conduct unbecoming” Church members. Their experiences are significant and yet are largely unknown outside of scholarly or more liberal Mormon circles, which is surprising given that their story was immediately propelled onto screens and cover pages across the Western world.
Interviews by Dr. Philip Lindholm (Ph.D. Theology, University of Oxford) include those of the “September Six,” Lynne Kanavel Whitesides, Paul James Toscano, Maxine Hanks, Lavina Fielding Anderson, and D. Michael Quinn; as well as Janice Merrill Allred, Margaret Merrill Toscano, Thomas W. Murphy , and former employee of the LDS Church’s Public Affairs Department, Donald B. Jessee.
Each interview illustrates the tension that often exists between the Church and its intellectual critics, and highlights the difficulty of accommodating congregational diversity while maintaining doctrinal unity—a difficulty hearkening back to the very heart of ancient Christianity.