The autobiography of Eli Wiggill offers a captivating narrative of one family’s journey from Gloucester, England, to South Africa, and eventually to Salt Lake City during the mid-nineteenth century. Eli and Susannah Wiggill’s conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa serves as a focal point in their remarkable story. Eli’s retelling vividly portrays their steadfast faith, missionary efforts, and the challenges they faced as pioneers in establishing communities of South African Saints. From their immigration to South Africa to their eventual migration to Zion, the Wiggills' experiences offer valuable insights into the early history of the Church and the global gathering of its members. With meticulous attention to detail, The Life and Adventures of Eli Wiggill: South African 1820 Settler, Wesleyan Missionary, and Latter-day Saint presents Wiggill’s original manuscript, enriched with extensive footnotes providing context and clarity. This publication aims to rectify previous shortcomings by preserving the integrity of Wiggill’s narrative while enhancing accessibility for contemporary readers. It not only chronicles a remarkable transnational journey but also sheds light on themes of faith, perseverance, and the pioneering spirit, making it a compelling read for historians, scholars, and anyone interested in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the global migration of its members.

Eugene England championed an optimistic Mormon faith open to liberalizing ideas from American culture. At the same time, he remained devoted to a conservative Mormonism that he saw as a vehicle for progress even as it narrowed the range of acceptable belief. Kristine L. Haglund views England’s writing through the tensions produced by his often-opposed intellectual and spiritual commitments. Though labeled a liberal, England had a traditional Latter-day Saint background and always sought to address fundamental questions in Mormon terms. His intellectually adventurous essays sometimes put him at odds with Church authorities and fellow believers. But he also influenced a generation of thinkers and cofounded Dialogue, a Mormon academic and literary journal acclaimed for the broad range of its thought. A fascinating portrait of a Mormon intellectual and his times, Eugene England reveals a believing scholar who emerged from the lived experiences of his faith to engage with the changes roiling Mormonism in the twentieth century.

"This volume, the first of six, devotes serious attention to the foundational questions: (1) What is a useful approach to Book of Mormon geography? (2) What contributions can archaeology, anthropology, and ethnohistory make to Book of Mormon questions? (3) What constituted Nephite theology in these first generations? (4) What were Mormon's sources and how did he organize his work? One of the most exciting insights of this volume is its reconstruction of the politics behind the Deuteronomic reforms of King Josiah. These reforms deemphasized an earlier Messiah-centered theology that more fully acknowledged the council of the gods, the war in heaven, Yahweh's feminine consort, originally worshipped in the temple, and Isaiah, the poet-prophet who foretold the Messiah's coming. Did Lehi's acceptance of this earlier, Christ-centered religion explain the death threats against him in Jerusalem? If Laman and Lemuel accepted those reforms, did this intrafamily disagreement produce a thousand years of hostility between Nephites and Lamanites in the New World? Other contributions of this volume are a fresh look at what the Book of Mormon actually says about skin color, the pressures of local polytheistic culture on Nephite theology, and the Isaiah-based egalitarian ideal of Nephite culture."--Bk. jkt.

Using clues from numerous archives, privately held records, museum collections, and even the soil where early members planted corn and homes, the author reconstructs the cultural experiences by which Kirtland's Latter-day Saints made sense of the revelations Joseph Smith pronounced.