モルモン教（末日聖徒イエス・キリスト教会）は、米国で最も成功した、しかし最も誤解の多い米国発祥の宗教です。世俗化が進む中でも、モルモン教は現在、全世界に1500万人以上の信徒を擁しています。信徒の構成が多様化する中、その存在感は衰える気配がありません。本書は、モルモニズムがどのような宗教宗派であるかを説明すべく、その起源から歴史、そして現在に至るまでを俯瞰します。
モルモン教とはそもそもどのような経緯で誕生した宗教なのでしょうか。なぜユタ州が本拠地として選ばれたのでしょうか。末日聖徒になるには、聖書以外に『モルモン書』も信じなければならないのでしょうか。なぜ女性には神権が与えられないのでしょう。教会の財政や、幹部の報酬は？
末日聖徒信仰研究の第一人者で、自身も信徒である著者が、宗教離れが広がる中で活気を維持し、成長を続ける数少ない宗教のひとつであるモルモン教について、好意的ながらも冷静な考察を行っています。外からは判らないことの多い宗教について知りたい読者にとって恰好のガイドです。
    

• Offers an accessible overview of Mormonism that is especially attentive to developments, challenges, and possibilities pertaining to the new millennium
• Addresses shifting societal standards and Mormon adaptation
• Examines the fundamentals of the faith in context and comparison with the larger Christian tradition

   
Mormonism, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is America's most successful-and most misunderstood-home grown religion. The church today boasts more than 15 million members worldwide, a remarkable feat in the face of increasing secularity. The growing presence of Mormonism shows no signs of abating, as the makeup of its membership becomes progressively diverse. The heightened contemporary relevance and increasingly global membership of the Church solidifies Mormonism as a religious sect much deserving of awareness.
    
Covering the origins, history, and modern challenges of the church, Mormonism: What Everyone Needs to Know offers readers a brief, authoritative guide to one of the fastest growing faith groups of the twenty-first century in a reader-friendly format, providing answers to questions such as: What circumstances gave rise to the birth of Mormonism? Why was Utah chosen as a place of refuge? Do you have to believe the Book of Mormon to be a Latter-day Saint? Why do women not hold the priesthood? How wealthy is the church and how much are top leaders paid? Written by a believer and the premier scholar of the Latter-day Saints faith, this remarkably readable introduction provides a sympathetic but unstinting account of one of the few religious traditions to maintain its vitality and growth in an era of widespread disaffiliation.