Catalyst Magazine
Salt Lake City by Eve Leonard,
August 1996

Breaking Away
Mormons in Transition
by Leslie Reynolds (Gratitude Press)

Author Leslie Reynolds envisions a big audience for her new book Mormons in Transition. She speculates that if, as one study reports, almost half the people baptized into the LDS Church are
not active believers, there are potentially over 4.8 million people in the world who could use its help. So could active members who may be closet disbelievers, she says, as well as the spouses and families of Mormons in transition, and anyone outside of Mormonism who would like to understand the Mormons they come in contact with.

Find yourself on that list?

My initial impression that Mormons in Transition had appeal was confirmed during a breakfast interview with the author recently at the Oasis café. Just after the conversation had evolved to a cross between woman-talk and a therapy session, we were courteously interrupted by a pleasant, but nervous gentleman. He saw the book on our table and wondered where he could get a copy for a good friend he said was in tremendous pain as she was leaving the Mormon Church.

Yes and no. The book is highly evocative. A former Mormon and psychotherapist, Reynolds researched and wrote the text as a ministry research project for her master’s degree in Christian studies at Regent College in 1994. The intention of the book is to heal. In
understated prose, Reynolds delves into problems people experience in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and what she calls “the attendant LDS world-view.” Likely, the book will be healing to many people, but in the same way a physician heals a badly-mended bone by breaking the bone again before resetting it. Old pain becomes fresh, deep, and unavoidable.

Reynolds acknowledges her book might open up feeling of anger, sorrow, betrayal and alienation. “We need to pierce through the denial,” she said. The we can begin to heal.”

In a deliberate attempt to avoid openly criticizing the Mormon Church and its teachings, Reynolds relies on other texts such as Ronald Enroth’s Churches that Abuse to make her points. Nonetheless, response to her book has been fiery. She says one University of Utah
administrator, who is also a Mormon bishop, threw her out of his office when she attempted to deliver some books. And when one man gave a copy to his Mormon wife, she asked, “Will this cause me to lose my testimony?”

The bulk of the slim book (124 pages) is drawn from Reynolds’ interviews with 13 former Mormons and seven people who are in various stages of disenchantment or disbelief, but who still identify themselves as Mormons. There is great variety in each person’s involvement with the Mormon Church, their difficulties with it, and their personal response to their waning faith. However, the sampling is so small as to be anecdotal, and Reynolds admits to choosing the
respondents through intuition, with no attempt at scientific or random sampling.

The stories told by these 20 people serve two functions: To the reader who has been part of the Mormon world, they provide possible commonalities; to the reader who is looking at Mormonism from the outside, they give insight into that world view. The stories illustrate chapters on what needs are not met by Mormonism, what prompts people to question and look outside the church, their criticisms of Mormonism, and how their wounds have begun to heal.

A major strength of Mormons in Transition is its discussion of how “Mormon Christianity” differs from traditional Christianity. Reynolds points out that, although Mormons may use the same words as people in other faiths, confusion often comes because the meanings
are often very different. I believe Mormons with strong faith could benefit from reading this section to clarify just how their theology differs from traditional Christianity. It would be interesting to see if the text could open dialogue between friends and family members.

Unfortunately, this strength in the book is also its major flaw. Reynolds notes that former Mormons often distrust organized religion and have difficulty finding another congregation they can be comfortable with. In her words, “Leaving the LDS Church causes, in most, a spiritual crisis. I believe that a spiritual problem requires a spiritual solution....” With a proselytizing flair that hints at her Mormon heritage, Reynolds proposes Christianity as the spiritual solution.

The book’s heavy emphasis on Christianity could put off readers who are still leery of organized religion. Furthermore, the Christianity she writes of is the Born Again Christian variety–one man who read the manuscript told Reynolds her evangelical roots are showing. She
gives short shrift to the liturgical, apostolic faiths such as Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians or Lutherans. Although she notes that many former Mormons are drawn to so-called New Age spirituality, she offers no discussion of the non-traditional faiths such as the Unitarians. She interviewed no former Mormons who have converted to Judaism, and speaks little of those have simply become agnostic. As good as the book is, more wide-reaching research with a broader
view on the author’s part would have strengthened it, and been of more help to readers who may not fit into her own spiritual comfort zone.

Feel free to call or email with questions 801.531.0600