Welding Another Link

"Offers indispensable insights into Mormonism's place in the political and intellectual culture of America today and the shape of Latter-day Saint faith for the twenty-first century." - George Handley "Oman's provocative claim is that the Restoration's intellectual promise lies in what discomfits the cosmopolitan mind: namely, its refusal to shear off place, history, and authority. Welding Another Link is a worthy addition to Oman's growing stack on Latter-day Saint thought." - Rosalynde F. Welch "Oman asserts that the vital project of thoughtful Latter-day Saints in the twenty-first century ought to be 'finding new language in which to celebrate the Restoration.' . . . These essays are an illuminating example of a distinctive voice consecrated to this challenge." - Kristine Haglund "Nate Oman is one of the best writers and most interesting thinkers in the Church. . . . We need more from him and more like him." - Daniel C. Peterson Book Description: Welding Another Link: Latter-day Saint Essays on Faith and Intellect is a collection of deeply reflective essays in which Nathan B. Oman explores the intersections of belief, reason, history, and community within Latter-day Saint life. Across topics ranging from scriptural interpretation and religious authority to Zion, pluralism, and the challenges of modernity, Oman examines how faith is lived and understood in a complex world. Running through the volume is a consistent plea for Latter-day Saint intellectual life grounded not in alienation but in "delight and wonder," echoing the philosophical lineage of thaumazo and Orson F. Whitney's charge to keep "welding another link in wonder's chain." Oman argues that the Church's future depends on the ability of its thinkers and members to celebrate the Restoration in ways that are honest, compelling, and attuned to contemporary challenges-while remaining faithful to its divine core. This means acknowledging flaws, responding to hard questions, and imagining new, responsible ways of articulating timeless truths, much as earlier generations of Latter-day Saint thinkers once did in their own eras. The result is a work that models a mature, generous, and hopeful form of discipleship-one that sees the life of the mind as an expression of devotion and an essential part of the ongoing Restoration.