Richard Lyman Bushman
A Mormon Ambassador
A portrait of the celebrated intellectual
Cloth – $110
978-0-252-04970-5
Paper – $17.95
978-0-252-08935-0
eBook – $14.95
978-0-252-04886-9
Publication Date
Paperback: 05/19/2026
Cloth: 05/19/2026
Cloth: 05/19/2026
Series: Introductions to Mormon Thought
About the Book
As a historian, theologian, and mentor, Richard Lyman Bushman greatly influenced the shaping of how those inside and outside the Church perceived Latter-day Saint history. J.B. Haws’s examination of Bushman’s life and thought tells the story of a scholar with a foot in both the LDS faith and secular society, and his efforts to bridge their two very different worldviews.Bushman integrated his acquired fluency and comfort inside academia with his native understanding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In his work, he translated, interpreted, and explained the LDS faith to the wider world. His professional status strengthened his arguments for an honest, transparent, and responsible approach to Church history. His devoted religious practice convinced his co-religionists of his sincerity. To his academic colleagues, Bushman advocated for a religious perspective in scholarship, while widespread respect for his work opened the door to his ideas.
Perceptive and illuminating, Richard Lyman Bushman explores the far-reaching contributions of an important LDS historian, theologian, and teacher.
* This book was also supported by a grant from the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University.
About the Author
J.B. Haws is the executive director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship and a professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. He is the author of The Mormon Image in the American Mind: Fifty Years of Public Perception.Reviews
“This book’s prose is as polished as we are likely ever to see. It displays crisp writing, finely crafted sentences, often spiced with dry wit. Haws has a fine eye for the right quotation. The documentation is extensive but not showy. He captures Bushman’s landmark significance with deft strokes. I rarely use the word brilliant, but in this case no other word will do.”—Grant Wacker, author of America’s Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation --Grant Wacker, author of America's Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation
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