Imagining and Reimagining the Restoration

Imagining and Reimagining the Restoration

$25.95

by Robert A. Rees

Now available!

“This is a beautiful book, a work of art. Enjoining us to imagine the gospel more deeply, it offers reflections on Christ, Mary, the First Vision, Heavenly Mother, and much else.” — Richard L. Bushman
“An economical compendium of memoir and poetry, cultural criticism and speculative theology. Most of all, it is an exercise in hopeful imagining.” — Fiona Givens
“Condenses a lifetime of selfless discipleship into an exemplary selection of powerful acts of Christian imagination.” — Adam S. Miller

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Book Description:

In Imagining and Reimagining the Restoration, Robert A. Rees embarks on an imaginative and profound exploration of Latter-day Saint theology and culture. Through essays, poems, and midrashic interpretations, Rees sheds new light on foundational doctrines, the roles of prophetic imagination, and the divine narratives within the Restoration. He reexamines figures like Joseph Smith and Heavenly Mother, urging readers to embrace a creative and expansive faith perspective that transcends mere tradition.

This captivating work brings readers into a visionary discourse that emphasizes the power of imagination as a spiritual gift. With poetic interludes and scholarly insight, this volume is a transformative invitation to both imagine and reimagine faith, theology, and cultural belonging.

Praise for Imagining and Reimagining the Restoration:

“This is a beautiful book, a work of art. Enjoining us to imagine the gospel more deeply, it offers reflections on Christ, Mary, the First Vision, Heavenly Mother, and much else. Robert Rees wants to make us all gospel poets. He also seeks to make us religious critics. He gives his candid views of a broken church in need of mending, commenting on race, women’s rights, sexual orientation, and earth stewardship with an imagination turned critical but still filled with warmth and good will. In the end, he invites us to imagine a kindly, loving church blessed with modern sensibilities.” — Richard L. Bushman, author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

“Few Latter-day Saints write with Bob Rees’s impulse for faithful provocation grounded in uncompromising discipleship. This, his latest book, is an economical compendium of memoir and poetry, cultural criticism and speculative theology. Most of all, it is an exercise in hopeful imagining.” — Fiona Givens, co-author of All Things New: Rethinking Sin, Salvation, and Everything in Between

“The Restoration urges us to be anxiously engaged in a good cause and to do many things of our own free will. Goodness depends not just on obedience but on creativity and imagination. This collection of essays condenses a lifetime of selfless discipleship into an exemplary selection of powerful acts of Christian imagination. But Rees's book is not ultimately a call to agree with the possibilities he's imagined for us, but to imagine and create in our own names. To do good things of our own free will, we must join him.” — Adam S. Miller, author of Original Grace: An Experiment in Restoration Thinking

“Bob Rees’s childhood began as the stuff of which Jeremiads are inspired, a brief overview of which is provided in the Foreword to this remarkable book. Knowing the pain of Bob’s childhood provides an essential proof text to the book’s hope, faith, and forgiveness: it is not a homily that makes light of suffering, but an exploration of the imagination that participated in redeeming an unfortunate childhood. The power of that redemption and insight—and the patience, purpose, and self-knowledge required to receive it—is one among many evidences of how a wounded child survived to become, out of love, both challenger and defender of the faith.” — Clifton H. Jolley, author and former columnist at the Deseret News

“While our imaginations might be unleashed by contemplation of the creations of our Creator and by the implications of the Restoration midwifed into the world through the Prophet Joseph, it may help us also to consider more proximate examples of faithful master imaginers. The life and writings of Robert Rees, including the creative poetic and midrashic compositions of his own imagination that punctuate this volume, comprise a striking case study. He is an uncommon person who has lived an uncommon life and written with uncommon reach and imagination. There is scarcely a significant aspect of the Restoration on which he has not made creative public comment, often in print. Yet more rare, he has, in the pages that follow, contemplated imagination itself: a provocation to me and, I hope, to you.” —Philip Barlow, Associate Director, Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University

About the Author:

Until his recent retirement, Robert A. Rees was Director of Latter-day Saint Studies and Visiting Professor at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He is the cofounder and vice president of the Bountiful Children’s Foundation, a humanitarian organization that addresses malnutrition among children in the developing world, as well as the cofounder and president of FastForward for the Planet, a nonprofit foundation designed to unify the faiths of the world in addressing climate change and earth stewardship.