Welding Another Link: Latter-day Saint Essays on Faith and Intellect

by Nathan B. Oman

Available April 14, 2026

• "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.

Praise for Welding Another Link:

"Nate Oman's Welding Another Link is an excellent contribution to Latter-day Saint thought. Drawing on his experience as a legal scholar outside of the Mormon corridor of Utah and on his generous and incisive intellectual skills, Oman 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. I learned from every page." — George Handley, Professor of Comparative Literature and Interdisciplinary Humanities, Brigham Young University

"Nathan Oman's collection of ten fine essays brings the intellectual habits of the common law to questions of faith. How does a religion rooted in a particular place make claims on the whole world? How does one read scripture that contains both the sublime and the monstrous? In a secular age, what is the proper work of a religious mind?
"Writing with the clarity of jurisprudence and the charity of faith, Oman argues that the Restoration is best understood as a revelation of stubbornly concrete particulars. Every essay returns, from a different angle, to the tension between the particular and the universal. Ranging from a Philadelphia garden where Oman purchases Jewish whiskey for Passover to the gazebo on a Salt Lake City median that once marked the only tree in the valley, 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, author, Ether: A Brief Theological Introduction

"Nathan Oman's voice has been vital to the Latter-day Saint intellectual community for decades. In these collected essays, readers are offered not only the delight of observing a formidable intellect at work, but also the large-hearted wisdom gleaned from years of living the questions that animate a thoughtful and faithful Latter-day Saint life. 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.' The celebration he suggests is informed, open to reasoned critique, faithful, and above all, humble and charitable. These essays are an illuminating example of a distinctive voice consecrated to this challenge, and a fine tutorial." — Kristine Haglund, author, Eugene England: A Mormon Liberal

"I expected to like this engaging collection of essays, and I wasn’t disappointed.  In my judgment, Nate Oman is one of the best writers and most interesting thinkers in the Church.  He’s thoughtful, widely read, intelligently committed to the faith that we share, and always worth careful attention.  Readers of Welding Another Link will be rewarded with exciting glimpses of the richness still latent in the Restoration and of the intellectual adventures that await its faithful explorers.  We need more from him and more like him." — Daniel C. Peterson, President, The Interpreter Foundation

About the Author:

Nathan B. Oman is the Rita Anne Rollins Professor at William & Mary Law School, located in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he has been a member of the faculty since 2006. Prior to becoming a professor, Oman practiced law in Washington DC, clerked for Judge Morris Shepard Arnold of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, and worked as a staffer in the US Senate. He has been a visiting professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Cornell Law School, and the University of Richmond Law School. He is married to Heather Bennett Oman. They have two children and live in James City County, Virginia.

More Information:

ISBN 978-1-58958-837-0 (paperback)