At the annual meeting of the Mormon History Association in June, The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology won the Best Book of the Year Award. Published by Oxford University Press, it is a key work to understand Mormon conceptions of priesthood, authority, and gender. With in-depth research, and never previously used documents, specific chapters explore ordination, temple “sealings,” baby blessings, healing, and cunning folk traditions.
Reviews of Stapley’s The Power of Godliness
Rosalynde Welch, at Times & Seasons, wrote Review Essay: “The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology”: Materiality and Performance.
By Common Consent hosted a roundtable with three reviewers:
- Hannah Jung, The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology
- Taylor Petrey, Roundtable on The Power of Godliness, Part II
- Matt Bowman, Roundtable on The Power of Godliness, Part III
The Juvenile Instructor also hosted a roundtable:
- Tona Hangen, Book Review: The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology (Oxford, 2018)
- Janiece Johnson, Accessibility and Nuance in Stapley’s *The Power of Godliness*
- J. Stuart, Roundtable: Stuart on *The Power of Godliness*
- Benjamin Park, Roundtable on Stapley, Power of Godliness: The Cultural Context(s) for Mormonism’s Priesthood
- Ryan Tobler, Liturgy and Practice in Stapley’s *Power of Godliness*
John Turner’s review appeared at The Anxious Bench.
Gavin Feller reviewed the volume for The American Academy of Religion’s Reading Religion.
Gary Bergera’s review appeared in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.
Publications
Selected Articles
- Jonathan A. Stapley, “Invoking the Name of the Lord: A Quantitative Study,” Journal of Mormon History, (October 2021), 1-21.
- Jonathan A. Stapley, “Brigham Young’s Garden Cosmology,” Journal of Mormon History 47 (January 2021): 68-85.
- Jonathan A. Stapley, “Last Rites and the Dynamics of Latter-day Saint Liturgy,” BYU Studies 50, no. 2 (2011), 97-128.
- Jonathan A. Stapley, “Adoptive Sealing Ritual in Mormonism,” Journal of Mormon History 37 (Summer 2011), 53-117.
- Jonathan A. Stapley and Kristine Wright, “Female Ritual Healing in Mormonism,” Journal of Mormon History 37 (Winter 2011): 1-86.
- Jonathan A. Stapley and Kristine Wright, “The Forms and the Power: The Development of Mormon Ritual Healing to 1847,” Journal of Mormon History 35 (Summer 2009): 42-87. Reprinted with revisions in Stephen C. Taysom, ed., Dimensions of Faith: A Mormon Studies Reader (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2011).
- Jonathan A. Stapley and Kristine Wright, “‘They Shall Be Made Whole’: A History of Baptism for Health,” Journal of Mormon History 34 (Fall 2008): 69-112.
Selected Book Chapters
- “Women and Priesthood,” in Amy Hoyt and Taylor Petrey, eds., The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender, (Routledge Press, 2020)
- “Women and Mormon Authority,” in Matthew Bowman and Kate Holbrook, eds., Women and Mormonism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (University of Utah Press, 2016).
- “Pouring in Oil: The Development of the Modern Mormon Healing Ritual,” in Daniel L. Belnap, ed., By Our Rites of Worship: Latter-day Saint Views on Ritual in Scripture and Practice (Provo/Salt Lake City: Deseret Book/Religious Studies Center, 2013).