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Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Crossings

A Bald Asian American Latter-day Saint Woman Scholar's Ventures through Life, Death, Cancer & Motherhood (Not Necessarily in that Order)
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In this collection of personal essays, letters, and even drawings, Melissa Inouye considers how Latter-day Saints in an increasingly globalized Church might cultivate unity without leaving their distinctive gifts behind. As an Asian American Latter-day Saint feminist religious studies China scholar, she feels the urgency of the Lord’s command that the Church “be one” (Doctrine & Covenants 38:27).

With her unique mix of humor and candor, empathy and idealism, Inouye draws upon her academic training in Chinese history and religious studies, her rich cultural heritage, her experiences raising a family in an international setting, her tangle with cancer, and her resilient faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ to unfurl vibrant reflections on the enduring question of what it means to be a Latter-day Saint today.

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Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

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Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye is a lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Auckland. She received her PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University and is in the process of finishing a book manuscript on the history of the True Jesus Church in China, provisionally titled China’s True Jesus: Charisma and Its Limits in Chinese Christianity. She currently serves as an associate editor of the Mormon Studies Review.
"Her unique and intersectional perspective will proactively challenge stereotypes, build comfort with contradictions, and widen readers’ views."
Petra, Zelophehad's Daughters

Additional Information

  • Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Part One: Going Places

    Long Departures, Long Returns

    Mornings and Nights

    Faith Is Not a String of Christmas Lights

    Part Two: Staying Home

    To the Bean

    The Sweaty Sprout

    Dispatch from Dissertation Research

    To the Leaf

    Newsletter from Los Angeles, California, December 2010

    Newsletter from Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, December 2011

    Newsletter from Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong, December 2012

    Newsletter from Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong, December 2013

    Four Songs That Never Let You Down

    Part Three: Thinking Things Through

    Newsletter from Auckland, New Zealand, December 2014

    How Conference Comes to Hong Kong

    Toxic Religion? The Parable of the Pan

    Conversations Are Like Casseroles

    Electric (Mutual) Joy

    What Ana Said

    The Problem We Want to Have

    Newsletter from Auckland, New Zealand, December 2015

    Snipping and Unsnipping

    The Trouble with Revolutions

    Human Infrastructure

    Civilization = Organization?

    Newsletter from Auckland, New Zealand, December 2016

    Rich Entanglements

    Part Four: Getting Disemboweled

    FYI

    Hello from Post-Op

    Chemo

    FOLFOX

    400 Meters; 6 Miles

    Looking Ahead

    Part Five: Looking to the Future

    A Letter to My Not-Yet-Teenage Children

    Samurai Come Out Swinging and Get Scars

    Rotten Things Rotten, Good Things Good

    On Fear

    Conclusion

  • Publication Information

    Subject: Book of Mormon

    Publication Month: June

    Publication Year: 2019

    Language: English

    ISBN 13: 9781944394806

    Page Count: 288

    Binding: Paperback, eBook

    Price: $ 15.99

    Imprint: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

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