Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Audiobook (abridged)4 hours
Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith
Published by Penguin Random House Audio
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Leaving the Saints is an unforgettable memoir about one woman's spiritual quest and journey toward faith. As "Mormon royalty" within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Martha Beck was raised in a home frequented by the Church's high elders-known as the apostles-and her existence was framed by their strict code of conduct. Wearing her sacred garments, she married in a secret temple ceremony-but only after two Mormon leaders ascertained that her "past contained no flirtation with serious sins, such as committing murder or drinking coffee." She went to church faithfully with the other brothers and sisters of her ward. When her son was born with Down syndrome, she and her husband left their graduate programs at Harvard to return to Provo, Utah, where they knew the supportive Mormon community would embrace them.
However, soon after Martha began teaching at Brigham Young University, she began to see firsthand the Church's ruthlessness as it silenced dissidents and masked truths that contradicted its published beliefs. Most troubling of all, she was forced to face her history of sexual abuse by one of the Church's most prominent authorities. This book chronicles her difficult decision to sever her relationship with the faith that had cradled her for so long and to confront and forgive the person who betrayed her so deeply.
This beautifully written, inspiring memoir explores the powerful yearning toward faith. It offers a rare glimpse inside one of the world's most secretive religions while telling a profoundly moving story of personal courage, survival, and the transformative power of spirituality.
From the Hardcover edition.
However, soon after Martha began teaching at Brigham Young University, she began to see firsthand the Church's ruthlessness as it silenced dissidents and masked truths that contradicted its published beliefs. Most troubling of all, she was forced to face her history of sexual abuse by one of the Church's most prominent authorities. This book chronicles her difficult decision to sever her relationship with the faith that had cradled her for so long and to confront and forgive the person who betrayed her so deeply.
This beautifully written, inspiring memoir explores the powerful yearning toward faith. It offers a rare glimpse inside one of the world's most secretive religions while telling a profoundly moving story of personal courage, survival, and the transformative power of spirituality.
From the Hardcover edition.
Unavailable
Related to Leaving the Saints
Related audiobooks
A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fan the Flame: Let Jesus Renew Your Calling and Revive Your Church Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mormon Mirage: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My Gay Church Days: Memoir of a closeted Evangelical pastor who eventually had enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Woke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians in America to Confront Racism and Injustice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Healing the Wounds of Sexual Abuse: Reading the Bible with Survivors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughters of the Church: Women and ministry from New Testament times to the present Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Church in Hard Places: How the Local Church Brings Life to the Poor and Needy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Allure of Liturgy for a New Generation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eight Women of Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unveiling Grace: The Story of How We Found Our Way out of the Mormon Church Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On the Old Testament Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Heretic: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sealed: An Unexpected Journey into the Heart of Grace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Name of the Lord: A Nun's Tell-All Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saints Maligned Misunderstood Mistreated Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women Rising: Learning to Listen, Finding Our Voices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Popes and Feminists: How the Reformation Frees Women from Feminism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God's Problem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Preacher's Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Personal Memoirs For You
I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Angela's Ashes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside Out: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dad at Peace Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Choice: Escaping the Past and Embracing the Possible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Lucy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Summer of Fall: Gravity is a bitch, but I'm still standing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Leaving the Saints
Rating: 3.811022283464567 out of 5 stars
4/5
127 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hmmm, well, this book was certainly interesting. I'm not Mormon, nor are there a lot of Mormons in my area. Funnily enough, though, I live not too far from where Joseph Smith started out, here in upstate New York. Religions of all kinds have always fascinated me, but I'll admit that I didn't know that much about the Church of Latter Day Saints before I started reading this. Beck is a fine writer, and she's at her best when describing the small moments of everyday life: her interaction with her family members and community. The descriptions of the community, especially, illustrate why this religion appeals to so many. The people described are warm, moral, friendly. That makes it all the more shocking when they turn against the author. Beck describes a lot of Mormon theology that, to an outsider like myself, does sound rather off the wall. And then, when she gets into the most painful part of the memoir, describing her recollections of childhood abuse at the hands of her father, a well-known Mormon scholar. However (and I hate to say this, because every fiber of my feminist being tells me not to doubt a woman who comes forward against abuse) she doesn't remember these incidents until she undergoes hypnotic regression. I'm unconvinced of the validity of this method, and that makes me unsure whether or not her story is true.When I finished this book, I went on Amazon.com, and I was shocked to read how controversial it is. I expected there to be some controversy, as with any book attacking an established religion. But I was surprised to find how much many Mormons hated the book, or ex-Mormons and outsiders loved it. Those who disliked the book attacked Beck's description of Latter Day Saints theology and rituals, as well as her personal character and the truth of her accusations against her father. In the end, I didn't know what to think or believe. Beck obviously has some bias against the religion, whether her memories/accusations are true or not. Although it's not a lifestyle or religion that I could ever see myself embracing, I would like to read some books from the other side, what those who are still involved in the Latter Day Saints community say about their theology, etc.I think what matters about my experience with the book is this: it was told well (Beck can certainly write) and it made me think, whether it's one hundred percent true or not. Recently, the James Frey scandal has called into question the veracity of many memoirs, and it's up to the reader to choose whether to swallow everything that is told to you as factual truth, or to just appreciate the book as a work of literature.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book broke my heart. It made me sad for all children that have been abused. The book seemed very authentic. I enjoyed her insights into the world of the LDS church.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I found her writing to be funny, honest and witty. Martha Beck, daughter of a high ranking Mormon family left Utah to go to Harvard. When she returns home, a place she feels will be an easier and more welcoming environment that Cambridge to raise her son with Downs Syndrome, she "discovers" that her father has brutally abused her as a child.I have read so much about her case, and many rebuttal's by family members, that I have a hard time believing everything that was written. That said, it was a good read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The faithful Latter-day Saints do not read unapproved material and Leaving The Saints is not on the approved list, according to its author, Martha Beck. Ms. Beck has an axe to grind, but writes with an authoritative stone.Quoting from the back cover:As "Mormon royalty" within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Martha Beck was raised in a home frequented by the Church's high elders in an existence framed by the strictest code of conduct . . . Most troubling of all, she was forced to face her history of sexual abuse by one of the Church's most prominent authorities."Leaving The Saints is a troubling story. Truth like an onion with layers upon layers, can bring tears. Ms. Beck has cried a river in her struggle to find the truth.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Martha Beck was an atheist-inclined grad student when miraculous happenings during her second pregnancy reawakened her interest in spirituality. After moving back to her hometown of Provo, she embraced her childhood religion in effort to deepen this newfound faith. She writes with lucidity and humor about how she instead discovered the dark side of the Mormon church, including fundamental beliefs that contradict known fact, a culture that stifled intellectual exploration, and a suspected relationship between the inferior position of women in the church and incidents of sexual abuse. A large part of Beck’s journey involves confronting her own history of sexual abuse, and the book sometimes feels disjointed as it shifts back and forth between the narrative and a scene in which she confronted her abuser. That issue aside, Beck’s attempt to free herself from the bonds of this unhealthy religion while still keeping her seed of faith alive serves as a fascinating example of how important it is to continually ask critical questions in all matters of faith.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fascinating story (memoir) about her early abuse by her father, a revered LDS elder and teacher at BYU. Some of the satiric writing was a bit over the top - but lots of interesting Morman stories.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book spoke to me about personal transformation. I am not a Mormon, but like so many others, grapple with the concept of where to draw the line between religious dogma and true spirituality. Martha Beck dares to be different and follows her heart.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As one fascinated by all things Mormon, I found this memoir about growing up the daughter of a famous LDS apologist to be a captivating look at life in a culture that's pretty foreign to my own experience. Beck writes with great humor and insight about a difficult childhood and recovering memories of being sexually abused by her father, and she succeeds in putting it all in perspective within the Church's culture and overall influence.Full review at The Book Lady's Blog .