Jana Riess

Jana Kathryn Riess (born December 13, 1969)^{[2][page needed][1]: 158 [independent source needed]} is an American professor, writer, and editor. Riess' writings have focused on American religions, especially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) of which she is a member, and other new religious movements.^{[not verified in body]}

Jana Riess
Born	Jana Kathryn Riess (1969-12-13) December 13, 1969 (age 55)[independent source needed] United States
Occupation	Writer
Language	English
Nationality	American
Education	Wellesley College (BA) Princeton Theological Seminary (MA) Columbia University (PhD)
Period	1990s-present
Genre	Religion
Spouse	Phil Smith[1]: 5, 153
Children	Jerusha (born c. 1999)[1]: 19, 56

Early life and education

As she describes in her own autobiographical writings, Riess was born in the Midwestern United States, and has an older brother, John.^{[1]: 58, 168} She and her mother Phyllis^[2]: xix were, per her description, abandoned by her father without warning in 1984,^{[1]: 166–9} by which time her brother was on his own.^{[citation needed]} Riess has described her father, who died at age 71 in Mobile, Alabama, in October 2010,^{[1]: 166–9} as "an angry atheist" and her mother as "considerably more charitable but no more interested in organized religion."^[1]: 1

Riess has a Bachelor's degree from Wellesley College, a Master's degree in theology from the Princeton Theological Seminary, and a PhD in American Religious studies from Columbia University.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Riess is an expert on religion in literature.^{[citation needed]} As of this date,^[when?] Riess is a Religion and American Studies professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.^{[citation needed]}

From 1999 to 2008 she was the religion book editor for Publishers Weekly.^{[3][4][independent source needed]}

A member of the LDS Church, Riess has spoken at Brigham Young University Women's Conference and other gatherings of the LDS Church, as well as professional conferences.^{[citation needed]}

Writings

Riess' 2019 The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church, received critical praise;^{[5][verification needed][6]} Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont, California,^[7] describes the work as "[s]ociologically sound, extremely well-researched and well-written".^[6]

Riess and her colleague Benjamin Knoll published a landmark analysis^{[clarification needed][full citation needed]} which questioned the accuracy of reports that LDS membership was growing.^{[6][5][verification needed]}

Tweeting the Bible

On October 4, 2009, Riess began a project to tweet the bible. Her "Twible" quest concluded in January 2013. Each tweet summarizes a chapter of the bible. Riess tweets the bible in order and plans to hit all 1,189 chapters in 140 characters.^[8] She later published it in book form as The Twible: All the Chapters of the Bible in 140 Characters or Less . . . Now with 68% More Humor!^[9]

Other work

In July 2001 Riess moderated a debate between Richard Abanes and Connie Neal at a convention of Christian retailers over the "real religious concern" over the Harry Potter books with regard to their presentation of witchcraft and aspects of the occult.^[10] Among the books by Riess are the 2004 What Would Buffy Do?,^{[citation needed]} and an abridgment of the Book of Mormon with commentary.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

As of 2017, she was conducting "The Next Mormons" survey project to look at how different generations of Mormons have interacted with the Church.^{[11][needs update]}

Personal life

Riess is a convert to the LDS Church.^{[citation needed]} She is married to Phil Smith, and they reside in Cincinnati.^[3]

Works

Books

Riess, Jana (2002), The Spiritual Traveler: Boston and New England: A Guide to Sacred Sites and Peaceful Places, Mahwah, NJ: HiddenSpring, ISBN 978-1-58768-008-3

• —— (2004), What Would Buffy Do?: The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, ISBN 978-0-7879-6922-6
• —— Bigelow, Christopher Kimball (2005), Mormonism for Dummies, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-0-7645-7195-4
• —— (2005), The Book of Mormon: Selections Annotated and Explained, Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths, ISBN 1-59473-076-8
• —— (2011), fLunking sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor, Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, ISBN 978-1-55725-660-7, retrieved April 29, 2023
• Ogilbee, Mark; Riess, Jana (2006), American Pilgrimage: Eleven Sacred Journeys and Spiritual Destinations, Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, ISBN 978-1-55725-447-4

Articles

• Riess, Jana (June 1999), "Stripling Warriors Choose the Right: The Cultural Engagements of Contemporary Mormon Kitsch" (PDF), Sunstone Magazine (114): 36–47
• —— (Spring 2000), "'Heathen in Our Fair Land': Presbyterian Women Missionaries in Utah, 1870–90", Journal of Mormon History, 26 (1): 165–195, archived from the original on August 8, 2011, retrieved December 3, 2018
• —— (August 21, 2000), "New Genres, Emerging Audiences", Publishers Weekly, 247 (34): S4
• —— (2001), "Mormon Fast and Testimony Meetings", in Colleen McDannell (ed.), Religions of the United States in Practice, vol. 2, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp. 67–71, ISBN 0-691-01001-3
• —— (2001), "The Latter-day Saint Word of Wisdom", Religions of the United States in Practice, vol. 2, Princeton University Press, pp. 297–301, ISBN 0-691-01001-3
• —— (2002), "Introduction", Mary Baker Eddy, Speaking for Herself: Autobiographical Reflections, Boston: The Writings of Mary Baker Eddy, pp. xv–xlv, ISBN 0-87952-275-5
• —— (March 2003), "Strengthening the Part-Member Marriage?: We're Just Fine, Thank You" (PDF), Sunstone (126): 66–67
• —— (July 2003), "Seek Ye Out of the Best Flicks: R-Rated Movies That Have Helped Me Think About the Gospel" (PDF), Sunstone Magazine (128): 42–44
• —— (March 2005), "'More Fully Unspotted from the World': Thoughts on Sabbath Keeping" (PDF), Sunstone (135): 23–25
• —— (March 2005), "Sacred Envy: What I've Learned from Other Religions" (PDF), Sunstone (136): 52–54
• —— (September 2005), "For the Love of Reading" (PDF), Sunstone (138): 56–58
• —— (September 2006), "How to Give a Sacrament Meeting Talk: An Open Letter to Converts" (PDF), Sunstone (142): 55–57
• —— (June 2007), "Why the Heck Don't Mormons Swear?: Musings on the Sacred and the Profane" (PDF), Sunstone (146): 57–59
• —— (October 2, 2007), "We're Christians Too", Christian Century, 124 (20): 9–10, archived from the original on October 11, 2008
• —— (December 2007), "Tributaries of Faith" (PDF), Sunstone (148): 20–26
• —— (2009), "Book of Mormon Stories that Steph Meyer Tells to Me: LDS Themes in the Twilight Saga and the Host", BYU Studies, 48 (3): 141–47

Other

• Riess, Jana (1991), The Saints Go Marching In: Mormonism in American Politics, 1970–1990, [Honors thesis], Wellesley, MA: Department of Religion, Wellesley College
• —— (2000), Heathen in Our Fair Land: Anti-Polygamy and Protestant Women's Missions to Utah, 1869–1910, [PhD Thesis], New York: Columbia University
• Bigelow, Christopher Kimball (2007), Jana Riess (ed.), The Timechart History of Mormonism from Premortality to the Present, Bassingbourne, Hertfordshire, UK: Worth Press, ISBN 978-1-903025-40-6