Jana Riess Explained

Jana Riess
Birth Name:Jana Kathryn Riess
Birth Date:13 December 1969
Birth Place:United States
Occupation:Writer
Language:English
Nationality:American
Education:PhD
Alma Mater:Columbia University
Period:1990s-present
Genre:Religion
Spouse:Phil Smith
Children:Jerusha (born c. 1999)

Jana Kathryn Riess (born December 13, 1969) 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.

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] She and her mother Phyllis[2] were, per her description, abandoned by her father without warning in 1984,[1] by which time her brother was on his own. Riess has described her father, who died at age 71 in Mobile, Alabama, in October 2010,[1] as "an angry atheist" and her mother as "considerably more charitable but no more interested in organized religion."[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.

Career

Riess is an expert on religion in literature. As of this date, Riess is a Religion and American Studies professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

From 1999 to 2008 she was the religion book editor for Publishers Weekly.[3]

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.

Writings

Riess' 2019 The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church, received critical praise;[4] [5] Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont, California,[6] describes the work as "[s]ociologically sound, extremely well-researched and well-written".[5]

Riess and her colleague Benjamin Knoll published a landmark analysis which questioned the accuracy of reports that LDS membership was growing.[5] [4]

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.[7] 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![8]

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.[9] Among the books by Riess are the 2004 What Would Buffy Do?, and an abridgment of the Book of Mormon with commentary.

As of 2017, she was conducting "The Next Mormons" survey project to look at how different generations of Mormons have interacted with the Church.[10]

Personal life

Riess is a convert to the LDS Church. She is married to Phil Smith, and they reside in Cincinnati.[11]

Works

Books
Articles
Other

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Riess, Jana. 2011 . fLunking sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor . Brewster, MA . Paraclete Press . 978-1-55725-660-7 . 29 April 2023. Note, the unique spelling of the first word of the book's title is as it is presented by the author, on the title page of the book.
  2. Book: Riess, Jana . 2005 . The Book of Mormon: Selections Annotated and Explained. SkyLight Illuminations . 12 . Nashville, TN . SkyLight Paths Publishing . 978-1-59473-076-4 . 29 April 2023 .
  3. Web site: Pagitt, Doug . Riess, Jana . 17 February 2022 . Common Good Faith—The Rise of the Progressive Mormons with Jana Riess . podcast guest autobiography . Edina, MN . The Common Good Podcast . en. 29 April 2023.
  4. Cranney, Stephen . April 2019 . The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church . book review . BYU Studies Quarterly . 58 . 2 . 177–183 . 29 April 2023.
  5. Web site: Zuckerman, Phil . May 6, 2019 . Secularization Hits the Mormons: Is the LDS church losing ground? . PsychologyToday.com . 29 April 2023.
  6. Web site: 29 April 2023 . Phil Zuckerman . TheGuardian . 29 April 2023 . Phil Zuckerman is a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. He is the author of Society Without God (2008) and Faith No More (2011)..
  7. Web site: Mooney, Deborah Arca . Riess, Jana . April 9, 2010 . Tweeting the Bible: An Interview with Jana Riess . Patheos.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20100529100349/http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Tweeting-the-Bible . 29 April 2023. May 29, 2010 .
  8. Web site: Riess, Jana . 29 April 2023 . Authors: Jana Riess . contributor biographical sketch . FaithandLeadership.com . Durham, NC . Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, Duke University . en.
  9. News: 15 June 2009 . August 31, 2001 . Harry Potter Raises Eyes of Christians . . 29 April 2023 . 'There's a real religious concern,' observes Jana Riess of Publishers Weekly, who moderated an [Richard] Abanes - [Connie] Neal debate at a July convention of Christian retailers. 'Evangelical Christians believe that witchcraft is real.' / But, she said, witchcraft in the Potter novels 'is not a worldview in the way evangelicals would think of it.' She likens the fuss to parallel complaints when 'The Wizard of Oz' was published a century ago..
  10. News: Nielsen, Alyssa . 1 June 2017 . Religion Scholar Studies Why Millennials Leave LDS Church . . 29 April 2023.
  11. Riess, Jana . How to Give a Sacrament Meeting Talk: An Open Letter to Converts. Sunstone Magazine. 142. September 2006. 55–57. June 21, 2010. .