Review
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Title: Richard Lyman Bushman: A Mormon Ambassador
Author: J. B. Haws
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Year Published: 2026
Pages: 144
Binding: paper
Genre: Religious non-fiction
ISBN: 978-0252089350
Price: 17.95
Reviewed by Conor Hilton for the Association for Mormon Letters
Richard Lyman Bushman: A Mormon Ambassador by J. B. Haws is a solid contribution to the Introductions to Mormon Thought series and a lovely tribute to the life and work of Richard Bushman. Haws’ volume has more of a biographical slant than many of the previous volumes in the series. This largely seems due to the way that Haws presents Bushman’s contributions to the world of Mormon thought as being deeply intertwined with the very person and life of Bushman himself.
The book’s three main chapters each take a facet of who Bushman is and tie the main discussion of that to a particular place, beginning with Historian and Boston, moving to Theologian and Salt Lake City, and ending with Mentor and New York City. The approach is quite successful, with each chapter building on the previous one and fleshing out the picture of who Bushman is and what he has contributed to Mormon thought, both internally and externally.
That structure might suggest one of the themes of the book that is expressed clearly in its final moments, in a discussion of an observation from Walter Kirn’s review of Rough Stone Rolling: “That combination of rigor and piety is but one more way to say that Bushman’s life was always about dualities, but he would not have had it any other way” (114). Haws throughout the book has demonstrated that this is true and that Bushman seemed to draw strength and satisfaction from these dualities, even when they were difficult to navigate.
Perhaps this is related to a theme engaged early on in the book about Bushman’s epistemic confidence, related to a commitment to seeking and following truth, even and perhaps especially when it concerned something difficult or uncomfortable. Haws discusses both some of Bushman’s experiences at Harvard in his young adulthood and later interactions with various BYU and Church authorities. In the midst of this discussion, Haws writes that “Bushman was convinced, in other words, that ‘comparisons always illuminate truths you felt you already understood’” (57). For Haws, Bushman’s conviction to pursue truth and to weigh and evaluate ideas and evidence on their own terms was partially rooted in a belief that that process would illuminate truth and be enlightening. I find this admirable and compelling and resonant with much of how I interact with the world, even as I also increasingly feel myself wondering about the real-world efficacy of such an approach in a world overflowing with ideas and information and deception. But I remain inspired by Bushman’s convictions and the firm, kind way he held to and expressed them.
Haws attributes some of Bushman’s influence and success to this combination of traits. He writes that Bushman’s “persistence as a gentle provocateur was paying off” (91). In the book, this statement refers specifically to Bushman’s scholarly efforts to take the Book of Mormon, Gold Plates, and other claims of the Restoration. However, I think this in many ways could be a thesis of the entire book and Bushman’s career. Bushman as a persistent, gentle provocateur strikes me as a key way of understanding his influence both inside Mormon studies and outside of it.
Richard Lyman Bushman: A Mormon Ambassador is a lovely, brief introduction to the life and contributions of a luminary in the world of Mormon Studies. Haws’ book distills Bushman’s long, multifaceted career into key areas and themes, throughout drawing attention to the ways that everything Bushman contributed at an intellectual level was wrapped up in a relational reality. In other words, Bushman’s contributions to Mormon thought are best understood through the way he lived his life and the relationships he fostered and encouraged with others. May more of us have the courage to live our convictions as Bushman did and be the persistent, gentle provocateurs that he would want.