REVIEW
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Title: Let’s Talk About Temples and Ritual
Author: Jennifer Lane
Publisher: Deseret Book
Genre: Religious Non-Fiction
Year Published: 2023
Number of Pages: 144
Binding: Paper
ISBN: 9781639931200
Price: 12.99
Reviewed by Amanda Ray for the Association for Mormon Letters
I recall a time I attended the temple when a young couple was going through for the first time. I sat a few rows back, so I didn’t see them again until the Celestial Room, and I could tell by the looks on their faces they were bewildered by their temple experience and likely would not be attending again for a long time if ever. I had taken a temple prep class before I went for the first time, and I come from a few generations of True Blue Mormons who attend the temple regularly, serve as temple workers, served temple missions, and talk about the temple with a mix of reverence and playful joy (depending on the context). So while I was a little overwhelmed by my first temple experience, I was excited to go back again and again and gain a little more understanding each time. It saddened me to see people who obviously hadn’t been given enough guidance and preparation for the temple, who might even be fearful of the experience or some version of frustration. I have thought of that couple often in the years since.
That’s why I appreciate the efforts of Deseret Book and Jennifer Lane to produce this small and handy book to help bridge a member’s understanding of the gospel with temple teachings, rituals, and ceremonies and make the temple a little less mysterious. As I serve in my ward’s Relief Society presidency, we frequently talk about preparing people to go to the temple for the first time and finding ways to help others go again. Let’s Talk About Temples and Ritual is the kind of book that can be a tool to assist in that work.
I enjoyed Lane’s framing of temples as sanctuaries and how they are both alike and how they also differ from the temples of ancient times. How we have to prepare to enter these sacred places so we can better understand them and allow them to work for and through us. How we must embark on a journey to reach that preparation, gaining maturity before taking on additional covenants. How the Restored Gospel has brought temples to these Latter-Days and the blessings and benefits they bring. I appreciate her broad and open discussion of so many aspects of the temple to make them more relatable to the average reader.
Lane describes with just enough detail how the temple ceremonies developed and why they are important for the spiritual relationships of anyone who is willing to undertake the journey of being made ready to enter the covenants. She recognizes the sacredness of the ceremonies and rituals; while also dispelling some of the mysteries and rumors that gravitate toward these discussions from those who don’t have more complete information. There were some instances where mentions of what people against the temple use as evidence of how creepy or weird the temple is met with a frank rebuttal, clear explanation, and almost a shrug – not of dismissiveness, but an acknowledgment that it’s a non-issue and doesn’t need to be spun into something mysterious, or something it is not.
For the majority of practicing members of the Church reading Let’s Talk About Temples and Ritual, little will be new in this volume. Which is how it should be. It will act as a succinct summation of teachings as given in temple prep class, other popular volumes discussing the temple, and what we learn from a good discussion in Sunday School. Any nuggets of information that could be new to the reader are laid out plainly and kindly. For that reason, it makes for a less-intimidating volume for those who may not have been raised in the faith to have some greater context and explanation for how and why we worship in temples today. I continue to applaud the efforts of Deseret Book creating the Let’s Talk About library of slim volumes to help guide new and long-term members alike to better understand and appreciate our shared faith.