Alma 1–29: a brief theological introduction

The Book of Mormon: brief theological introductions #6

by Kylie Nielson Turley

". . . that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth."

Alma is an idolatrous man—until an angel’s rebuke leads to repentance and two decades of righteous service in realms both political and religious. But Alma’s past haunts him. He abdicates political power in order to focus more fully on his ministry. When war against Nephite dissenters shatters the community, he laments.

In this brief theological introduction to the first twenty-nine chapters of the book of Alma, literary scholar Kylie Nielson Turley considers how Alma’s profound transformation from anti-Christ to high priest of the church of God can deepen our understanding of Christ’s mercy. What if God forgives and forgets but humans do not? Does following God ensure a less painful life? Is it faithless to mourn, question, or cry out when beset by sin, violence, or death?

Turley foregrounds Alma as a man who sinned grievously and who was grievously sinned against, a man who found hope and healing in the darkest abyss, a man whose words offer hope and healing to a burdened world.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Lds, Theology, Lds Non Fiction, Mormonism

164 pages, Paperback

Published November 10, 2020

Reviews

[Tyler Critchfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable. Probably my favorite of this collection so far. Turley's insights are textually focused, approachable, and changed how I see the book of Alma.

[conor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am blown away by the insights that Kylie Turley offers throughout this book. I'll never be able to read or think about Alma the same again.

Turley's work here pays close attention to the text of the Book of Alma, drawing out some stunning readings and interpretations that radically altered my previous perceptions (thinking about Alma as converting back to the church much later in life, Alma 29 functioning as a psalm of lament, and the ways that Alma continues to wrestle with his legacy of unbelief throughout his ministry). I've enjoyed the entire series, but this volume may be my new favorite. Absolutely stunning, brilliant work here with powerful implications for the spiritual messages that we draw from Alma's life.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. So persuasively and clearly presented that you almost miss how original her insights are at every turn.

[Christopher Angulo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read if you only read one of the books in the series. More than any other book in this series (that I've read), Turley relies heavily on the text. This was refreshing. The insights that she gleams from the text hit hard and are sobering. Yet, they've expanded my heart and helped illuminate a familiar text that I have treated casually for a few year. There is a single black page in this book, and the moment you reach it... wow. More than any other book in this series, Turley focuses on the text to support her conclusions. I did not read her conclusions and think "really??", unlike a few arguments in previous books in this series.

[Jackson Switzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book facilitated a momentous teaching moment for me from the Holy Ghost. It helped me see the world, especially the bad in it, more clearly than ever. So I love in particular the sections about psalms, Nephi’s lament, and Alma 29. This clarity of sight was the most perfect display of empathy I’ve ever seen; God was saying to me, “No, you aren’t just a negative person. You don’t just need to cheer up and be more positive. Evil and imperfection are real, will always be real, and pervade everything you’ve ever seen. I see it too, and it makes me sad, and a great deal of my attention is spent righting those wrongs.” The secondary (and no less important) effect of this clarity was to give greater weight and validity to the commandments to be grateful and love others and focus on the good in them. No more could I wonder if the people teaching gratitude and positivity were simply naive, because God is one of them. There must be something, I realized, that I’m missing.

All in all, this book is a beautiful, empathetic look into the Book of Mormon’s teachings on grief and mourning.

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kylie Turley's contribution to the Maxwell Institute's "theological introduction" series is the most personal in content and conversational in tone up to this point. Turley spends the majority of this short volume humanizing Alma the Younger, a figure most practicing Mormons believe they know well. As I worked through this book, however, I realized I really didn't.

Turley is honest about the fact that her insights amount to so much speculation, absent concrete historical data about the Book of Mormon and its characters, which is unavailable. But inasmuch as Turley's thoughts unspool from vague verses of scripture, so do mainstream Mormon interpretations that have assumed the veneer of fact over the years. Turley's is a welcome alternate viewpoint.

[Courtney Hatch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sigh. Gorgeous. A literary close reading of the first half of Alma. I will never think of Ammonihah the same way again. My only critique is that there is never enough Abish (but that’s my critique about absolutely everything).

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am learning so much from reading these books about the Book of Mormon. I enjoyed the insights about lamentations, psalms, and the story of Abish. I can see more clearly Alma the younger and his suffering and pain.

[RK Bitton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was wonderful. Such a deep and contemplative approach to Alma. Insights around not just describing him as a wayward youth but a “very wicked” man, the scaring horrors of Ammonihah, and the therapeutic benefit of the poetic lament really struck home. Highly recommend.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This was one of my favorites in the series. Especially the conclusion and discussion about Abish.

[robin marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely outstanding. I have long loved Abish and so much that is touched on in this book!!! I wish I could sit down with the author to thank her for her thoughtful writing but then also to talk more about it.

[Lisa Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

You will never read Alma the same way again after reading Kylie's book. She takes the same stories and deepens their significance and sorrow. This book changes how I read The Book of Mormon.

[Robbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been delighted at the attentiveness of all of the brief theological introductions to the language, writers, and ideas in the Book of Mormon. This one was especially good. Kylie Turley offers a hermeneutic of love with her affectionate close reading of the early chapters in Alma. Reading the brief theological introductions is a way of breathing fresh life into these ancient holy words.

[Chanel Earl]

Great! I learned a lot from this book. I appreciate the picture of Alma she paints, and the ideas related to psalms and Alma 29.

[Laura Housley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is really delightful and insightful. And she reads the audiobook herself. I always love that.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume may be the best one in the series so far. Turley begins by showing that Alma may have been much older than we typically assume when an angel commanded him to stop persecuting believers in Christ. She then takes that tentative conclusion about Alma's maturity and demonstrates repeatedly that, if we consider Alma to be an older convert who used his "flattering" rhetoric for many years of his adult life to harm the church, we find greater depth and insight to his post-conversion teachings. We also see Alma as a pained church leader, who is confronted over and over again by the consequences of his prior persecutions as he preaches to individuals who engaged in the same damaging behavior that he did for so many years. I will never read the horrific account of Alma's abuse in the city of Ammonihah the same way again. The same is true of Alma's plea, "O that I were an angel," which takes on new significance when viewed as a lament by an older man who has had his teachings weaponized against innocent believers -- women and children -- to make an incredibly cruel play on Alma's words about a "lake of fire and brimstone." Turley's analysis of the Book of Mormon's use of that phrase is surprising, breathtaking, and profoundly sad.

Because of my calling in the church, I am often helping people with feelings of guilt and grief resulting from sin, the death of a loved one, or other tragic life events. Turley's book provides insights that transcend the trite counsel that can be easy to offer to people struggling with traumatic or shameful experiences. My view of what it means to grieve the death of a loved one is now forever changed by Turley's conclusion that to "truly mourn" requires faith in Christ's atonement, faith that our Savior knows better than anyone how to mourn because he alone truly understands all pain. "Truly mourning" is not a sign of doubt or weakness. Rather, it is an expression of faith.

This book is filled with many other impactful insights, just like this one. I recommend it it to all serious students of the Book of Mormon, and particularly those who are seeking to overcome traumatic life events and who want to increase their ability to help those who are struggling with their own losses.

[William Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve really enjoyed all of these so far, but this one was perhaps the most emotionally resonant as well as intellectually impactful on my understanding of and appreciation for the Book of Mormon. The author, Kylie Turley, was a professor of mine at Brigham Young University, and I was eager to read her words after having been her student.

From a literary and close reading perspective, I was fascinated to learn of the multi-layered or nested chiastic nature and strict parallelism of how Alma is composed, which lends itself to comparing and contrasting different phases of Alma’s ministry as a result. Turley digs deep into the text for her insights, as others Goodreads reviewers have noted, and these pearls illuminate many aspects of Alma that I have been oblivious to—the age of Alma, who was likely to have been a mature, dissenting unbeliever, rather than a crass, rebellious youth; the irony of Alma preaching to possible former associates whose beliefs he has since repudiated, and how his recorded ministry is continually refuting doctrines he once espoused as an unbeliever; and many more.

What struck me the most was Turley’s insight into Alma’s experience at Ammonihah. While I understood intellectually that his imprisonment, torture, and obligation to observe the ritual murder of believers by fire must have been horrific, the lasting effects of his trauma were so movingly laid out. Her observation that following this experience, the phrase “lake of fire and brimstone” to describe the suffering of sinners is completely eliminated from the lexicon of the Book of Mormon. This illustration of the psychological impact of trauma provides so much insight into Alma’s experience.

Can’t recommend this one enough, especially for a book whose stories are so foundational to the Latter-day Saint scriptural canon.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kylie Nielson Turley's in-depth analysis of the first 29 chapters of Alma in the Book of Mormon reflects her background as a literary professor. This short book is a classic literary analysis. It brings forth new ideas to consider about the lives of two beloved heroes, Alma (the majority focus of the book) and Abish. I had never recognized that nowhere in the Book of Mormon is Alma referred to as "Alma the Younger." This familiar moniker gives the average reader the impression that his rebellion was most likely typical youthful indiscretions. But Turley's point is that he was much older--and that his rebellion was not just hanging out with the wrong crowd but serious enough that he is one of only three men in the Book of Mormon referred to as a "very wicked man." Thinking about this makes his conversion and change of heart so much more meaningful to the reader.

Likewise, Turley's analysis of Abish, one of my favorite leaders in the scriptures, is thought-provoking. Are some of the words in this story actually the words of Abish and not the narrator? While I have spent a lot of time studying the story of Abish and what she accomplished, it had never occurred to me that some of the words describing the scenes could possibly be her words. Her experience could have possibly been her personal record. Fascinating to consider.

[Katherine Whitworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helps readers understand pre- and post-conversion Alma, the characteristics of the unbelievers, the tragedy at Ammonihah and Alma’s subsequent trauma, Alma’s “O that I were an angel” lament, and the significance of Abish.

It is very well-written, thought-provoking, insightful, and spiritual. It helped me see familiar Book of Mormon stories in a new light. It helped me feel more for Alma and want to mourn more truly for those who truly mourn.

I don’t share all the same interpretations as the author, but that is okay. She presents and supports her interpretations well, and in her conclusion she writes the following: “My conclusions should be questioned. And yet to question my conclusions, you will need to read scripture. Whether you agree or disagree with my interpretation of scripture, I consider my efforts a success if you have begun or renewed your commitment to studying the Book of Mormon.”

Turley’s book is truly a success—I’ve already started re-reading the Book of Mormon again. Anyone who loves the Book of Mormon (especially the book of Alma) will get a lot out of this!

[Hollie Andrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author concludes with “I consider my efforts a success if you have begun or renewed your commitment to studying the Book of Mormon.” I did not begin or renew my commitment to studying the Book of Mormon with this book that deep dives into Alma 1-29. For the author, I believe I am still part of her success.

The insights shared in this book are powerful. You will see Alma, Abish, Ammon, etc. in a new, inspired light that, if you let it, will draw you closer to them and to Jesus Christ. They empower you to ask questions-hard questions that only the Lord can answer.

I typically don’t quote the author much in my reviews. I tend to want to leave that for you to go and discover. I will conclude with this-

In reading Abish, you live a quiet life, a hidden, overlooked, converted life, and then you wait for years for God to need you. With Alma, you weaken and find you are miraculously healed to the degree you were hurting. And then you awake again and again the next morning and every morning, discovering that the pain and past are still present everywhere. Nothing has changed, nothing but you.

Go read this book. You too might change. I did.

[Peter Andrus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is, I believe, The first four-star review I’ve given on the brief theological introduction to the book of Mormon series. I enjoyed this book, it was another in a long line of amazing insights into the book of Mormon. I will forever be changed by the insight into Alma‘s experience in Ammonihah. This book totally changed my view on those chapters. The only beef I have with it is that it seem to stay on the same set of chapters the entire time. I would’ve love for some thing discussed around Ammon and his experiences, but then again I’m not the author. Another amazing entry, just not my favorite. They can’t all be my favorite… LOL

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I am not the same person …”

These words, “I am not the same person who began studying Alma years ago” echo my feeling as I conclude this volume in the series. That sentiment applies to this volume specifically and the series entirely.

Questions, questions, questions. Well articulated questions. Questions which challenge and therefore add to too-tidy conclusions and perhaps too-comforting interpretations. Questions. Enlightenment. Light. Life. Truth.

I appreciate this author’s persistence in asking questions and sharing where those lead.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is phenomenal and I recommend every one of them I’ve read so far to anyone that enjoys the experience of approaching a text you think you are familiar with and then having your mind blown wide open by further insight. This one in particular will stay with me for a long time. Do not overlook the conclusion about abish…I am forever grateful for Kylie Nelson turner for her insights into these precious verses.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely thought provoking, the author admits that all her ideas may not be correct, but the point is to encourage (re)reading and engagement with the book of Alma.
With that in mind, I did quite enjoy her take on the first half of Alma, which asks us to consider just how bad was Alma the younger (worse than the slight hints the text offers) and just how much he was affected by what happened in Ammonihah (worse than might be suggested), as well as some wonderful thoughts on Abish.

[Jenny Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book—Kylie Turley has spent years carefully reading and thinking about Alma, and then has distilled that work here in a way that is thoughtful, engaging, readable, and important. This book will change how you think about Alma; I literally cannot read Alma now without Turley’s influence. A book full of grace—a true gift. One not to miss.

[Amanda Allen]

I don’t rate non-fiction / religious books. I did, however, enjoy this study. It reads like a university essay which is pretty much what it is. The ideas laid out in the book were interesting, and I’m tempted to read it again. We’ll see. Either way, I’ll definitely try some of the other books in this series.

Recommended.

[Ryan Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as 'theological' as some of the others in the series. But, I appreciated her insight into Alma's background--before his conversion, he may have been an even greater enemy of the church than we sometimes realize, which made his encounter with the people of Amonihah all the more difficult and even traumatic.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just okay for me. The most important point I got from it was "shrinking Alma's dangerous theological dissension into a teenage-sized stereotype... reduces Alma's need for the grace of Jesus Christ," and it also diminishes how his past affected the rest of his story. That was great. I'm just not sure I got much else out of it.

[Bennett Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75/5
Incredibly well executed, it questions many assumptions about the text that upon closer reading do not have strong scriptural basis. Turley does a fantastic job of weaving emotional experience of the figures as she reads them through the lens of her research with those of us as readers and how they impact us without compromising the integrity of either.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned new things about Alma and the book of Alma. I came to see Alma more as a real person, faithful and yet pain and damage damaged by life. The author explained how writing or speaking a psalm of lament can help to focus our thoughts and get them out to deal with. I also came to see Abish as a Christlike figure.