Review of Kylie Nielson Turley, Alma 1–29: A Brief Theological Introduction (Provo, UT: The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2020). 162 pages. $9.95 (paperback).
Abstract: Kylie Nielson Turley delves deep into the conversion and ministry of Alma the Younger, reading new life into a well-known narrative. By analyzing Alma’s story with the full weight of his humanity in mind, she breathes emotion into Alma’s conversion and missionary efforts. Her efforts to read Alma without a veneer of superhumanity result in a highly relatable figure who has known wickedness, repentance, loss, depression, and righteousness.
Kylie Nielson Turley accomplishes exactly what the Maxwell Institute’s Brief Theological Introductions series seeks to do — namely, to “read a few Book of Mormon stories you have probably read before and see them in a new light.”1 She achieves this through careful analysis of the life of Alma the Younger (hereafter referred to as Alma) as reported by the Book of Alma’s structural narrative. In re-analyzing familiar stories, Turley questions common (and assumed) tropes about Alma such as his age at the time of his conversion, the depths of his prior depravity, and the ramifications of personal trauma experienced during his missionary efforts. By allowing these stories the emotion all too often discarded in the standard “Sunday School answers,” Turley restores power to Alma’s [Page 250]redemptive arch and asks the reader to acknowledge the Atonement’s ability to overcome all.
The book begins by questioning the specific structure surrounding the events of Alma’s life, noticing the specificity with which dates and ages of both Alma and his father are recorded. After careful analysis, Turley concludes that Alma is far older than a wayward teenager. This provokes a poignant reflection: “Is it easier to trust an adult leader who had some youthful indiscretions (and repented) — or one who spent decades trying to destroy the church as an adult (and repented)?”2
Reading Alma as a repentant adult alters his interactions with the apostate figures he continuously faces. Turley notes, “When readers view Alma as the very wicked and idolatrous unbeliever the narrator describes, they likely interpret the text differently.”3 She goes as far as to compare characterizations of Alma to those of Amalickiah, laying out a parallel structure in descriptions that substantiate the depths of Alma’s former sinful lifestyle. And yet, Alma’s death report specifically notes, “This we know, that he was a righteous man” (Alma 45:19), demonstrating the ability of Alma’s repentance and conversion to overcome all previous sin, regardless of its severity.
Switching focus, the book discusses the trauma response of the Nephites to the destruction caused by a Lamanite attack upon the newly established Anti-Nephi-Lehis. The Nephites mourn and lament (Alma 28:4) the familial relationships lost in a battle where tens of thousands perish. In such circumstances, Turley proposes that Alma 29 is not a missionary anthem but a psalm of mourning and lament wherein Alma and the people ask “Why?”
Viewing this psalm as a trauma response to the battle and to the martyrdom of the believing women and children at Ammonihah, Turley emphasizes Alma’s ability to plead for continued hope and understanding in Christ despite the recent chaos and trauma. She says, “Questioning God about why something happens demonstrates faith that he is there and hope that he has an answer. Moreover, underlying both questions is a plea for God to make sense of suffering. … To ask why is to ask for meaning, to ask God to make sense of suffering. Pain and suffering prompt the question, but it is meaninglessness that is unendurable.”4
Throughout the work, Turley rereads stories readers are accustomed to perceiving one way so as to maximize comprehension of the ability of Christ’s [Page 251]Atonement to transcend apostasy, trauma, marginalization, and the heavens’ seeming silence in the face of earth-shattering loss. Reading stories with the human nature of our scriptural heroes in mind is a demanding task. It asks us to forgo placing scriptural figures on pedestals and accept the need all have for Jesus Christ. As Turley so poignantly states, “We may lose a superhuman scripture hero, an idol untouched by doubt or despair and unaffected by circumstances. … But the stories of Alma 1–29 are not trite or slick or flimsy. They offer more than theological Band-Aids.”5 Alma’s story indeed offers more than a theological Band-Aid. It offers belief in Christ, hope in the face of loss, and a path through self-inflicted and inescapable suffering alike.
Amanda Colleen Brown holds a MA in Bible and the Ancient Near East from The Hebrew University at Jerusalem and a BA in Ancient Near Eastern Studies from Brigham Young University. She currently spends her time producing university events, running the @comefollowme_women Instagram account, and competing in Scottish Highland Dance competitions.
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9 Comment(s)
Tom D, 08-10-2021 at 3:50 pm
Sounds like a good book. Thank you for the review. I’ve often wondered about the age of Alma the younger. I suspect that there may have been a gap of some years (10? 20?) between the repentance of Alma the younger at perhaps the age of 30 and the death of his father. Still, Sister Turley’s suppositions about his age are as good as anybody’s. I’ll have to read her book.
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Amanda Colleen Brown, 09-04-2021 at 7:06 pm
Alma’s age is definitely up for debate, but I think Turley’s reading passes academic rigor. I hope you enjoy the book.
Kylie Nielson Turley, 08-07-2021 at 1:58 pm
Amanda Colleen Brown, thank you for this review. I am grateful for the time you took to read and understand what I was trying to say, and also grateful for the further time you took to write this review. I am certainly aware that there are other interpretations of Alma, but I think this interpretation of Alma as an older man who is sinful yet repentant, and wounded yet healing, is pertinent today. It is certainly supported by plenty of evidence. I am grateful for your ability to read with attentive care to detail and simultaneous attentive focus on the main point: to me, Alma’s story is a transformative story of the redemptive, salvific power of Jesus Christ’s atonement; after careful study, it is an even deeper, more transformative and more redemptive story than I previously thought. If readers finish my book with your understanding, I will consider it a job well done.
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Amanda Colleen Brown, 09-04-2021 at 7:27 pm
Kylie, thank you for those kind words. I always appreciate a good reinterpretation of a beloved narrative, and you did a superb job with this one! Your reading of Alma and Amulek at Ammonihah carries the emotion that should be read more often into the Book of Mormon. Thank you for that as it as deepened my love of a favorite story personally.
Gerald Armstrong, 08-06-2021 at 1:03 pm
Sister Brown,
Thank you for your perceptive review. I am curious to read the reviewed book, for some your statements makes it seem like the author creates straw men which she then proceeds to dismantle. For, whoever supposes that Alma, at the time of his conversion, was “a wayward teenager” who had “youthful indiscretions” rather than a grown (and very sinful) man? After all, within maybe 10 years at most, he was high priest over the church, chief judge, keeper of the records, and general of the Nephite armies–not likely all coming to one “youthful!”
Further, why cannot one place “scriptural figures on pedestals” and still “accept the need all have for Jesus Christ?” I simply do not understand why we can’t have heroes who “are untouched by doubt or despair” without thinking of them as “idols.” And despite Alma’s past, we do not need to wait until Alma 45 to learn that Alma was a righteous man. To me, Alma will, despite what seems to be the author’s intent, continue to be one of the greatest spiritual leaders in the Book of Mormon. After all, Mormon devotes nearly one-third of his record to this man Alma.
Gerald Armstrong
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Dennis Horne, 08-07-2021 at 8:02 pm
Gerald, Your mention of “heroes” nudged my memory of a book published in 1995 by Deseret Book titled “Heroes from the Book of Mormon.” The entire volume is filled with essays by apostles and other general authorities teaching about Book of Mormon prophets, each of whom were heroes for their respective authors. Elder (now Pres.) Nelson begins with Nephi.
Chapter 8 is by Elder L. Tom Perry, called “Alma, the Son of Alma.” I just skimmed it. Elder Perry surely seems to see him as a hero: “Alma the Younger has been a special favorite of mine” he wrote.
Seems you are thinking like Elder Perry.
James, 08-09-2021 at 10:30 am
It’s puzzling to me that you use the phrase “wayward teenager” because that what is almost exactly the phrase Elder L. Tom Perry used in his book, Heroes from the Book of Mormon. He used the phrase “wayward youth” pg. 98. You say, “whoever supposes”, it would appear that Elder L. Tom Perry is that person who supposes. Elder Perry then talks about the “bitter course correction” for Alma. In the end if this Dennis Horne had more than “skimmed it” he would not say you “think like Elder Perry” because you are not, you two are actually talking about two different things.
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Amanda Colleen Brown, 09-04-2021 at 7:24 pm
“Wayward youth” is a common way of characterizing the Alma story. I think it’s obvious I wasn’t attacking Elder Perry’s reading. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the traditional viewpoint on the narrative, but it also doesn’t have to be the only way of reading the story. I value Turley’s work here because it proposes a reading grounded in the narrative that, to me, seems more accurate (Alma’s relatively quick succession to High Priest being the biggest factor here). If Elder Perry and others see value in a repentant teenage Alma, I think that’s useful as well.
Amanda Colleen Brown, 09-04-2021 at 7:14 pm
Hi Gerald,
I think the author used the straw men that already exist in Sunday School classes. She is aware of how we use Alma to teach youth about sin and repentance and how this reading is then perpetuated into adulthood. If a straw man exists, it’s in the cultural hall, not this book.
I absolutely disagree that the author does not see Alma as a Book of Mormon hero. Her reading humanizes a life that is too often cast with a Arnold Friberg patina. In humanizing Alma, the author is attempting to showcase the story’s true depth and redemptive message, to show the reader the depths to which one can sink while still becoming a hero. What’s makes a better hero than that?