Drawing on my work as a non-Mormon academic in the social-scientific study of religion, this presentation offers a bio-cultural look at religious identity and the aspects of Mormonism which have supported the conferral of such an identity on its members. I will discuss the neuropsychological as well as sociological ways in which religious identity is emotion-laden and dependent on institutional elasticity for sustained salience before finally highlighting some of the challenges this poses for those involved in Mormonism’s exclusivism/inclusivism negotiations.

Adam J. Powell