Description

“The Mile High Club” is a short story about Elder Clayton from Layton who tries to join the Mile High Club for missionaries—meaning that they give away a Book of Mormon on a plane. Striking up a conversation with David Cohen, a secular Jew from the Upper West Side, Elder Clayton tries to explain how ancient Jews—David’s own people—sailed to America in 600 B.C.E. In this freewheeling discussion—which touches on everything from the new name of the Church to the Book of Mormon musical to Mormons’ attempts to do what David calls “dead baptisms” for Holocaust victims—David and Elder Clayton develop a certain esprit de corps even if they do not quite see eye to eye on all matters theological. This gentle satire of missionary work shares with the Book of Mormon musical the desire to explore cultural eccentricities and theological differences with a touch of humor and an embrace of our shared humanity. A discussion of contemporary Mormon short stories will follow the reading.

Robert Bennett is a professor of English at Montana State University. He writes satirical Mormon short stories which have been published in Dialogue, Irreantum, and Weber-The Contemporary West. He also writes critical commentary about Mormon short stories at his substack @mormonshortstories