Mormon Stories Book Club Relaunch - Lighthouse by Ronald V. Huggins

Mormon Stories Book Club Relaunch Tackles Difficult History with "Lighthouse"

The announcement of the Mormon Stories Book Club relaunch arrives at a moment when structured conversation about Mormon history feels increasingly fraught. John Dehlin and collaborator Rebecca (known in online communities as Rebecca Biblioteca) recently revealed plans to revive the dormant reading group, selecting Ronald V. Huggins' "Lighthouse" as their opening text. This resurrection signals something beyond casual reading. It represents an organized attempt to create discussion spaces where faithful believers, skeptical former members, and questioning investigators can encounter difficult primary sources together without the immediate polarization that usually characterizes online faith discourse.

Background of the Book Club Revival

The original Mormon Stories Book Club operated years ago under Heather Olson Beale's direction before quietly shuttering. Dehlin has hinted at rebooting the project for some time, but the current collaboration with Rebecca, who administers reading communities including The Good Book Club, provides the infrastructure and trust within the ex-Mormon and mixed-faith community to make the attempt viable. Their approach is deliberately tentative. Rather than promising a permanent institution, they frame this as an experiment, a test to see whether virtual community reading can still function in an era of algorithmic division.

Key Claims and Critical Content

The selection of Huggins' "Lighthouse" is not incidental. The book engages with Mormon origins and doctrinal development from a critical historical perspective, examining the evidentiary foundations of LDS truth claims. Huggins, alongside Sandra Tanner of Utah Lighthouse Ministry, has spent decades compiling and analyzing primary source documents that complicate the Church's official narrative.