Benjamin E. Park

Benjamin E. Park is the author of American Zion, the history of the LDS Church that Kyle reads “with explicit interest in the institutional-vs-political tension.” In Kyle’s notes, Park’s book is mined for the way it handles power and politics inside the church — particularly David O. McKay’s instincts on Ezra Taft Benson’s radical politics (“You should turn the offer down”), the unresolved question “Then why did God let him become the prophet?”, and the First Presidency’s formal line that “apostles should focus on gospel principles” as a defense against the politicization of doctrine. Park’s account notably leaves some of these tensions to sit rather than resolving them. Kyle also notes that Park references McKay Coppins’s biography of Romney as an earlier treatment of the same tradition.

Context: Benjamin E. Park is a historian of American religion and an associate professor of history at Sam Houston State University. American Zion: A New History of Mormonism (2024) is his narrative history of the Latter-day Saint movement.

Where this appears

• American Zion — Park is the author; his history is read for its handling of the institutional-vs-political tension, especially the McKay/Benson episode.