Jana Kathryn Riess (born December 13, 1969)^{[2][page needed][1]: 158 [third-party source needed]} is an American professor, writer, and editor. Riess' writings have focused on American religions, especially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) of which she is a member, and other new religious movements.^{[not verified in body]}

Early life and education

As she describes in her own autobiographical writings, Riess was born in the Midwestern United States, and has an older brother, John.^{[1]: 58, 168} She and her mother Phyllis^[2]: xix were, per her description, abandoned by her father without warning in 1984,^{[1]: 166–9} by which time her brother was on his own.^{[citation needed]} Riess has described her father, who died at age 71 in Mobile, Alabama, in October 2010,^{[1]: 166–9} as "an angry atheist" and her mother as "considerably more charitable but no more interested in organized religion."^[1]: 1

Riess has a Bachelor's degree from Wellesley College, a Master's degree in theology from the Princeton Theological Seminary, and a PhD in American Religious studies from Columbia University.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Riess is an expert on religion in literature.^{[citation needed]} As of this date,^[when?] Riess is a Religion and American Studies professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.^{[citation needed]}

From 1999 to 2008 she was the religion book editor for Publishers Weekly.^{[3][4][third-party source needed]}

A member of the LDS Church, Riess has spoken at Brigham Young University Women's Conference and other gatherings of the LDS Church, as well as professional conferences.^{[citation needed]}

Writings

Riess' 2019 The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church, received critical praise;^{[5][verification needed][6]} Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont, California,^[7] describes the work as "[s]ociologically sound, extremely well-researched and well-written".^[6]

Riess and her colleague Benjamin Knoll published a landmark analysis^{[clarification needed][full citation needed]} which questioned the accuracy of reports that LDS membership was growing.^{[6][5][verification needed]}

Tweeting the Bible

On October 4, 2009, Riess began a project to tweet the bible. Her "Twible" quest concluded in January 2013. Each tweet summarizes a chapter of the bible. Riess tweets the bible in order and plans to hit all 1,189 chapters in 140 characters.^[8] She later published it in book form as The Twible: All the Chapters of the Bible in 140 Characters or Less . . . Now with 68% More Humor!^[9]

Other work

In July 2001 Riess moderated a debate between Richard Abanes and Connie Neal at a convention of Christian retailers over the "real religious concern" over the Harry Potter books with regard to their presentation of witchcraft and aspects of the occult.^[10] Among the books by Riess are the 2004 What Would Buffy Do?,^{[citation needed]} and an abridgment of the Book of Mormon with commentary.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

As of 2017, she was conducting the "The Next Mormons" survey project to look at how different generations of Mormons have interacted with the Church.^{[11][needs update]}

Personal life

Riess is a convert to the LDS Church.^{[citation needed]} She is married to Phil Smith, and they reside in Cincinnati.^[3]

Works

Books

Articles

Other