Lynn K. Wilder (born 1952) is a Christian author and former Brigham Young University (BYU) professor. She became well known for discussing how she left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in the 2011 video-documentary Unveiling Grace.[1]

Biography

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Wilder attended high school in Richmond, Indiana.[2] She married her husband Michael in 1974.[3] The couple have three sons, Joshua, Matt and Micah, and a daughter, Katie.[4] They joined the LDS Church in 1977, after Mormon missionaries knocked on their door and converted them.[3][5]

Wilder earned a PhD at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.[2] She became a professor of Counseling Psychology and Special Education at BYU in 1999.[2][6]

In 2006, she converted and became an evangelical Born-Again Christian after her son, Micah, who was serving a Mormon mission to Orlando, Florida, told his parents that he was having doubts about the LDS Church and after studying the New Testament. Two years after her conversion, she resigned from BYU.[3]

Jana Riess characterizes Wilder's signature book, Unveiling Grace, as "more even-handed" than the provocative marketing campaign would suggest, differing from what Riess characterizes as the typical tell-all, ex-Mormon memoir in that it shows Wilder's love for Mormons as people, even as she rejects LDS theology.[4]

Bibliography

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  • Unveiling Grace: The Story of How We Found Our Way Out of the Mormon Church (2013)[7]

Filmography

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Film
Year Film Role Notes
2011 Unveiling Grace Herself Short film
2015 The Mormons: Who They Are, What They Believe Herself Documentary

References

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  1. ^ "Unveiling Grace: A Sacred Groves Film". Unveilinggrace.com. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Faculty Spotlights: Lynn Wilder". McKay Today News. Brigham Young University. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  3. ^ a b c Sharon Lindbloom. "Free Indeed: The Testimony of Lynn Wilder". Mormonism Research Ministry. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Riess, Jana (18 September 2013). "An Ex-Mormon Memoir That Deserves a Read". Religion News Service. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  5. ^ I Was a Mormon: Lynn Wilder Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Ex-Mormon Shares Secrets From the Church of Latter-day Saints". Christianpost.com. 19 August 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  7. ^ results, search (25 August 2013). Unveiling Grace: The Story of How We Found Our Way out of the Mormon Church. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0310331124.
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