Review
======
Title: Fathers of Faith: Inspiring True Stories About Latter-day Dads
Author: Gary W. Toyn and Michael K. Winder
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Genre: Non-fiction
Year Published: 2010
Number of Pages: 315 + notes pages
Binding: Large hardback, display table book
ISBN10: n/a
ISBN13: 978-1-59811-603-8
Price: $29.99
Reviewed by Jeffrey Needle for the Association for Mormon Letters
Just this evening, I was waiting on line to pay for my dinner at a local eatery when I let slip from my fingers a dollar bill. I never noticed it until a little girl, perhaps 6 or 7 years of age, caught my attention and said, “Mister, you dropped your dollar.” She bent over and picked it up for me. I guess it isn’t every day when you run across someone so young with such a sense of honesty and responsibility. Good parenting, I thought.
Ten years ago I was at Hometown Buffet, waiting behind several people who were getting food from the hot bar. I was walking with a cane, as I do to this day. A little boy ran ahead of me and grabbed a plate from the stack. I thought, “Sheesh. You’d think his parents would have taught him better.” Little did I know the boy was getting a plate for *me*! He came to me and said, “Can I help you get some food, sir?” Really, not much brings a tear to my eye these days. I followed the boy back to his table and commented to his parents how rare they were, raising such a kind and thoughtful child.
Yes, parenting makes all the difference. Good parents can exert such a powerful effect on their children which they can then pass along to *their* children, and so on. Children raised in bad homes often turn out to be bad parents themselves. Families can be caught up in a cycle of abuse that leads to suffering from one generation to the next. Happily, families can also be caught up in a cycle of blessing and happiness. How much better would our world be if parents raised their children in loving, caring households? How much suffering could have been avoided had strong families been the rule rather than the exception?
This latest offering from Covenant Communications is a compulsively readable and wonderfully comprehensive look at the role fathers play in the lives of their children. Each of the entries constitutes a personal essay by a prominent Mormon, or by the father of a prominent Mormon. The mix is nicely organized, with lots of perspective on the subject of fathers and their role in a young man or young woman’s life.
The first main section is titled “Church Leadership" and covers notable leaders in Church history, including the prophets, beginning with Joseph Smith, Jr., the current First Presidency, and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Next come Latter-day Saints in government and politics, sports, business, arts and entertainment, broadcasting, and finally, education. The choice to divide the book in this way was, in my view, very smart. You can turn to a section that interests you the most. Are you a sports fan? Just go to that section and see how your favorite sports stars have been influenced by their fathers. More in tune with leaders of the Church? There’s a ton of information here about their fathers, and quite a bit about how the children of these leaders have grown to appreciate the leadership of their fathers.
Some of the accounts are quite moving, relating the more tender moments that occur in families with a common goal and purpose. They often give us a unique glimpse behind the scenes of the lives of people with whom we’ve become so familiar. There is an intimacy to these stories that brings humanity to the sometimes-stolid facades of the Church’s leaders. They remind us that, beneath the suits and ties there exists a living, breathing human being, a flesh-and-blood person challenged in the same ways we are. “Fathers of Faith” focuses on those moments in their lives when commitment to family shines through and positively affects the lives of others.
I suppose Covenant could have taken the easy way with this book. It’s a fairly simple task to outline family relationships in Mormonism. There’s no shortage of anecdotal history (some of it apocryphal, of course, but nonetheless faith-promoting). Instead, Covenant solicited from a wide variety of Latter-day Saints accounts that demonstrate the symbiotic relationship between father and child that can help to shape and form, not just the individual, but an entire family. And the result is a quality production that Mormon families everywhere will appreciate.
Christmas is coming. Folks are looking for good gifts to give to friends and loved ones. “Fathers of Faith” is a top-notch product. It is well worth your consideration. And, given the quality and size of this production, the book is surprisingly affordable. Give this one a look. I think you’ll like what you see.
Jeffrey Needle
Association for Mormon Letters
jeff.needle@gmail.com www.aml-online.org www.LDSBookLovers.com/Needle.html
