Max Perry Mueller

Historian of religion who studies scripture, racial identity, and the experiences of early Black and Native American Mormons.

history · religious studies

Positions

What were the origins of the priesthood and temple restriction (1852–1978), and how should it be understood?

Mueller argues that Mormon scripture and the historical archive helped produce racial identities, combining universal salvation with whiteness as an ideal. He centers Black and Native American participants in this history, treating the movement’s racial inclusion and exclusion as competing religious possibilities rather than a simple transition from equality to prejudice.

Corrections