Editor's note: This article was originally published by LDS Living in November 2021.
British branch president and Church historian James Perry spends his days reading letters, records and journals, scrapbooks, and other historical documents to verify the widely varied Church history stories he comes across. And members of the Church worldwide will soon benefit immensely from this work and research in the newest volume of the Church’s Saints series.
What will Saints volume 3 include? Perry told UK Newsroom that this new volume, which is about perhaps the “least known period of Church history,” will cover:
- The history of the Church and its growth throughout Europe including in Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom
- Church responses to a global economic crisis and two world wars
- Political and financial pressures for the Church in America
- How the Church addressed its past of polygamy
- The history of the Swiss Temple and how it came to influence the development of all other international temples
UK Newsroom also mentions one fun fact for readers. Each volume of Saints ends with a temple dedication: volume one, the Nauvoo Temple; volume two, the Salt Lake Temple; and volume three, the Bern Switzerland Temple.
Volume 3 is scheduled to be published in the first half of 2022.
Perry loves these stories of early European Church converts and appreciates what their sacrifices have meant for Church members there today. “The condition of the Church today in Europe is largely a result of those who have gone before us. They have overcome stereotypes, built buildings, shared the gospel, wrote newspaper articles, and each of these actions have continued to shape the Church and its place in society today.”
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You can read more about Perry’s perspective and insights from the Saints project on UK Newsroom.
Saints, Volume 1 and Volume 2 are available online through Gospel Library here, or you can purchase a physical copy online and at local Deseret Book stores.
