Review
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Title: Sacred Struggle: Seeking Christ on the Path of Most Resistance
Author: Melissa Wei-Tsing InouyePublisher: Deseret BookGenre: Religious Non-fictionYear Published: 2023Number of Pages: 214Format: PaperbackISBN: 9781639931873
Price: $17.99
Reviewed by Conor Hilton for the Association of Mormon Letters
Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye’s Sacred Struggle: Seeking Christ on the Path of Most Resistance is a deeply human, lovingly provocative, and delightfully funny exploration of Latter-day Saint discipleship. I didn’t know it was possible to find myself spiritually challenged, enlightened, and brought to audible laughter all at the same time. And yet, that is the genius of Sister Melissa’s prose.
Sacred Struggle is divided into three parts, with each part containing three interrelated chapters or essays. The book is remarkably readable, compelling the reader forward, all while its frequent gentle provocations caused me to stop and reflect, working to grapple with the implications and realities of what Melissa was discussing.
The book is so good I have far too many insights, quotes, and sections worthy of attention to share here. So, if the little taste I’m able to offer ‘tastes good’ to you, then please do yourself a favor and pick up the book and spend some more time laughing, crying, and feeling spiritually challenged with Sister Melissa.
Throughout Sacred Struggle, Melissa offers a new way of thinking about the Church, primarily as a network of people, a community. Building on this way of thinking, she writes that “instead of being a refuge from human problems, I have come to see our Church as a sort of central problem hub, connecting us to all the afflictions of humanity” (155). What Melissa goes on to describe is that the Church connects us with countless people and, throughout these connections, with “all the afflictions of humanity.” The Church then, through these connections, enables us to practice Christlike responses to problems by providing us with an abundance of opportunities to face them.
During one section, Sister Melissa faces patriarchy and gender (in)equality in the Church fairly head-on. And in a lovely display of her humor, layered in with her sharp spiritual insight and challenge, she notes, “Patriarchal hierarchies have delivered the world in which we now live. Some might say, ‘This world is rotten! Burn it all down!’ But alas, the Earth is like a spaceship, traveling around the sun with a fixed allotment of air, water, food, and goodwill. A fire on the spaceship is bad for everyone” (97-98). Anytime an author can work in an ‘alas,’ I’m for it. Especially when that ‘alas’ can be used to understated, wry, comedic effect like Melissa does here. And all of that happens while gently chastising me and my inner-radical ‘burn it all down!’ impulses. Love it.
The book also grapples with what to do with troubling people and moments from the past, using an innovative and powerful reading of Latter-day Saint teachings about redeeming the dead. In concluding this discussion, Melissa writes, “We aren’t better than the people of the past simply because we see clearly what they saw dimly. Some things that we see dimly, they saw clearly. This is how we honor them: one, redeem the dead through proxy understanding and repentance” (74). What a wonderful, powerful idea! Love the generosity in all directions here and the commitment to continuing to collaborate with our ancestors in this great work.
I found this passage from about halfway through the book a powerful encapsulation of the core ideas, “We contain within our covenant community the power and tools to heal the whole world if we will only put our shoulders to the wheel. May our work of proclaiming peace prosper, not only within our Church, but within the world, and the cosmos, all the way to Kolob” (91).
Sacred Struggle: Seeking Christ on the Path of Most Resistance is a beautiful witness to the power of Mormonism to transform us and the world. I see in Melissa a kindred spirit, one who feels called to follow Christ among the Latter-day Saints, even while being frustrated and exasperated with them, yet always, always loving them. The love that Melissa has for the Saints and the world, burns brightly through on each page, a love that feels honest and hard-won. I hope that I can put my shoulder to the wheel alongside Sister Melissa and countless others of my sisters, brothers, and fellow saints, proclaiming peace here, to Kolob, and beyond.