Informed by social and cultural perspectives, this article examines the religious literacies of sixteen Latter-day Saint young adults. Religious literacy for them was a deeply embedded religiosocial experience involving family, friends, and others associated with the faith (people); activities, events, and courses they participated in (programs);…

This study employs an expert-novice research design to examine how five Latter-day Saint scholars and five Latter-day Saint youths read Scripture. Qualitative analyses of semi-structured interviews and verbal protocols point to six practices participants used: theorizing scriptural possibilities, connecting to Scripture, applying Scripture,…

This article explores 16 Latter-day Saint college students' religiosocial motivations for reading sacred texts. Inductive analyses of semi-structured and verbal protocol interviews identified four motivations for reading sacred texts that grew out of participants' lived experiences: They read because of pressure from family and friends, to have…

Informed by interpretive phenomenological analysis and sociocultural theory, this study examines the language experiences of seven Methodist youth. Analysis of 9 months of observations and 30 interviews yielded a set of experiences that represent the intimacy and complexity of youths' religious discourses. As an essential feature of this…

Conceptualizing religious literacy as the processes used to construct meaning of sacred texts, this article focuses on how three religious educators read scripture. Data were generated through verbal protocols in which participants read scripture and verbalized their thinking. Inductive thematic analysis yielded a selection of scripture-reading…

Informed by reading comprehension and comprehension strategies research, this study explores the Scripture-reading practices of four Methodist youths. Several rounds of inductive thematic analyses of Scripture-reading protocols revealed a set of five strategic reading practices youths used to understand Scripture. They drew inferences about the…

Growing out of the renewed attention to text complexity in the United States and the large population of youth who are deeply committed to reading scripture, this study explores 16 Latter-day Saint and Methodist youths' experiences with complex, religious texts. The study took place in the Midwestern United States. Data consisted of an academic…

Drawing on social and cultural perspectives of literacy, conceptualizations of religious literacies, and Gee's notion of Discourses, I develop a framework for exploring 16 Latter-day Saint and Methodist youths' religious literacies as social and cultural practice. This work grows out of the increasingly important role that religion plays…