Church history is fascinating, and I encourage your interest in it, but beware—it is very easy to get distracted from the emotional work you need to do to heal from the religious trauma inherent to your worldview falling apart. Take breaks and prioritize your mental health.
Church history can be very helpful because it brings up things you need to deal with. However, it is also a bottomless rabbit hole, so check in with yourself to make sure that you’re still getting out of it what you need. If you’re just interested in history and want to learn, then great! But don’t expect endless emotional healing from history.
That said, here are lists of more resources than you should or will ever be able to consume in a lifetime:
- My Mormon History Resources spreadsheet
- A YouTube playlist of podcasts and vlogs covering the Joseph Smith era of Church history
- A YouTube playlist of podcasts and vlogs covering the history of Mormon churches, primarily The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from the presidencies of Brigham Young through George Albert Smith.
- A YouTube playlist of podcasts and vlogs covering the history of Mormon churches, primarily The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from the presidencies of David McKay through Thomas Monson.
- A YouTube playlist of podcasts and vlogs covering current Church issues and events during the presidency of Russell Nelson.
I hope these overwhelming lists will both give you free resources to start with and help give you an idea of how much there is to learn about Mormon history.
If I were to do my first year or two over again now, I would save up and buy an overview book like American Zion: A New History of Mormonism, by Dr. Benjamin E. Park, and then see how I feel. I have not read the book yet, but I have heard very good things about it.
Eternity of Cats 