Gordon Shepherd

GORDON SHEPHERD is a professor of sociology at the University of Central Arkansas, Conway.

Conclave, Priesthood Ordination, and God’s Spirit in an Evangelizing Church: A Review Essay

On May 7, 2025, the Roman Catholic Church’s College of Cardinals sequestered themselves in conclave to elect a successor to deceased Pope Francis of Buenos Aires, Argentina. After only two days in conclave, white plumes of smoke billowed from a chimney atop Rome’s Sistine Chapel, signaling the election of a new pope: Habemus Papam! Robert Francis Prevost, a dark horse American candidate, born in Chicago, had surprisingly become the conclave’s choice as successor to Francis. Henceforth, he will be known to the world as Pope Leo XIV.

Membership Growth, Church Activity, and Missionary Recruitment

Articles/Essays – Volume 29, No. 1

To comprehend the potential emergence of Mormonism as a major religious force in the twenty-first century, it is essential to comprehend the missionary ideology and practices of the LDS church. For rank-and-file Latter-day Saints, this proposition seems simply axiomatic of their foundational faith in the restoration of Christ’s gospel and their divine man date to convert the world in anticipation of his second advent.