met by resistance from fellow Mormons who said the essays were not official and merely [church] Public Affairs pieces.”23 Reeve’s experience documents the reality of the split between “insider” and “outsider” narratives internalized by LDS Church members, with the implication being that the Public Affairs office as bureaucratic functionaries might generate narratives to manage outsiders’ impressions and inquiries but that these were not the same as essential truths revealed to LDS prophets and held sacred within the LDS community.
