Bridget Jack Jeffries took an interest in the faith founded by Joseph Smith at the ripe old age of 16. Although she studied Mormonism from all kinds of perspectives, from critical to feminist to historical to apologetic, took the missionary discussions, and dated a few young men who were Mormon, she never joined the LDS church. Instead, she sought her undergraduate education at Brigham Young University in the hopes of being part of a bridge-building effort between Latter-day Saints and evangelical Christians. She graduated in 2005 with a BA in classics, having obtained her MRS degree in 2003 courtesy of a fellow student who was LDS.
Bridget (or “Jack,” as she is known) is currently pursuing her MA in American religious history at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and completing a history of the Mormon doctrine of exaltation as her thesis. She has training in Latin, classical Greek, koine Greek, biblical Hebrew, and modern Hebrew. Her research passions include deification, religious feminism (both Christian and Mormon), interfaith marriage, and interfaith dialogue.
A member of the Evangelical Covenant Church, Bridget has one daughter who is being raised in both her own faith and the faith of her husband. Her writing has appeared in Mutuality and Priscilla Papers while her interviews have made it to Religion and Ethics Newsweekly and The Washington Post, and she is slated to contribute a chapter on deification to the upcoming Evangelicalism for Mormons with Greg Kofford Books (c. 2013-2014). She currently serves as a volunteer with the chaplain ministry at Covenant Village of Northbrook and is considering pursuing a career in chaplaincy.
