Evening with an Author A Barn Full of Angels: Spiritual World and Pioneer Journey of Zera Pulsipher
Schedule
Thu May 28 2026 at 05:30 pm to 07:30 pm
UTC-06:00Location
3269 S Main St, Ste 250, South Salt Lake, UT, United States, Utah 84115 | South Salt Lake, UT
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We are pleased to announce that Chad Nielsen will be here to speak about A Barn Full of Angels: The Spiritual World and Pioneer Journey of Zerah Pulsipher (published by Greg Kofford Books) on Thursday, May 28. He will be here from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., will speak at 6:00, and answer questions and sign books before and after that time.A Barn Full of Angels: The Spiritual World and Pioneer Journey of Zerah Pulsipher explores the extraordinary life of an early Latter-day Saint whose faith was shaped by visions, spiritual encounters, and unwavering conviction. Born into the religious ferment of early nineteenth-century America, Zerah Pulsipher experienced what he believed were visitations from angels, confrontations with unseen powers, and personal revelations that guided his conversion to Mormonism. From a defining vision in his barn that confirmed the Book of Mormon to a lifetime immersed in an “enchanted” spiritual world, Pulsipher’s story offers a rare window into how ordinary believers understood heaven, hell, angels, and demons as active forces in daily life.
At the same time, this deeply researched biography situates Pulsipher within the gritty realities of the Latter-day Saint pioneer experience. As a president of the Seventy, missionary, migrant leader, and family patriarch, he helped translate prophetic vision into lived reality—organizing mass migrations, enduring persecution, navigating plural marriage, and building communities across the American frontier. Written with both empathy and critical rigor, A Barn Full of Angels presents Pulsipher in all his complexity: faithful yet flawed, visionary yet pragmatic. The result is a compelling “history from the middle” that illuminates the spiritual imagination, institutional growth, and human costs of early Mormonism through the life of one remarkable man.
Chad L. Nielsen is an independent historian and writer specializing in Latter-day Saint history, theology, music, and documents. He is the author of Fragments of Revelation: Exploring the Book of Doctrine and Covenants and A Barn Full of Angels: The Spiritual World and Pioneer Journey of Zerah Pulsipher.
Nielsen’s scholarship has appeared in The Journal of Mormon History, Element: A Journal of Mormon Philosophy and Theology, and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, as well as on the blogs Times and Seasons and From the Desk. He is a four-time winning contestant in Utah State University’s Arrington Writing Award. While his professional career is in biotechnology as a manager at Recursion in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nielsen maintains active passions for history, religious studies, and music.
A Barn Full of Angels: The Spiritual World and Pioneer Journey of Zerah Pulsipher. Greg Kofford Books. Paperback. $29.95. To purchase a copy online, click https://www.benchmarkbooks.com/pages/books/41245/chad-l-nielsen/a-barn-full-of-angels-the-spiritual-world-and-pioneer-journey-of-zerah-pulsipher
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Where is it happening?
3269 S Main St, Ste 250, South Salt Lake, UT, United States, Utah 84115Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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