Sunstone Magazine
277 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★ - 8 ratingsFaith Seeking Understanding: Over 40 years of Mormon scholarship, narratives, and thought from some of Mormonism's brightest minds.
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Episodes
E27: John C. and the Church Key
November 06, 2020 19:56 - 58 minutes - 58.1 MBHe was a man of many talents, some say too many. So who was John C. Bennett, the villain in the Mormon story? Join Lindsay and Bryan as they dig into the life of one of the most notorious anti-Mormons of all time.
E26: Straight to the Celestial Kingdom
October 23, 2020 19:11 - 1 hour - 61.9 MBIf you want to go to heaven, look no further than a one-way ticket straight to the Celestial Kingdom. The only catch is… you have to marry Brigham Young. Join Bryan and Lindsay as they begin to discuss the practice of plural marriage in Nauvoo.
E78: October 2020 Conference Analysis
October 13, 2020 16:48 - 51 minutes - 47.2 MBForget the pandemic, the truly earth-shattering thing about 2020 is that people from Sunstone, Dialogue, and Exponent actually liked Dallin Oaks’ October conference talk! And was this the official anti-DezNat general conference? There are plenty of surprises in this analysis with Heather Harris-Bergevin, Jim Bennett, Emily Jensen, and Stephen Carter.
S2E6: Internet Killed the Microfilm Star: Mormon History Goes Digital
October 09, 2020 14:15 - 20 minutes - 37.8 MBSeason Two: The History of Mormon History Historiography—We are doing it…. Join the Sunstone Mormon History podcasters Bryan Buchanan and Lindsay Hansen Park for a special second season of Deseret Dramas. This miniseries will explore the history of how Mormon history was told and came to be.
S2E5: Very Funny, Moroni, I Know You’re that Salamander in the Box: Mormon History Gets Frozen Out
October 09, 2020 14:14 - 27 minutes - 51.1 MBSeason Two: The History of Mormon History Historiography—We are doing it…. Join the Sunstone Mormon History podcasters Bryan Buchanan and Lindsay Hansen Park for a special second season of Deseret Dramas. This miniseries will explore the history of how Mormon history was told and came to be.
S2E4: Stop Playing with Your Little History Factory: The Rise and Fall of Camelot
October 09, 2020 14:12 - 26 minutes - 48.4 MBSeason Two: The History of Mormon History Historiography—We are doing it…. Join the Sunstone Mormon History podcasters Bryan Buchanan and Lindsay Hansen Park for a special second season of Deseret Dramas. This miniseries will explore the history of how Mormon history was told and came to be.
S2E3: I Demand Satisfaction, Sir!: Dueling Histories and Grouchy Archivists
October 09, 2020 14:10 - 19 minutes - 36.2 MBSeason Two: The History of Mormon History Historiography—We are doing it…. Join the Sunstone Mormon History podcasters Bryan Buchanan and Lindsay Hansen Park for a special second season of Deseret Dramas. This miniseries will explore the history of how Mormon history was told and came to be.
S2E2: Mama, Don’t Let Your Histories Grow Up to Be Published: The Saga of History of the Church
October 09, 2020 14:09 - 26 minutes - 49.5 MBSeason Two: The History of Mormon History Historiography—We are doing it…. Join the Sunstone Mormon History podcasters Bryan Buchanan and Lindsay Hansen Park for a special second season of Deseret Dramas. This miniseries will explore the history of how Mormon history was told and came to be.
S2E1: The Body Count Is Piling Up: Writing Joseph Smith’s History
October 09, 2020 14:08 - 27 minutes - 51.3 MBSeason Two: The History of Mormon History Historiography—We are doing it…. Join the Sunstone Mormon History podcasters Bryan Buchanan and Lindsay Hansen Park for a special second season of Deseret Dramas. This miniseries will explore the history of how Mormon history was told and came to be.
E25: The Book of the Law of the Lord
October 05, 2020 21:46 - 51 minutes - 52.1 MBHow do you secure your eternal salvation? Join Lindsay and Bryan as they discuss the sacred and little-known, Book of the Law of the Lord, and how it became a place to record the name of the faithful.
E77: Faith Journeys in Britain.
October 01, 2020 18:26 - 57 minutes - 53.1 MBThis panel discussion from Sunstone Birmingham features current and ex-Mormons telling the story of their faith journeys. Moderated by Mark Johnson, the panel includes Deborah Squires-Coleman, Debra Edwards, Mark Lake, and Lauren Richardson Alcock.
E76: Jesus as a Liberal
September 22, 2020 16:42 - 55 minutes - 50.6 MBKristine Haglund, Karin Peter, and Stephen Carter scoured the 2020 Democratic National Convention transcripts for signs of Jesus’ teachings. What they found (and didn’t find) gave them new insight into what Jesus’ politics might have been.
E24: New, New Nauvoo
September 18, 2020 21:13 - 31 minutes - 32.5 MBWelcome back to the Sunstone Mormon History podcast! We start off season two in beautiful Nauvoo, Illinois where Lindsay and Bryan show how early Mormonism begins to shift and grow into a religion, more peculiar than ever.
Episode 23: Missouri, Bloody Missouri
September 17, 2020 19:12 - 36 minutes - 37.5 MBIn the last episode of season one, Lindsay and Bryan wrap up the Kirtland period and head to Missouri.
Episode 75: Jesus as a Conservative
September 15, 2020 18:17 - 1 hour - 56.7 MBPhil McLemore and Stephen Carter scoured the 2020 Republican National Convention’s transcripts for signs of Jesus’ teachings. What they found led to surprising insights about constructive ways conservatives and liberals can talk with each other.
Episode 74: The American Indian/Lamanite Disconnect.
September 08, 2020 17:32 - 1 hour - 26.7 MBThe Lamanites in the Book of Mormon were presented as the ancestors of the American Indians by early LDS Church leaders. But how plausible is that connection? In this episode, John Larsen and Christopher Smith dig into the difficulties. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 73: Bathing with God: An Interview with Glenn Ostlund.
August 24, 2020 19:02 - 1 hour - 19.9 MBWhat if a voice started talking to you while you were all alone, soaking in a nice, warm bath? What if that voice told you that everything is a fiction — and that fictions are the single most important innovation in the history of humanity? What if you debated and argued with this voice until …
Episode 72: Mormonism and White Supremacy in Education.
August 12, 2020 17:23 - 1 hour - 62.3 MBThe LDS Church is more enmeshed in white supremacy that most Latter-day Saints realize. Education professor Roni Jo Draper talks with co-host Blaire Ostler about how systemic racism shows up in Mormon conversations about education and how we can start to dismantle it. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 71: John’s Book of Mormon Project: An Introduction.
August 05, 2020 18:04 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MBThe Book of Mormon is simultaneously the most central and the most problematic part of the Restoration movement. In this episode, John Larsen introduces a new series in the Sunstone Podcast where he will be exploring various approaches to the Book of Mormon, revealing both its problems and its power. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 70: What Happens When White People Talk With White People About Race?
July 07, 2020 19:44 - 1 hour - 60.4 MBAs Ijeoma Oluo wrote, “White people, talk about race with other white people. … Take some of the burden of racism off of people of color. Bring it into your life so that you can dismantle racism in the white spaces of your life.” But how do white people talk constructively about race amongst themselves? …
Episode 69: A Technological Resurrection.
July 01, 2020 18:59 - 1 hour - 24.2 MBChristian and LDS doctrine both teach about the resurrection of the dead. But how will that resurrection occur? Lincoln Cannon, Jordan Roberts, and Blaire Ostler have a theory that it will be accomplished through technological means. How does new technology and old scripture support their assertion? And what complexities does their theory pose? Listen to …
Episode 68: Black and Queer in the LDS Church: A Conversation with LeiLoni Lee.
June 22, 2020 21:36 - 1 hour - 60.5 MBLeiLoni Lee grew up as a Black person in a small, largely White Utah town. She loved her experience in the LDS Church until the day a “trusted adult” told her that her dark skin was the sign of a curse. Then, at age 12, she began to realize that she was Queer. Blaire Ostler …
Episode 67: Will Church Ever Be Church Again?
June 16, 2020 19:11 - 1 hour - 58 MBWith the advent of COVID-19, physically going to church has taken on the aura of a life-and-death proposition. Jana Riess and Stephen Carter discuss how we may have reached a historic period where the way we worship changes forever. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 66: Mormonism and White Supremacy
June 08, 2020 20:01 - 1 hour - 23.7 MBIn her new book, “Mormonism and White Supremacy: American Religion and the Problem and Racial Innocence,” Joanna Brooks reveals uncomfortable truths about how White supremacist attitudes were built into the LDS Church—and how they still function today. Joanna Brooks and Mica McGriggs talk with Stephen Carter about how racism became part of the Church’s structure …
Episode 65: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism: A Conversation with Taylor Petrey.
June 03, 2020 19:51 - 58 minutes - 53.7 MBTaylor Petrey, author of the new book “Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism” talks with Ben Park and Lindsay Hansen Park about the many ways LDS teachings on gender and sexuality have shifted since World War II. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 22: Hidden Histories of Kirtland
May 29, 2020 18:19 - 46 minutes - 49.1 MBJoin Lindsay and Bryan as they record from the Visitor’s Center in Kirtland, Ohio about some of the hidden histories and impacts of the Kirtland period on Mormonism. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 64: Writing Mormon History: Historians and Their Books.
May 19, 2020 17:49 - 1 hour - 22 MBEvery great book has a great backstory,” says the blurb on the back of “Writing Mormon History: Historians and Their Books” Editor Joseph Geisner and contributor Daniel Stone talk with Lindsay Hansen Park and Josh Allred about their journeys of writing books that have influenced our understanding of the Mormon past. Listen to this episode …
Episode 63: How Mormons Shoot Themselves in the Foot on the Internet
May 11, 2020 17:27 - 1 hour - 63.8 MBLDS Churches have been closed for two months now, which means we can only talk about religion online. And often our attempts at discussion blow up in our virtual faces. This panel explores how to discuss religion constructively online. Panelists include Gina Colvin, Michael Austin, Blaire Ostler, and Stephen Carter. Listen to this episode here.
S1E7: Back Door Parole
April 30, 2020 21:11 - 31 minutes - 26.3 MBIn the final episode Lindsay and John show the evolution of the Utah criminal justice system through a prison escape. Murderer Nick Haworth escaped from the Utah penitentiary after Joseph Smith’s spiritual son and prison guard, Zebulon Jacobs, was overpowered and severely beaten. Haworth was eventually found and returned to prison. What did the law …
S1E6: Ark of Bulrushes
April 30, 2020 21:07 - 1 hour - 60.1 MBLindsay and John head north to southeastern Idaho to discuss the murder of Gobo Fango. Fango was a freed African, probably Latter-day Saint, and sheep herder who got caught up in the range wars of the 1880s. They are joined by Amanda Hendrix-Komoto and Mica McGriggs who both discuss the violence and the treatment of …
S1E5: Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged
April 30, 2020 21:06 - 1 hour - 53.8 MBThe legal system in frontier Utah was as wild as the wild wild west. Lindsay and John discuss the decades long battle between the federal and local court system, and the fall out it caused. Claims of abuse, corruption, and a murder ordered by Brigham Young are discussed. Who was right and who was wrong …
S1E4: In Abraham’s Bosom
April 30, 2020 21:02 - 1 hour - 45.8 MBLindsay and John continue their discussion of the murder of Dr. Robinson and the lynching of Thomas Coleman. They are joined by Mica McGriggs who helps discuss lynching and racism present in the West, and Michael McClane who describes the murder and old time Salt Lake City. Was Coleman’s murder part of a cover up, …
S1E3: Daughters of Zion
April 30, 2020 21:01 - 22 minutes - 24.6 MBLindsay and John start to discuss the murder of Dr. Robinson and the fall out it caused throughout the country, including the lynching of Thomas Coleman. To give context for this murder, they briefly discuss many other murders in frontier Utah, such as Lieutenant Brassfield and the Parrish Potter murders. Was Utah really this lawless? …
S1E2: Don’t Get Mad, Get Even
April 30, 2020 20:57 - 1 hour - 63.2 MBJoin Lindsay and John as they talk with Joe Geisner about the famous murder of Parley P. Pratt. Pratt was murdered by the ex-husband of one of his plural wives in a violent incident. They also talk to Craig Foster about the murder of James Monroe when he started to court the plural wife of …
S1E1: Pick Your Poison
April 30, 2020 20:49 - 1 hour - 29.8 MBWas Samuel Smith poisoned to clear the way for Brigham Young to succeed as leader? Did Emma Smith really try to poison Joseph over polygamy? In this episode Lindsay and John discuss poisonings in Mormon history. They are joined by Johnny Stephenson to talk about the poisoning of Samuel Smith, brother to the prophet and …
S1 Prologue: Something Wicked This Way Comes
April 29, 2020 22:19 - 33 minutes - 28.3 MBAre Mormons more violent than other religious groups? Was frontier Utah a dangerous place? Join Lindsay and John as they introduce extralegal justice in Utah and the West, and describe what is to come on Sunstone’s Crime and Punishment podcast. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 62: What Would a Prophetic People Do During a Pandemic?
April 27, 2020 19:29 - 1 hour - 24.6 MBWe live in unprecedented times, with unprecedented problems, that demand unprecedented solutions—solutions that only a prophetic people can provide. But what does being prophetic even mean? And when is a person being prophetic? What stops Mormons from being prophetic, and what can help them? This panel discussion includes Mica McGriggs, Daniel Carter, Lindsay Hansen Park, …
Episode 61: Mormonism after COVID-19.
April 20, 2020 18:55 - 1 hour - 61.6 MBThe COVID-19 pandemic has upended normal life the world over. And things will likely be very different after the pandemic subsides. This panel discussion explores the kinds of changes the LDS Church might go through, including in its temple worship, and what theological possibilities the pandemic could spawn. Panelists include Blaire Ostler, Carl Youngblood, Michaelann …
Episode 60: April 2020 General Conference Analysis.
April 08, 2020 22:10 - 1 hour - 22.6 MBIn this episode, Sunstone assembles a panel from across the belief spectrum to help us dig in to not only what happened at this most recent conference, but also what happens at General Conference … generally. Panelists include Lindsay Hansen Park, John Larsen, Blaire Ostler, Jaxon Washburn, and Stephen Carter. Join us for a vigorous …
Episode 59: Turning Tragedy into Triumph: And Other Terrible Ideas.
April 03, 2020 17:22 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBFrom Zion’s Camp to the Willie and Martin handcart companies, the LDS Church is great at retelling tragedies as triumphs. In this episode, Stephen Carter talks about how every group does the same thing, and how it can actually create even more tragedy. Listen to his episode here.
Episode 58: Trapped in Babel: Healing the Religious and Political Divide
March 26, 2020 17:02 - 27 minutes - 25 MBWhen it comes to religion and politics, it seems like everyone is talking in a different language. What if that’s a good thing? Stephen Carter reinterprets the story of the Tower of Babel to show how the “Babel Cycle” has spun out of control, and how harnessing it again could help heal the political and …
Episode 35: What Mormons (and post-Mormons) Should Know About COVID-19.
March 19, 2020 18:41 - 59 minutes - 55.2 MBBlaire Ostler talks with Dr. Jordan Roberts about the basics of COVID-19: how it may have originated, how it spreads, what families can do about containing it, and hopeful scenarios for the future. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 57: The Weird But Obvious Reasons Why the LDS Church Doesn’t Want You to Stream Sacrament Meeting.
March 18, 2020 23:42 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MBAs LDS wards look for ways to “have church” during social distancing, the question comes up: “Why in the world have we never ever streamed sacrament meetings?” In this episode, Stephen Carter answers that question with his own personal conspiracy theory, supported with dozens of rolls of toilet paper. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 34: BYU Whiplash: A Conversation with Danny Dawson
March 12, 2020 18:18 - 53 minutes - 49.5 MBThough he loves BYU, as a gay student, Danny Dawson was never able to be himself there until the recent honor code revisions seemed to make homosexual dating and displays of affection acceptable. But the later clarification blasted any sense of safety he had. Blaire Ostler talks with Dawson about his experience. Listen to this …
Episode 56: Legalizing Polygamy: An Article by George R. Compton
March 10, 2020 20:39 - 21 minutes - 19.7 MBGeorge R. Compton believes that the eventual legalization of polygamy is inevitable, and the Utah legislature recently took a giant step in that direction by voting to stop prosecuting polygamy as a felony. In what ways would the legalization of polygamy be useful to current American culture? This episode presents Compton’s fascinating article as narrated …
Episode 33: LDS Theology and the Transgender Experience: A Conversation with Kelli Potter
March 09, 2020 18:27 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBThe latest LDS Handbook update about transgender members shows promise for the future but also has some theological and scientific problems. Blair Ostler talks with philosophy professor Kelli Potter about the complexities of gender and how it can affect LDS theology and practice. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 55: A Tale of Two Republicans: How Mitt Romney and Mike Lee Are Two Sides of the LDS Coin
March 02, 2020 05:49 - 54 minutes - 50.2 MBFor more than a century, Mormonism has been married to the Republican Party, conservative political values being preached unapologetically from both the general and ward pulpit. But a rift seems to be occurring between the two, as evidenced by LDS senators Mitt Romney and Mike Lee voting on opposite sides of the recent impeachment. In …
Episode 32: Trans and Mormon: A Conversation with Samantha Richardson
February 28, 2020 17:50 - 1 hour - 29.5 MBSamantha Richardson transitioned to being a woman in her 40s, and—to her great surprise—the Utah ward she moved into immediately embraced her. In this episode, Blaire Ostler and Richardson talk about the recent additions to Handbook 1 regarding transgender people, and how they impact those, like Richardson, who want to be a part of the …
Episode 54: Mormon Philosophy Simplified: A Conversation with Brittney Hartley
February 24, 2020 22:19 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MBBrittney Hartley sees a huge gap between the colorful world of Mormon academia and the average church member. In this episode, Jaxon Washburn talks with her about the book she published to fill that gap and how it can steer LDS Church members away from fundamentalist thinking. Listen to this episode here.
Episode 21: Oh Emma, Where Art Thou?
February 24, 2020 22:05 - 1 hour - 34.1 MBEmma Smith has long remained an important, and sometimes controversial figure in Mormon history. Bryan Buchanan and Lindsay Hansen Park are joined by Emma’s biographer, Linda King Newell to learn more about this fascinating woman. This episode also features historian Christopher C. Smith. Listen to this episode here.