Latest American religion Podcast Episodes
From History to Mormon Studies (feat. Matthew Bowman)
Scholars & Saints - April 16, 2024 11:00 - 47 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsWhat do an archeologist, historian, philosopher, and literary critic have in common? They're all members of the Department of Religion at Claremont Graduate University! Continuing our series on Mormon studies in the academy, Dr. Matthew Bowman, the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at CGU...
What Is Mormon Studies? (feat. Patrick Q. Mason)
Scholars & Saints - March 12, 2024 23:00 - 44 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsWhat is Mormon Studies? How does one do it? In what way does it fit into the broader field of Religious Studies? In this all-new season of Scholars & Saints, UVA Religious Studies Ph.D. student Nicholas Shrum goes back to the basics of the discipline with renowned LDS historian and Utah State Un...
Interfaith Conversations
Committing Faith in Public - September 22, 2023 21:29 - 40 minutesBefore his retirement from Phillips, Gary Peluso-Verdend met with several faith leaders for a series of interfaith conversations. On this episode, Gary talks with the Rev. Barbara Prose, who until recently served at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s All Souls Unitarian Church. Email Kurt Gwartney with your que...
Joseph Smith's Gold Plates (feat. Richard Bushman)
Scholars & Saints - August 17, 2023 15:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsThe mysterious gold plates are the gravitational center of the Latter Day Saint tradition. Although twelve people other than Joseph Smith claimed to have seen or handled the plates, Smith said he returned them to an angel soon after completing the translation of the Book of Mormon. Even now, nea...
Toward a Latter-day Saint Liberation Theology (feat. Ryan Ward)
Scholars & Saints - August 15, 2023 15:00 - 55 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsRyan Ward is a professor of experimental psychology. But during his time serving as a Latter-day Saint bishop several years ago in New York, the needs and concerns of his congregation motivated him to study theology in his spare time. We're chatting today about his recent book, And There Was No ...
Latter-day Saint Biblical Studies (feat. Cory Crawford and Taylor Petrey)
Scholars & Saints - August 12, 2023 17:00 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsCory Crawford and Taylor Petrey join me to discuss The Bible and the Latter-day Saint Tradition (Utah, 2023) and the opportunities and challenges of Latter-day Saint biblical studies in the 21st century.
Technologies of Vision and the Making of Mormonism (feat. Mason Kamana Allred)
Scholars & Saints - August 09, 2023 22:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsToday on Scholars & Saints, I'm joined by Mason Kamana Allred to talk about his new book Seeing Things: Technologies of Vision and the Making of Mormonism (UNC 2023). We discuss German media theory, feminist new materialism, cybernetics, microphotography, and spiritual feedback loops.
Open Canon: Scriptures of the Latter Day Saint Tradition(s) (feat. Christine Blythe, Christopher Blythe, and Jay Burton)
Scholars & Saints - June 06, 2023 19:00 - 58 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsChristine Elyse Blythe, Christopher James Blythe, and Jay Burton join me to discuss the scriptures of the Latter Day Saint "diaspora." There are more than 400 branches of the Restoration movement begun by Joseph Smith, Jr., and the prophetic production of written scripture is central to many of ...
A Brief Theological Introduction to the Book of Ether (feat. Rosalynde Welch)
Scholars & Saints - May 23, 2023 15:00 - 55 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsDr. Rosalynde Welch, senior research scholar and associate director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU joins me to talk about the "literary turn" in Book of Mormon studies, postsecular critique, scriptural theology, and her recent book on the Book of Ether. Welch a...
The Secret Life of John Milton Bernhisel, Mormon Diplomat (feat. Bruce Worthen)
Scholars & Saints - May 04, 2023 16:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsIn this episode, I chat with Dr. Bruce Worthen about his recent book Mormon Envoy: The Diplomatic Legacy of Dr. John Milton Bernhisel (U. of Illinois Press). Worthen unfolds the little known contributions of Bernhisel, who as historian Matt Grow aptly quipped, seems to "have his fingerprints al...
Rethinking Grace as Justice (feat. Adam Miller)
Scholars & Saints - May 01, 2023 04:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsIn this episode, Professor Adam Miller (Collin College) chats with me about his recent book Original Grace: An Experiment in Restoration Thinking (BYU Maxwell Institute & Deseret Book, 2022). Miller argues that Latter-day Saint scripture's rejection of original sin offers an opportunity to rethi...
Baptism for the Dead & the Anthropology of Spirit Possession (feat. Jon Bialecki)
Scholars & Saints - April 27, 2023 15:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsDr. Jon Bialecki returns to the show to discuss a recent essay, "The Mormon Dead" that explores why Latter-day Saints do not seek or experience the phenomenon of spirit possession as a feature of proxy temple ordinances performed for their deceased ancestors. We talk about the anthropology of sp...
The Unexpected Hugh Nibley (feat. Joseph Spencer)
Scholars & Saints - April 22, 2023 15:00 - 47 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsIn this episode I chat with Professor Joseph Spencer, a philosopher and theologian from Brigham Young University. We talk about Spencer's recent reassessment of Nibley's legacy not as a scholar of the ancient world or of Mormon apologetics, but as a theologian. Spencer unfolds a unique take on N...
Phillips Student Services Members and Their Journeys
Committing Faith in Public - April 13, 2023 10:30 - 21 minutesWhat drives a person to seminary? What makes one choose a life of service and ministry in an everchanging world. Committing Faith in Public host Kurt Gwartney interviews Phillips Theological Seminary Student Services members to get their perspectives on why they chose their journey. This episode,...
Latter-day Saint Ecotheology (feat. George Handley)
Scholars & Saints - March 09, 2023 18:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsDr. George Handley, Latter-day Saint ecocritic, activist, and professor of interdisciplinary humanities at Brigham Young University joins me to chat about what Latter-day Saint theology says about environmental stewardship. Handley says he hopes he is "planting a tree on the last day of the worl...
Latter-day Saint Scriptural Theology (feat. James Faulconer)
Scholars & Saints - February 18, 2023 17:00 - 44 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsDr. James Faulconer, a Latter-day Saint philosopher and theologian now emeritus of Brigham Young University joins me to discuss "performative" or "scriptural" theology and how it helps illuminate Latter-day Saint scripture. In his recent book, Thinking Otherwise: Theological Explorations of Jose...
Latter-day Saint Bioethics (feat. Courtney Campbell)
Scholars & Saints - February 09, 2023 20:00 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsCourtney Campbell, Hundere Professor in Religion and Culture at Oregon State University joins me in this episode to discuss his recent book Moral Realities: Medicine, Bioethics, & Mormonism (2021, Oxford University Press). We discuss Professor Campbell's three-part normative framework for a Latt...
Mormon Visual Culture & The American West (feat. Nathan Rees)
Scholars & Saints - December 14, 2022 18:00 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsProfessor Nathan Rees (University of West Georgia) joins me to discuss his book Mormon Visual Culture and the American West. We chat about the role that visual art played in creating, mediating, and interpreting the experiences of nineteenth-century Latter-day Saints on the American frontier. Re...
Mormon Visual Culture & The American West
Scholars & Saints - December 14, 2022 18:00 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsProfessor Nathan Rees (University of West Georgia) joins me to discuss his book Mormon Visual Culture and the American West. We chat about the role that visual art played in creating, mediating, and interpreting the experiences of nineteenth-century Latter-day Saints on the American frontier. Re...
The Last Mormon Liberal (feat. Kristine Haglund)
Scholars & Saints - December 10, 2022 20:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsKristine Haglund joins me to discuss her recent book, Eugene England: A Mormon Liberal, the inaugural volume in the University of Illinois Press's new Introductions to Mormon Thought Series. We talk about England's influences, methods, epistemology, and theology from an intellectual historical ...
Vardis Fisher and the Literature of Mormon Unbelief (feat. Michael Austin)
Scholars & Saints - December 05, 2022 16:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsDr. Michael Austin joins me to discuss his recent book Vardis Fisher: A Mormon Novelist. Fisher was the first of the "Lost Generation" or "Golden Age" of Mormon novelists in the early twentieth century. While self-identified as an atheist, his work is suffused with the hues and textures of his M...
2021 Joseph Smith Lecture on Religious Liberty - Going Forward With Religious Freedom & Nondiscrimination (feat. Dallin H. Oaks)
Scholars & Saints - November 07, 2022 21:00 - 43 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsPresident Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, delivered the seventh annual Joseph Smith Lecture on Religious Liberty on November 5, 2021. His lecture was entitled "Going Forward with Religious Freedom & Nondiscrimination."
The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon (feat. Robin Jensen)
Scholars & Saints - November 05, 2022 18:00 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsDr. Robin Jensen (Joseph Smith Papers) talks with me about the recently published facsimile edition of the Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, part of the Joseph Smith Papers's Revelations & Translations series. We talk about early Latter-day Saint record-keeping, the relationship between...
The Uncanny Mormon Smile (feat. Kathryn Lofton)
Scholars & Saints - November 03, 2022 17:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsProfessor Kathryn Lofton, Lex Hixon Professor of Religious Studies and American studies, Professor of History and Divinity, and Dean of Humanities at Yale University, joins me to discuss her Smith-Pettit Lecture delivered at the Mormon History Association Conference in June 2022, entitled "A Bri...
2022 Joseph Smith Lecture on Religious Liberty - LGBTQ+ Equality & Religious Liberty (feat. William Eskridge)
Scholars & Saints - November 02, 2022 19:00 - 35 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsProfessor William N. Eskridge of Yale Law School, a renowned expert on the judicial interpretation of statutory law, delivered the eighth annual Joseph Smith Lecture on Religious Liberty at the University of Virginia on September 22, 2022. His lecture, "LGBTQ+ Equality & Religious Liberty: Statu...
Latter-day Saints & Mormon Studies in West Africa (feat. Amaechi Okafor)
Scholars & Saints - August 22, 2022 04:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsAmaechi Okafor, PhD Candidate in History at Concordia University, joins me to discuss his ethnographic fieldwork among Latter-day Saints in Nigeria. We discuss the high social costs of being a Latter-day Saint in Nigeria, cultural tensions between Indigenous African cultures and the US-based chu...
Latter-day Saints & Mormon Studies in West Africa
Scholars & Saints - August 22, 2022 04:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsAmaechi Okafor, PhD Candidate in History at Concordia University, joins me to discuss his ethnographic fieldwork among Latter-day Saints in Nigeria. We discuss the high social costs of being a Latter-day Saint in Nigeria, cultural tensions between Indigenous African cultures and the US-based chu...
Joseph Smith's Theology of Media (feat. John Durham Peters)
Scholars & Saints - August 08, 2022 18:00 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsProfessor John Durham Peters of Yale University joins me to discuss his 2016 essay in Critical Inquiry, "Recording Beyond the Grave: Joseph Smith's Celestial Bookkeeping"
Joseph Smith's Theology of Media
Scholars & Saints - August 08, 2022 18:00 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsProfessor John Durham Peters of Yale University joins me to discuss his 2016 essay in Critical Inquiry, "Recording Beyond the Grave: Joseph Smith's Celestial Bookkeeping"
The Tragic Universe of Mormon Theologian Eugene England
Scholars & Saints - August 01, 2022 04:00 - 53 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsProfessor Terryl Givens of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University joins me to talk about the life of Latter-day Saint theologian Eugene England.
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