Sunstone Magazine

While searching for my great grandmother’s origins, I discovered my mother’s unknown ethnic heritage, and learned about a part of early Utah history I had known nothing about. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15114.mp3 Tonya Reiter

Fifteen years ago, David Conley Nelson wrote about LDS Church collaboration in Nazi Germany, winning the Juanita Brooks Award for the best graduate student pape from the Mormon History Association. His research became his doctoral dissertation, and, this year, a monograph published by the University of Oklahoma Press. This panel, including members of the Journal of Mormon History’s past executive committee, will discuss the evolution from paper to book, and how it deals with the memory of a controversial period in Church history. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15272.mp3 David Conley Nelson, Will Bagley, Kevin Jones, and Robert A. Rees

FEMWOC is a Mormon-themed blog that started in 2015 highlighting the voices of women of color in the church. Come learn about the women behind it all. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15262.mp3 Gina Colvin, Bryndis Roberts, Jennifer Gonzalez, Natasha Smith, and Kalani Tonga

Atheist Richard Dawkins sees faith in God as belief without evidence, while Christian theologians defend faith as both reasonable and empirically justified. Although they grant that the evidence for faith is incomplete, they also hold that knowledge of God is not attainable simply through empirical methods. Faith also plays a role in the Christian doctrine of salvation. How is the faith connected with knowledge related to the faith connected with works? Can faith be saved as an eternal principle vital to the pursuit of truth? Can faith save us for and in the kingdom of God? http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15161.mp3 Janice Allred

Terry Read is the chair of the Community of Christ World Church’s human rights team with members in Africa, South America, Australia, Canada, and the United States. He will discuss how the human rights team has addressed the issue of immigration. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15131.mp3 William Russell,Terry Read

The paradox of being thoughtful while being faithful is a spiritual practice that has failing currency in Mormonism. As the host of A Thoughtful Faith Gina has had the opportunity to interview those at their most spiritually troubled who are seeking a middle-way that feels authentic, honest, faithful, and Mormon. In this audio/visual presentation she will talk about what it means to be in dialogue with troubled conversation partners as they discover and share their emergent wisdom with thousands of friends listening in the wilderness. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15132.mp3 Gina Colvin, Paul Malan, Nathan McCluskey, Katie Langston

While most white Mormons today would never think to tell a black Mormon that he or she will become “white and delightsome” in the next life if righteous enough, how many would tell their LGBT brother and sisters they can become heterosexual and/or gender-conforming in the next life? Spriggs, a fringe black Mormon, shares how he came to appreciate “white and delightsome” theology as a compassionate, grace-full (though misguided) response to the social reality of race in America. He argues that its loss is a backward step for Mormon racial understandings. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15263.mp3 George Andrew Spriggs

Through the use of ethnographic investigation, personal interviews, and theoretical research, this paper seeks to understand the role of testimony within the community of young single adult Latter-day Saints of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It explores the way members with same-sex attraction have voluntarily removed themselves from the LDS community by assuming a diasporic identity, as well as how those members view themselves in regards to the Church and its doctrine. This paper argues that temporality is understood as being both static and fluid which allows church members, through ritualized acts, to move both backward and forward in time to moments of “rupture” and “forever.” http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15133.mp3 Keven Lewis

This paper explores stories about William LawÑJoseph Smith’s one-time second counselor who became co-editor of the Nauvoo Expositor. These sometimes dubious narratives, such as those found among the descendants of Charles Stoddard, serve to elevate the family’s status by disparaging Law who quickly became a villain after the death of the Prophet. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15264.mp3 Tom Kimball, D. Michael Quinn

In 2015, Amber Whiteley was a contributing author for a book chapter for the American Psychological Association. Titled Conflicting Identities: Sexual Minority, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming Individuals Navigating Between Religion and Gender/Sexual Orientation Identity, the chapter discusses various religious identities. Whiteley advocated for Mormons to be included in the chapter. This presentation will discuss the findings from the chapter, and what the implications are for both mental health workers who help the LDS community as well as LDS sexual minorities. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15134.mp3 Amber Whiteley

Last year’s popular food panel has been updated with information on jello, funeral potatoes, caffeinated beverages and more jokes. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15172.mp3 Jerilyn Hassell Pool

Mormon Fundamentalism is often unfairly conflated with dangerous behavior. The reality is that Mormon Fundamentalists are a very diverse group of people with a variety of life experiences and practiced beliefs. Using personal experiences, this panel will explore the spectrum between practicing fundamentalist tenants and becoming a religious extremist. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15154.mp3 Lindsay Hansen Park, Trevor Jeffs, Kristyn Decker, C. Jane Kendrick, and Stan Shepp

What happens to the Mormon mind when it meets the Internet? How do major events in Mormondom affect the Internet? Learn from a group of Mormon Facebook moderators about their experiences dealing with Mormons online. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15122.mp3 Jerilyn Pool, Sara Burlingame, Matthew Nokleby, Nicole Forsgren, Corey Philpot, George Andrew Spriggs,and Brandt Malone

This session sets out to examine the tensions of biblical Christianity and how it interacts with Mormonism, the modern age, and social justice.along with the author of How to Read the Bible and Still be a Christian, John Dominic Crossan. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15152.mp3 John Dominic Crossan, Joshua Madson, Sheila Taylor, George D. Smith, R. Dennis Potter

St. Paul’s missionary years were not easy. There was trouble among the followers of “the Way” in CorinthÑsquabbling, back biting, and playing “holier than thou.” In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul examines some critical questions in a way that can help us modern-day followers navigate the daunting theological and social issues facing the contemporary Church. http://sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL15201.mp3 Frances Menlove