Mormon Matters

Faith journeys are insanely difficult. Why? In this episode, Lindsay Hansen Park, Jon Grimes, Brian Whitney, and Emily Grover join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon in a spirited discussion of a few of the many factors that come into play when one’s faith and understandings about God, church, and ourselves are challenged. The group occasionally offers suggestions about possible approaches for mitigating some of the most painful aspects of our journeys, but mostly it just tries to stand in solidarity and empathy for the challenges.

Four talks in the October 2015 General Conference focused, at least to a significant degree, on the issues of doubt and faith, and also chose to warn church members about possible harm should they turn primarily to Internet sources when they are faced with questions about Church teachings, practice, or history. Many of us who participate in the kinds of online discussions take place in social media spaces that have grown up around various blogs and podcasts like this one have felt uneasy about some of these messages and their rhetoric. For us, doubt and skepticism feel second nature to us, part of our personalities and the way we approach life in general. Furthermore, these tools, as we work with them and see both their strengths and limitations, seem to us to be helpful as we try to grow into better rounded and more firmly centered spiritual adults. Were these talks nodding toward all forms of doubt and skepticism, or was their focus on more caustic types and the cynicism that often flows out of that? Were these talks casting dispersions on the kinds of conversations hosted here and/or in the more constructive and "spiritual journey" related groups? How can and does doubt relate to "faith"? What about to "truth"? In this two-part episode, Adam Miller, James Patterson, and Jordan Harmon join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for a discussion of these topics and more. While focusing mostly on the subjects at hand, they also engage with parts of the four talks under consideration. How should we "hear" these talks? If we do so less defensively, what pieces of wisdom are there for us? Certainly we all have spiritual work to do. How can even difficult messages serve us well?

Four talks in the October 2015 General Conference focused, at least to a significant degree, on the issues of doubt and faith, and also chose to warn church members about possible harm should they turn primarily to Internet sources when they are faced with questions about Church teachings, practice, or history. Many of us who participate in the kinds of online discussions take place in social media spaces that have grown up around various blogs and podcasts like this one have felt uneasy about some of these messages and their rhetoric. For us, doubt and skepticism feel second nature to us, part of our personalities and the way we approach life in general. Furthermore, these tools, as we work with them and see both their strengths and limitations, seem to us to be helpful as we try to grow into better rounded and more firmly centered spiritual adults. Were these talks nodding toward all forms of doubt and skepticism, or was their focus on more caustic types and the cynicism that often flows out of that? Were these talks casting dispersions on the kinds of conversations hosted here and/or in the more constructive and "spiritual journey" related groups? How can and does doubt relate to "faith"? What about to "truth"? In this two-part episode, Adam Miller, James Patterson, and Jordan Harmon join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for a discussion of these topics and more. While focusing mostly on the subjects at hand, they also engage with parts of the four talks under consideration. How should we "hear" these talks? If we do so less defensively, what pieces of wisdom are there for us? Certainly we all have spiritual work to do. How can even difficult messages serve us well?

In this two-part episode, Brian Dillman, Julienna Viegas-Haws, and Anna Smith, join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon in a discussion about "being wrong!" Or make that _Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error_ by Kathryn Schulz (CCC, 2010). It’s a rich subject and wonderful book, and each of the panelists share favorite insights from their encounters with the things Schulz talks about and how those have helped them understand themselves, others, and many other areas of life much more clearly--as well as helpfully. Since this is Mormon Matters, after all, they also speak about the ways some of these ideas are in tension with certain ideas and various cultural habits (ways of thinking) in Mormonism. How does the material discussed impact their views of the methodology we’re taught in Mormonism’s D&C 9:8-9 ("study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right" along with burnings in bosoms and stupors of thought)? With Mormonism’s emphasis on and teachings about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how it is a sure guide to what is "true." With Alma 32 passages on faith as a seed and "experimenting upon the word" and coming to know that a seed is good? With emphases on the superiority of "knowing" over "believing" when it comes to one’s testimony. It’s a great discussion!

In this two-part episode, Brian Dillman, Julienna Viegas-Haws, and Anna Smith, join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon in a discussion about "being wrong!" Or make that _Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error_ by Kathryn Schulz (CCC, 2010). It’s a rich subject and wonderful book, and each of the panelists share favorite insights from their encounters with the things Schulz talks about and how those have helped them understand themselves, others, and many other areas of life much more clearly--as well as helpfully. Since this is Mormon Matters, after all, they also speak about the ways some of these ideas are in tension with certain ideas and various cultural habits (ways of thinking) in Mormonism. How does the material discussed impact their views of the methodology we’re taught in Mormonism’s D&C 9:8-9 ("study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right" along with burnings in bosoms and stupors of thought)? With Mormonism’s emphasis on and teachings about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how it is a sure guide to what is "true." With Alma 32 passages on faith as a seed and "experimenting upon the word" and coming to know that a seed is good? With emphases on the superiority of "knowing" over "believing" when it comes to one’s testimony. It’s a great discussion!

In this two-part episode, Lindsay Hansen Park, Brian Whitney, and Jon Grimes join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for a discussion of how Mormon history is understood and engaged with among typical Latter-day Saints. How do non-historians understand the nature of the historian’s task, about how many different approaches to understanding history there are, each with its own types of lenses, each with different goals? In talking about particular incidents in the Mormon past, is the history book or article we are reading trying to tell a no-frills and highly detailed account of what transpired, or are they more interested in using that event or series of incidents to illustrate larger themes--or even to teach moral lessons? No historical text is "innocent"--every one reveals assumptions, methodologies, goals, and many other motivations in the historian’s mind alongside its accounts of whatever it is describing. With websites such as MormonThink and documents such as the Letter to a CES Director by Jeremy Runnells making such an impact on so many Latter-day Saints, it’s high time for discussions like this. In these influential presentations, who is present in the story, and who is not? What questions are being asked? Are they the best ones? What else might one ask the story or teaching under question? What assumptions lie below the approach? And perhaps the even more important to ask are questions of ourselves. Why are we reacting the way we do to these storytellings? Are our responses purely from the power of the textual presentations themselves, or are they validating for us deeper things that we’ve already been feeling, or are these texts helping us continue the important processes of breaking out of un-examined understandings? In many ways, history is a Rorschach test!

In this two-part episode, Lindsay Hansen Park, Brian Whitney, and Jon Grimes join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for a discussion of how Mormon history is understood and engaged with among typical Latter-day Saints. How do non-historians understand the nature of the historian’s task, about how many different approaches to understanding history there are, each with its own types of lenses, each with different goals? In talking about particular incidents in the Mormon past, is the history book or article we are reading trying to tell a no-frills and highly detailed account of what transpired, or are they more interested in using that event or series of incidents to illustrate larger themes--or even to teach moral lessons? No historical text is "innocent"--every one reveals assumptions, methodologies, goals, and many other motivations in the historian’s mind alongside its accounts of whatever it is describing. With websites such as MormonThink and documents such as the Letter to a CES Director by Jeremy Runnells making such an impact on so many Latter-day Saints, it’s high time for discussions like this. In these influential presentations, who is present in the story, and who is not? What questions are being asked? Are they the best ones? What else might one ask the story or teaching under question? What assumptions lie below the approach? And perhaps the even more important to ask are questions of ourselves. Why are we reacting the way we do to these storytellings? Are our responses purely from the power of the textual presentations themselves, or are they validating for us deeper things that we’ve already been feeling, or are these texts helping us continue the important processes of breaking out of un-examined understandings? In many ways, history is a Rorschach test!

Co-released with Mormon Stories podcast, this two-part episode features Dan Wotherspoon interviewing Mormon Stories host John Dehlin about his life within Mormonism and role as a public voice for greater openness, transparency, and compassion within the LDS Church, especially those who find themselves marginalized by the institution and local communities. As a tireless fighter on behalf of those in pain, they also discuss John's future projects. See also Mormon Matters episodes 293-294 in which John interviews and has a discussion with Dan about Dan’s path and how he has found a rich spiritual home within Mormonism. Another related podcast (in some ways the first of three segments)--an interview of John Dehlin about his life and spiritual journey by Gina Colvin of A Thoughtful Faith podcast--is also now available as "John Dehlin: From the Beginning" at A Thoughtful Faith, and at the Mormon Stories podcast website as: "561-563: Gina Golvin Interviews John Dehlin on the 10th Anniversary of Mormon Stories Podcast."

Co-released with Mormon Stories podcast, this two-part episode features Dan Wotherspoon interviewing Mormon Stories host John Dehlin about his life within Mormonism and role as a public voice for greater openness, transparency, and compassion within the LDS Church, especially those who find themselves marginalized by the institution and local communities. As a tireless fighter on behalf of those in pain, they also discuss John's future projects. See also Mormon Matters episodes 293-294 in which John interviews and has a discussion with Dan about Dan’s path and how he has found a rich spiritual home within Mormonism. Another related podcast (in some ways the first of three segments)--an interview of John Dehlin about his life and spiritual journey by Gina Colvin of A Thoughtful Faith podcast--is also now available as "John Dehlin: From the Beginning" at A Thoughtful Faith, and at the Mormon Stories podcast website as: "561-563: Gina Golvin Interviews John Dehlin on the 10th Anniversary of Mormon Stories Podcast."

Co-released with Mormon Stories podcast, this two-part episode features John Dehlin interviewing Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon about his life within Mormonism and role as a public voice for finding peace and richness within the LDS faith even as he is not what many Latter-day Saints would consider as fully orthodox. See also Mormon Matters episodes 295-296 in which Dan, in turn, interviews and has a discussion with John about John’s beliefs and path, the projects he is planning to pursue next. Another related podcast (in some ways the first of three segments)--an interview of John Dehlin about his life and spiritual journey by Gina Colvin of A Thoughtful Faith podcast--is also now available as "John Dehlin: From the Beginning" at A Thoughtful Faith, and at the Mormon Stories podcast website as: "561-563: Gina Golvin Interviews John Dehlin on the 10th Anniversary of Mormon Stories Podcast."

Co-released with Mormon Stories podcast, this two-part episode features John Dehlin interviewing Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon about his life within Mormonism and role as a public voice for finding peace and richness within the LDS faith even as he is not what many Latter-day Saints would consider as fully orthodox. See also Mormon Matters episodes 295-296 in which Dan, in turn, interviews and has a discussion with John about John’s beliefs and path, the projects he is planning to pursue next. Another related podcast (in some ways the first of three segments)--an interview of John Dehlin about his life and spiritual journey by Gina Colvin of A Thoughtful Faith podcast--is also now available as "John Dehlin: From the Beginning" at A Thoughtful Faith, and at the Mormon Stories podcast website as: "561-563: Gina Golvin Interviews John Dehlin on the 10th Anniversary of Mormon Stories Podcast."

On 7 March 2015, Terryl Givens gave a wonderful lecture and was interview at the Rockwell Museum in Corning, New York. The occasion was a Mormon History Association satellite event in which Givens was asked to speak on "An American Journey across the Landscape of Mormon Theology." Since MHA does not have a podcast, and this is definitely a lecture and interview worth receiving a wide hearing, they asked Mormon Matters and A Thoughtful Faith podcasts to co-release the audio. A full video of the evening, including an additional 27 minutes of introductory material will soon be available to view. Stay tuned here for a link when it becomes available. In his lecture, Givens roots Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon in the various milieus of his time, both culturally and theologically. His special focus in on the current notions of Christianity’s "covenant theology" at play during his time, and how Smith re-imagined it--not always consciously but eventually coming to understand that aspect of his work. Ultimately Givens places Mormonism squarely in the Christian camp but prior to the time of the formative councils in which the ideas of the church fathers Origin and Pelagius were rejected and Christianity took the forms it did. In Givens’ hands, Mormon theology takes a path that emphasizes human beings as expansive, co-eternal with God, which naturally shapes their "covenantal" relationship with God in ways quite different than mainstream Christianity.

The academic study of religion has been around for a long time. And although there are many examples of books and articles that have used academic lenses to explore various aspects of Mormonism, it’s only in the past two decades that we’ve begun to see the formal rise of "Mormon Studies." In this episode, Brian Birch and Spencer Fluhman, two thought leaders in this emerging field, help us understand Mormon Studies. What types of inquiry fit under this umbrella term--and how settled is the definition? What are the key developments in the growth of the field? What institutions have Mormon Studies programs or are otherwise engaged in teaching of Mormonism in the academy? What are the prospects for the field's continued growth, and do prospective students have reasons to be cautious about finding academic careers should they make Mormon Studies one of their primary areas of emphasis? Birch and Fluhman are very forthcoming about these and other questions, and they also let us peek a little bit behind the curtain into past and contemporary debates at places like Utah Valley University and the Brigham Young University religion department, as well as the Neal A. Maxwell Institute. Along with Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon, who also has studied religion in the academy, they also share their own experiences studying their religion through academic lenses. How has it benefited their feeling at home within Mormonism? What other payoffs from their academic work have they felt in their own spiritual journeys?

The academic study of religion has been around for a long time. And although there are many examples of books and articles that have used academic lenses to explore various aspects of Mormonism, it’s only in the past two decades that we’ve begun to see the formal rise of "Mormon Studies." In this episode, Brian Birch and Spencer Fluhman, two thought leaders in this emerging field, help us understand Mormon Studies. What types of inquiry fit under this umbrella term--and how settled is the definition? What are the key developments in the growth of the field? What institutions have Mormon Studies programs or are otherwise engaged in teaching of Mormonism in the academy? What are the prospects for the field's continued growth, and do prospective students have reasons to be cautious about finding academic careers should they make Mormon Studies one of their primary areas of emphasis? Birch and Fluhman are very forthcoming about these and other questions, and they also let us peek a little bit behind the curtain into past and contemporary debates at places like Utah Valley University and the Brigham Young University religion department, as well as the Neal A. Maxwell Institute. Along with Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon, who also has studied religion in the academy, they also share their own experiences studying their religion through academic lenses. How has it benefited their feeling at home within Mormonism? What other payoffs from their academic work have they felt in their own spiritual journeys?

This episode on the gift of the Holy Ghost is the fourth in a series discussing what the Articles of Faith refer to as the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. All four episodes have featured Samuel M. Brown, author of the book First Principles and Ordinances: The Fourth Article of Faith in Light of the Temple, with this episode marking the third time he is joined by philosopher and theologian Adam Miller. How is the Holy Ghost, and more specifically the "gift of the Holy Ghost," generally viewed and discussed by Latter-day Saints? Do we as Mormons explore it with as much richness as it deserves? In this discussion, Brown and Miller focus primarily upon the Holy Ghost as seen most clearly in the deep relationships in which we are immersed in families as well as with each other in the body of Christ. In the ordinance in which the gift of the Holy Ghost is bestowed, the individual is first confirmed as a member of the church and congregation, and only then do they receive the Holy Ghost. Are both parts essential? Is the Holy Ghost even separable from the context of community? And might we also consider the congregation’s "common consent," its affirmative response in welcoming the individual into the community, as a key element of this most important ordinance? Is it in the ordinance itself that we "receive" the Holy Ghost, or might this simply be a promise of something fully received later? Finally, what is the purpose of the Holy Ghost? How does it affect us?