Maxwell Institute Podcast: Recent Episodes
Maxwell Institute Podcast
Steve Peck reflects on Job, suffering, creation, and ancient bristlecone pines to consider how God’s world can humble, unsettle, and enlarge our search for meaning.
Rosalynde Welch reflects on Esther through a 1985 Relief Society performance by her mother, showing how scripture takes on new meaning as each generation interprets, performs, and applies it to its own time.
Rosalynde Welch examines Ezra and Nehemiah as a story of rebuilding religious authority through scripture, covenant renewal, temple worship, and the people’s renewed trust in God.
Morgan Davis reflects on Uzziah, Hezekiah, and Passover to explore the difference between prideful presumption and humble covenant-seeking when imperfect circumstances complicate obedience.
Morgan Davis reflects on the prophet Huldah’s crucial role in 2 Kings 22, where her prophetic witness confirmed the authority of the rediscovered book of the law and helped shape Josiah’s reforms. Though often overlooked, Huldah stands as a significant figure in the formation of biblical faith and sacred history.
In this essay on 2 Kings 2–7, Philip Barlow reflects on Elisha’s miracles and asks what miracles are for, how we should understand them, and what place they ought to have in a life of faith.
Morgan Davis reflects on Elijah’s encounter with the still small voice in 1 Kings 19, exploring how God’s quiet instruction challenges zeal, violence, and spiritual overconfidence. In a world often drawn to loudness and certainty, Elijah’s story invites us to listen again for the voice of perfect mildness.
Avram Richard Shannon reflects on the complex story of David, Bath-sheba, and Uriah, inviting readers to seek moral and spiritual lessons from scripture without oversimplifying the lives of real people.
In this reflection on 1 Samuel 25, Kristian Heal explores Abigail’s courageous peacemaking between David and Nabal and invites readers to consider how Christ can transform foolishness, resentment, and offense into wisdom, reconciliation, and peace.
Kristian Heal considers Saul’s calling, the Spirit’s role in shaping Israel’s leaders, and the deeper theological debate over kingship in the books of Samuel. Drawing on Deuteronomy, Judges, and later texts, he explores what Saul’s rise and decline reveal about covenant responsibility, prophetic authority, and the kind of king Israel was meant to have.
Rosalynde F. Welch explores the book of Ruth through the lens of “costly love,” considering the beautiful and complicated ways Orpah, Ruth, and Boaz each respond to need, loyalty, and covenant. The article asks what faithful self-giving looks like when sacrifice is both spiritually powerful and morally risky.
J. B. Haws examines the story of Gideon in Judges, highlighting its moral tension and unanswered questions. This reflection invites readers to consider how faith, power, and human weakness intersect—and why these ancient stories leave us longing for a higher, more Christlike way.
Scott Esplin reflects on Joshua’s calling to succeed Moses and the Lord’s promise, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” This essay explores how faith in God’s constancy helps us move beyond comparison and find courage in our own callings.
Andrew Reed reflects on Moses’s final teachings in Deuteronomy, highlighting covenant remembrance, holiness, care for the poor, prophetic succession, and trust in God’s promises.
In the wilderness of Numbers, suffering and abundance exist side by side. Robbie Taggart explores how God’s grace can feel both daily and overflowing—and how our ability to perceive divine abundance, even in hardship, shapes whether we wander in despair or awaken to the promised land already before us.
What does it mean to begin again? Drawing on Exodus 35–40 and Leviticus, Jennifer Champoux shows how ancient patterns of covenant and cleansing reveal Christ’s power to offer renewal, healing, and fresh starts.
Two research assistants at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University join Rosalynde F. Welch to reflect on the questions, ideas, and mentorship that shaped their work. Melissa Faith Jensen shares what her study of miracles in the Book of Mormon taught her about divine help, faithful action, and the way scripture shapes how we see God at work in our lives. Sam Petersen explores Joseph Smith’s teachings on sacred matter, pointing to a vision of the world in which material things can hold deep spiritual meaning.
Together, they discuss disciple scholarship as a way of seeking truth with Jesus Christ at the center through curiosity, rigor, and faith. Their conversations offer a thoughtful look at how serious study can shape belief, deepen discipleship, and prepare people to live lives of service and purpose.
In Exodus 19–20, God invites Israel into a covenant relationship built on trust, not transaction. Avram Shannon explores how this covenant was meant to shape Israel into “a kingdom of priests” and what that vision means for us today as we learn to trust God—before we even know what He will ask.
In this classic Maxwell Institute Podcast episode, Kristian Heal explores the profound connections between Easter, Christian tradition, and the Old Testament, emphasizing the importance of understanding the historical and spiritual significance of the resurrection. Guests share personal insights, theological reflections, and cultural experiences that deepen faith and appreciation for Easter's meaning.
What does it mean to praise God—and why does it matter?In this episode, Rosalynde Welch explores the powerful poetry of Exodus 15, the “Song of the Sea,” where Moses, Miriam, and the Israelites respond to deliverance with music, dance, and exultant praise. Drawing on scripture, poetry, and theology, she suggests that praise is more than a commandment or a ritual—it is a way of seeing the world.From the chaos of the sea to the quiet rhythms of modern worship, this reflection invites listeners to reconsider praise as the natural response to divine glory—something woven into creation itself and into our daily lives.
In this week’s Old Testament Reflection, Kristian Heal explores the meaning and power of the question posed in Exodus 12:26: “And when your children ask you…” Drawing on the Exodus story, Heal reflects on what he calls the Bible’s tradition of prophetic audacity—the insistence that God is mightier than any empire, obstacle, or fear.This episode considers how story and ritual work together to sustain faith across generations. In Exodus 12, narrative gives way to law, memory becomes embodied in ritual, and parents are charged with passing on the reasons for hope through a culture of questions and answers. From Passover to Christian worship, Heal shows how sacred time, liturgy, and memory keep the mighty acts of God present and real.This audio essay invites listeners to consider how remembering—and retelling—God’s saving work shapes resilient faith in both ancient Israel and contemporary discipleship.
What happens when children ask, “Why do we do this?”In this reflective episode, Kristian Heal explores Exodus 12:26 and the powerful relationship between story, ritual, and memory in the life of faith. From the dramatic deliverance of Israel in the Exodus to the quiet, repeated practices that keep that story alive across generations, this episode considers how sacred traditions are designed not just to remember the past—but to shape the future.Heal examines how narrative and ritual work together to sustain hope, especially in moments of uncertainty, and how a culture of questioning and answering becomes essential to passing faith from one generation to the next. As ancient Israel marked time through Passover and sacred observance, so too do modern believers find meaning through practices that connect them to God’s saving work.Ultimately, this episode invites listeners to consider how the most prophetically audacious story of all—the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ—continues to be remembered, reenacted, and lived today.
The story of the Exodus begins not with miracles or plagues, but with acts of quiet courage. In this Old Testament Reflection on Exodus 1–6, Rosalynde Welch explores the network of women who ensure the survival of the infant Moses—midwives, a mother, a sister, a princess, and a wife—each acting at great personal risk to preserve a life that will one day help liberate a people.Welch reflects on how these early chapters of Exodus reveal a deeper pattern in sacred history: God’s saving work often unfolds through “small-s saviors,” ordinary men and women who cooperate to protect life, resist injustice, and prepare the way for deliverance. Drawing connections from ancient Israel to the abolitionist work of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, she invites us to consider how quiet acts of courage and partnership can shape the course of history.
In this study of Genesis 42–50, Kristian Heal explores themes of chosenness, favoritism, recognition, and reconciliation in the Joseph narrative, examining how hidden identity, repentance, and divine providence shape the theological meaning of the story.
What if your daily scripture study is actually ethical training? In this episode Rosalynde Welch sits down with editor and scholar Dr. Courtney Campbell to unpack Moral Visions: Ethics and the Book of Mormon (edited with Kelly Sorensen). They take the Book of Mormon seriously as an ethical text: not just a list of dos and don’ts, but a set of moral visions that shape who we are, how we live together, and what kind of communities we build.
Campbell and Welch walk through three big moves in the book: how the Book of Mormon teaches (the “scene of instruction”), what it says about everyday ethics (from clothing and conspicuous consumption to prosperity), and why those moral teachings matter — prophecy as moral memory and social criticism aimed at creating flourishing, covenantal communities.
What you’ll take away:
- A fresh lens for reading the Book of Mormon: ethics as vision, not only rule-following.
- How narrative, memory, and prophecy function as tools for communal moral formation.
- Concrete ethical concerns the book raises for the 21st century: social cohesion, economic justice, and peacemaking.
- A new appreciation for why the Book of Mormon’s stories still matter—because they aim to shape communities that last.
How should we read the story of Joseph in Genesis 37–41? This essay examines four distinct approaches—ancient Jewish narrative expansions, early Christian typology, Latter-day Saint restoration readings, and contemporary biblical scholarship—to reveal the richness and complexity of scripture across time.
In this interview, Rosalynde Welch and Andy Reed explore the impact of the information age on religious understanding, the importance of religious literacy, and how interfaith engagement can foster mutual respect and reduce conflict. Andy Reed shares insights on navigating religious diversity, the role of authentic sources, and practical steps for fostering deeper interfaith relationships.
Key Topics
- Impact of the information age on religious understanding
- Krister Stendahl's three rules of interfaith engagement
- The importance of authentic sources and insider voices
- Moving beyond religious tolerance to mutual encouragement
- The role of religious literacy in reducing conflict
Jacob’s nighttime wrestle in Genesis 32 ends not in triumph, but in a limp—and a blessing that changes everything. Kim Matheson explores how weakness, ambiguity, and encounter with God prepare Jacob for reconciliation in ways his cleverness never could.
This rereleased 2022 episode of Abide revisits Moses 7—a chapter that expands the brief biblical mention of Enoch into a rich, prophetic narrative. In the Pearl of Great Price, Enoch’s visionary experiences with God profoundly influence Latter-day Saint understandings of the Father’s compassion, character, and relationship to humanity. This conversation explores how Moses 7 shapes key themes within Latter-day Saint thought.At the time of the original recording, the discussion was hosted by Joseph Stuart, then the public communications specialist at the Maxwell Institute, alongside Research Fellow Kristian Heal. Together, they examined each week’s Come, Follow Me scripture block—not to offer a full lesson, but to highlight meaningful ideas that support the Maxwell Institute’s mission to “inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.”The episode features special guest Terryl Givens, coauthor with Fiona Givens of The God Who Weeps and, more recently, The Doors of Faith in the Maxwell Institute’s Living Faith series with Deseret Book.
What do we do when scripture makes us uncomfortable? In this reflection on Genesis 18–23, Katie Paxman considers the story of Abraham and Isaac through the lens of empathy, friendship with God, and the courage to feel. Rather than rushing toward tidy theological explanations, she invites readers to linger in sacred discomfort—and discover how God may be teaching us through it.
In this episode, Rosalynde Welch speaks with Dr. Miranda Wilcox about the Maxwell Institute’s Living Faith book series—nineteen volumes and counting—written for thoughtful Latter-day Saints seeking to integrate scholarship and discipleship.They discuss peacemaking and practical forgiveness in Seventy Times Seven, vocational discipleship in Counsel, Please Rise, and the enduring wisdom of Kate Holbrook’s Both Things Are True. Along the way, Miranda offers a moving new reading of the mustard seed parable and shares why books—slow, sustained, carefully shaped—still matter.A thoughtful conversation about faith that shelters, truth that binds, and the patient work of making discipleship real.
Terryl Givens reflects on Genesis 15 and its profound connection to the everlasting covenant fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Through a striking and singular sacrificial ritual, Abraham witnesses a symbol of divine passage—a pattern later realized when Christ consecrated “a new and living way” through the veil of His own flesh. Givens traces how this imagery helps illuminate the Restoration’s temple theology, where disciples move step by step through covenantal life toward adoption, sanctification, and the presence of God. A thoughtful, beautifully drawn meditation that complements your Come, Follow Me study of the Old Testament.
Dr. Jamie Jensen explores Genesis 6–11 and Moses 8 through both scientific understanding and spiritual insight. Drawing on her work at the intersection of faith and science, she examines how the “confounding of languages” in our modern discourse can distract from the core messages of Noah’s story—God’s love, prophetic warning, covenant obedience, and our responsibility to care for His creations. With personal experiences, scientific context, and heartfelt reflection, Jensen invites listeners to see the Flood narrative not as a battleground between disciplines but as a source of enduring spiritual truth.
Evolutionary ecologist and novelist Steven Peck brings scientific reasoning, theological imagination, and Restoration scripture into conversation as he examines one of the most striking scenes in all scripture—God weeping in Moses 7. Peck challenges traditional readings that frame God as the direct cause of suffering and instead portrays a compassionate Deity who mourns with creation and calls His children to alleviate pain alongside Him. Thoughtful, probing, and deeply pastoral, this reflection enriches your Come, Follow Me study with a renewed vision of God’s empathy and the sacred responsibility of human agency.
In this episode, we explore the rich spiritual insights found in Genesis 5 and Moses 6—two scriptural texts that tell the same story in strikingly different ways. Drawing on Rosalynde Welch’s reflections, we look at how a seemingly simple genealogy becomes a profound meditation on creation, covenant, and the divine potential embedded in every human life.Why does the brief, enigmatic line “Enoch walked with God” stand out so powerfully amid a long list of father‑to‑son repetitions? And what can Moses’ expansive, revelatory retelling teach us about what it means to truly abide in the Spirit?Join us as we unpack ancient patterns, trace the echoes of the Creation story through generations, and contemplate what it means—practically and spiritually—to walk with God today.
In this episode, we explore the profound meaning behind Eve’s name and her pivotal role in the story of humankind. Drawing on linguistic insights, ancient Hebrew, and Restoration scripture, scholar Morgan Davis uncovers how the original sound and symbolism of Ḥawwah—Eve—reveal a richer, more hopeful understanding of the first mother.We’ll examine how modern Bible translations shed light on wordplay long hidden in English, how divine breath and life echo through the Genesis narrative, and why Adam’s naming of Eve after the Fall is an act filled with honor, prophecy, and gratitude. Far from being a figure of blame, Eve emerges as a model of courage, wisdom, and forward‑moving faith.Join us as we rethink a familiar scripture story and rediscover Eve as the mother of all living—a title that carries beauty, depth, and enduring spiritual power.
In this author-read episode, Steven C. Harper explores the creation accounts found in Genesis, the Book of Moses, and the Book of Abraham, using the idea of “noise” in communication to explain why scripture can be difficult to interpret. He introduces a Restoration-based hermeneutic—the tools and practices Joseph Smith used to read the Bible with reverence, honesty about its limits, and openness to revelation.Listeners will be guided through:How language and culture affect our reading of GenesisWhy Genesis includes more than one creation accountWhat the Books of Moses and Abraham add to our understanding of creationHow restored scripture clarifies God’s purposes without claiming to explain every detail of how creation occurredRather than resolving every question, this episode offers perspective, context, and hope. It invites listeners to approach the Old Testament thoughtfully, combining careful study with spiritual inquiry, and to trust that God revealed enough about creation to help us understan
Explore the meaning of Moses 1:39 and the concept of God’s “work and glory” in this episode of Old Testament Reflections. Philip Barlow examines the theological depth of immortality and eternal life, the significance of “glory” in scripture, and how these ideas shape Latter-day Saint understanding of God’s purpose. Perfect for listeners interested in Restoration scripture, biblical interpretation, and faith-based insights.
What do fast and testimony meetings and the Old Testament have in common? Both invite us to listen to a rich diversity of voices—each with its own perspective on God and life. In this episode, Joshua Sears explores how the varied experiences shared in Latter-day Saint worship mirror the multiplicity of viewpoints found in scripture. From contrasting creation accounts to differing attitudes toward foreign nations, the Old Testament challenges us to expand our understanding of God through the lens of others.
Join Rosalynde Welch for an interview with Dr. Kristian Heal. Reading scripture is one of the fundamental spiritual practices of Latter-day Saints. Dr. Heal shows how scholarship on the Bible can enrich our understanding of the ancient book that connects us to other faith traditions across the globe. We talk about what biblical studies is and is not; its gifts and its challenges for believing readers of the Bible; and what Latter-day Saints scholars, with our understanding of the Book of Mormon and modern scripture, can add to the discussion. These are the kinds of questions we hope to advance in coming years with the Institute’s Bible initiative.
Join Rosalynde Welch for an interview with Dr. Katie Paxman, BYU professor of philosophy visiting the Maxwell Institute to work on a book tentatively titled "More to Question, More to Believe." Questions and belief aren't opposites, but partners that expand and build on each other. Dr. Paxman explores the difference between doubt and questioning: doubt is a disposition, while questioning is a tool for seeking knowledge. And she offers a fresh take on Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s famous admonition to “doubt your doubts.”
Join Rosalynde Welch for an interview with Dr. Steven Peck, a professor of biology at BYU, a naturalist, and a novelist. Steve is at the Maxwell Institute to work on a project that explores relationship between beauty, nature, science, and faith. He argues that our universe possesses an excess of beauty over and above what is strictly necessary for its operation, and that an understanding of evolution can point to God's presence in the universe. In fact, Steve goes so far as to say that we live in an aesthetic universe, and that beauty is God’s signature. Join me for this surprising conversation with the brilliant Steven L. Peck.
In this conversation, we talk about what it means for a revelation to become scripture--a topic theologians call “canonization.” Steve shares a view of canonization that is less a single historical event and more a social process driven by countless individuals--men and women, adults and children--who return again and again to the text as a place to hear the voice of Christ. We talk about the Restoration’s unique view of revelation and scripture: for Latter-day Saints, it’s not the earliest divine word that is privileged, but the most current--and how this changes things for historians and believers. We talk about the future of the Doctrine and Covenants in our rapidly globalizing church, where the historical context of Joseph Smith’s revelations becomes ever more remote. And Professor Harper shares some thoughts on section 132, perhaps the most difficult of sections in the Doctrine and Covenants, and how frustration can be a gateway to revelation.
In this special episode, Rosalynde Welch converses with Dr. Justin Collings on the ministry of President Russell M. Nelson. Dr. Collings is the academic vice president of Brigham Young University, and the author of the volume Divine Law in our Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series. We invited him on the podcast in the wake of the prophet’s passing to reflect on what the Nelson ministry meant to him and what it will mean going forward. Join us for his thoughtful perspective on prophetic revelation and the life of President Russell M. Nelson.
Church bells still ring across the United Kingdom—often to thinner congregations. In this episode, host Rosalynde Welch speaks with filmmaker and BYU media-arts professor Tom Russell, the Maxwell Institute’s newest associate and a two-year fellow, about his mini-series Congregation—a thoughtful portrait of worship in the UK. Rather than tallying decline, Russell turns the camera toward those who still choose to gather: students and vicars, parish choirs and families.
Together they ask: Why do people still come? What do they find here that’s hard to find elsewhere? Along the way, they explore how art, nature, and beauty—from green fields to stained glass—can deepen our connection with God and renew covenant-shaped community. The fellowship, purpose, and hope many discover at church remain vibrantly alive.
Do we really need to forgive our enemies? Take a deep dive into the topic of forgiveness, with Dr. Chad Ford, the author of 70x7: Jesus's Path to Conflict Transformation. Learn how forgiveness can transform your life and bring you peace, as you heed Jesus's call to forgive.
As a professor of peacebuilding, Dr. Ford offers valuable perspectives on how to avoid or reconcile contention when life's inevitable disagreements arise, repair relationships, and transform destructive conflict into constructive peace.
This is the last in a series of seven author interviews with the writers of our new book series, “Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants.” I hope you’ve caught them all, but if not, make sure you listen to all seven.
Janiece is a terrific historian who has written about the religious experience of women converts to the Church and about how the earliest Saints understood the Book of Mormon and applied it in their lives. She brings all this historical expertise to her new book, titled simply Revelation.
Today I have a terrific interview with my colleague Philip A. Barlow on his new book Time, just out from the Maxwell Institute. Phil is a senior fellow and my colleague here at the Maxwell Institute.
You’ll notice his kindness and humor during the interview, and you’ll also notice his wisdom and creativity. Phil is a legendary teacher: he taught for many years at Hanover College, and then served for more than a decade as the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History & Culture at Utah State University. He’s the author of an important book, Mormons and the Bible, and lots of other notable publications. He’s currently working on a fascinating study of the war in heaven.
I'm delighted to share with you an interview with Dr. Amy Easton, who authored the volume Divine Aid in our new Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series. Amy is an associate professor of ancient scripture at BYU, where she also teaches in the global women's studies and American studies programs. Amy did her graduate work in literature, just like I did, and in addition to her work on the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, she studies topics as diverse as 19th-century women's poetry and transatlantic travel literature.
At the time of this recording, Amy was directing a study abroad program in London and we're grateful that she could join us despite having only a laptop to record on. Amy's book, Divine Aid, is all about the relationship Jesus wants to build with each of us. The Doctrine and Covenants shows us the Savior working in real time to build a parent-child relationship with real individuals.
In this episode, we continue our streak of interviews with the authors of our new book series, Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants. And today we've got a fascinating conversation with Dr. Mason Allred about his volume, Seeing.
Dr. Allred is an Associate Professor of Communication, Media and Culture at Brigham Young University, Hawaii. He studied history with an emphasis on film and media studies, and he's published a number of books on visual culture. Basically, how everything from movies and TV to social media, art, print publications, and even advertising, shapes our lives and our society. So this made him the perfect person to write about spiritual sight in the Doctrine and Covenants. Not just the amazing visions of Joseph Smith, but how the ordinary act of looking can become a sacred practice for each one of us.
Today I'm joined by Dr. Amy Harris, a professor of family history in the Department of History at Brigham Young University. Amy studies families, women, and gender in early modern Britain. And she's written a number of books on some fascinating topics, including the dynamics of singleness and siblinghood in 18th century England. She's also an expert in the ethics, theology, and techniques of family history and genealogical research.
And so she was the perfect person to write Redeeming the Dead, her recent book for the Maxwell Institute, part of our Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series. Amy had some great insights to share. I didn't realize, for instance, that the Church's focus on genealogy only began in 1894, 60 years after its founding, or that in the Doctrine and Covenants, baptism for the dead is the primary form of baptism, not just an optional extra.
Dr. Harris jokes that family history is not just a hobby, but a subversive power to bring on the revolution, because it can help us relate to all human beings as children of God, not objects to be used. She believes that even the most disturbing historical records can be redeemed through temple work, but only if we focus on relationships rather than just names and dates as we do family history. This discussion will change how you think about family history and its role in the Restoration. I hope you enjoy it.
Today, I'm joined by Dr. Justin Collings to discuss his new book, Divine Law, just out from the Maxwell Institute as part of its Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series. This volume is one of seven and will be featuring interviews with each of the authors over the next few months.
Justin Collings is the academic vice president of Brigham Young University and a distinguished scholar in his own right. He graduated from BYU and earned a law degree and a PhD in history from Yale, and clerked on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In addition to his administrative duties, he remains a professor of law at BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School, where he authored two books on constitutional law and history from Oxford University Press. Justin and his wife Lia live in Orem, Utah. And as you'll hear in our conversation, are the proud parents of eight children.
As Justin admits, the topic of divine law may not strike you as immediately compelling. It might even spark some deep-seated fear or dread. But I think you'll find that he brings this book to life with careful thinking, real life examples, and most of all, a bedrock conviction grounded in the revelations that God is loving, merciful, and full of grace. Divine law and divine love in this way of looking at things are one and the same. Justin was a good sport to field some tough questions about punishment versus consequences and a threat versus a warning. But if you're expecting dry legalese, you'll be glad to find that Justin is a lively and lyrical writer and his book is studded with poetry. In fact, our discussion of poetry's relationship to scripture and its role in a spiritual life is one of my favorite parts of the interview. I think you'll enjoy it too.
Purchase at the links below.
https://a.co/d/fQPtRdB
https://www.deseretbook.com/product/P6075136.html
Welcome back to the Maxwell Institute Podcast! We are thrilled to be back with you for another series of conversations on "The Questions We Should Be Asking." When–and only when–we ask the right questions can we find the answers we need.
In 2025, we'll return to a broader focus for our interviews–but never fear, we'll have plenty of discussion about the Doctrine and Covenants as we study it together in the global Church.
Today, I talk with Terryl Givens, author of Agency in our new series, Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants. We'll get into all the knotty questions about agency: what actually is it, does free will really exist, and what does it mean to say that agency is relational?
Purchase at the links below.
https://www.deseretbook.com/product/6075134.html?srsltid=AfmBOoo1ejtN94I-MqlDGGmGETf1eKBIrNwWcLaUQYnHnvx_Yg6ReZko
https://www.amazon.com/Agency-Doctrine-Covenants-Terryl-Givens/dp/0842501339
Thank you for listening to the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast this year. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Welcome to our last episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast as we wrap up this Book of Mormon year. For this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Joseph Spencer, Associate Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship of the book of Moroni, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast as we wrap up this Book of Mormon year. For this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Christopher Blythe, Assistant Professor of Humanities at BYU.
In this episode, they discuss the text of the book of Moroni, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Welcome, and thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. In this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Morgan Davis, Neal A. Maxwell Research Fellow at the Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
In this episode, they talk about the scholarship of the book of Ether, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Hello, thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. In this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Rachael Johnson, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities, and former Postdoctoral Fellow for the Maxwell Institute.
In this episode, they talk about the text of the book of Ether, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. For this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Terryl Givens, a Senior Research Fellow at the Maxwell Institute.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship of the book of Mormon, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Welcome back to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. For this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Shon Hopkin, Department Chair of Religious Education at BYU.
In this episode, they discuss the text of the book of Mormon, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Welcome to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. For this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Jennifer Lane, Research Associate at the Maxwell Institute.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship of the book of 3rd and 4th Nephi, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Welcome to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. For this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Daniel Belnap, Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship of the book of 3rd and 4th Nephi, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Disclaimer: The audio on this podcast episode is a little rough due to poor Internet connection. If you would like to read the transcript rather than listen to the podcast, it is available on our website at mi.byu.edu/podcasts/book-of-mormon-studies-podcast-helaman-scholarship-with-david-gore
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. For this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with David Gore, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship of the book of Helaman, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Welcome, and thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. In this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Tyler Griffin, Associate Dean of Religious Education at BYU.
In this episode, they discuss the text of the book of Helaman, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Welcome, and thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. In this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Jennifer Champoux, Director of the Book of Mormon Art Catalog, the most comprehensive digital compilation of Book of Mormon Art in existence.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship of Alma 30-63, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Hello, and thank you for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. In this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with John Welch, the founder of FARMS.
In this episode, they discuss the text of Alma, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Hello, and thank you for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. In this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Sharon Harris, a Professor of Humanities at BYU.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship surrounding the book of Alma, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. In this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Kimberly Matheson, the Laura F. Willes Research Fellow at the Maxwell Institute.
In this episode, they discuss the text of the book of Alma, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Welcome and thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast. In this episode, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Daniel Becerra, a Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship surrounding the book of Mosiah, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, our longtime associate at the Maxwell Institute, died on April 23rd, 2024. We join with many in mourning her loss and celebrating the remarkable legacy she left in the form of books, articles, and lots and lots of podcasts and videos. Melissa was a gifted speaker, warm, funny, faithful, and so smart.
We wanted to re-release some of the Maxwell Institute interviews and lectures she delivered over the years. We are delighted to re-release her 2019 Living Faith Lecture, which she titled Making Zion. Melissa delivered this lecture here at BYU to celebrate the recent publication of her memoir, entitled Crossings.
I hope you'll be as moved by Melissa's words in this lecture as I was.
Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, our longtime associate at the Maxwell Institute, died on April 23rd, 2024. We join with many in mourning her loss and celebrating the remarkable legacy she left in the form of books, articles, and lots and lots of podcasts and videos. Melissa was a gifted speaker, warm, funny, faithful, and so smart.
We wanted to re-release some of the Maxwell Institute interviews and lectures she delivered over the years. In this 2023 interview on her book, Sacred Struggle, Finding Christ on the Path of Most Resistance, Melissa and I talked about the ways that our collective struggles to build Zion can help us grow toward our divine potential. I especially loved her insight that over the course of history, many people have had visions and seen angels. What's remarkable about our faith tradition is not only its supernatural origins, but the fact that our church has held together over generations. We've somehow figured out how to get along well enough to survive and grow. And that is remarkable. Melissa attributes this strength to our doctrine of Zion, and she invites us to update our idea of service to include listening carefully to our brothers and sisters who may be different from us. I hope you enjoy this interview with our beloved friend, the one of a kind, Melissa Inouye.
Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, our longtime associate at the Maxwell Institute, died on April 23rd, 2024. We join with many in mourning her loss and celebrating her remarkable legacy. Melissa was a gifted speaker, warm, funny, faithful, and so smart. We wanted to re-release some of the Maxwell Institute interviews and lectures she delivered over the years.
In this 2019 interview hosted by Blair Hodges, Melissa talks about her book, Crossings, a bald Asian American Latter-day Saint woman scholar's ventures through life, death, cancer, and motherhood, not necessarily in that order. Crossings is my personal favorite of Melissa's many writings. As you'll hear in this interview, Melissa combined a scholar's understanding of how institutions work.
With the believer's experience of the trust and belonging in a Latter-day Saint ward, to me, this is what made Melissa's perspective on our religious life together so powerful. I hope you enjoy this interview with a consummate disciple-scholar, Melissa Inouye.
Hello, and thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, where Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Nicholas Frederick, a Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU.
In this episode, they discuss the text of the book of Mosiah, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Hello, and thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, where Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Steven Peck, a Biology Professor at BYU and a Visiting Fellow at the Maxwell Institute.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship surrounding the books of Enos, Jarom, Omni, and Words of Mormon, giving them context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Hello, and thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, where Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Joseph Spencer, a Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU.
In this episode, they discuss the text of the book of Enos, Jarom, Omni, and Words of Mormon, giving them context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Hello, and thanks for listening to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, where Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Kristian Heal, a Neal A. Maxwell Senior Research Fellow, and former co-host of the Abide podcast.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship surrounding the book of Jacob, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
While our editing team is working on the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, we decided to re-release an episode from The Questions We Should Be Asking featuring Kimberly Matheson. We hope you enjoy it. If you can take the time to write us a positive review wherever you're listening to this, we would love to hear your feedback.
On this episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast interviews Jeffrey Cannon, a Laura F. Willes Research Associate and BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture. Jeff is currently teaching The Book of Mormon part 2 and Foundations of the Restoration.
They delve into the book of Jacob, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Welcome to another episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, where Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Timothy Farrant, a postdoctoral fellow at the Maxwell Institute.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship surrounding the book of 2 Nephi, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Welcome to the third episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, where Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Joshua Sears, a professor of ancient scripture at BYU.
In this episode, they discuss the text of Book of 2 Nephi, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Part 2 of the 1 Nephi episode with Jasmin Rappleye.
Welcome to the second episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, where Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Jasmin Rappleye Gimenez, the Communications Director of Scripture Central.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship surrounding the Book of 1 Nephi, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
References:
Approaching the Tree: Interpreting 1 Nephi 8. Eds. Benjamin Keogh, Joseph M. Spencer, and Jennifer Champoux. Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, 2023. Available at https://a.co/d/7o8VLDr
Spencer, Joseph. 1st Nephi: a brief theological introduction. Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, 2020. Available at https://a.co/d/8hdesoi
Glimpses of Lehi's Jerusalem. Eds. John W. Welch, David Rolph Seely, and JoAnn H. Seely. Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2004. Available at https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/glimpses-lehi%E2%80%99s-jerusalem
Reynolds, Noel B. “The Political Dimension in Nephi’s Small Plates.” BYU Studies Quarterly27:4 (1987). Available at https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/node/128
Hardy, Grant. Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader's Guide. United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, 2010.
Bradley, Don. The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon's Missing Stories. United States, Greg Kofford Books, 2019.
Welch, John W. “Legal Perspectives on the Slaying of Laban.” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 1:1 (1992). Available at https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/legal-perspectives-slaying-laban
Welcome to the second episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, where Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast talks with Jasmin Rappleye Gimenez, the Communications Director of Scripture Central.
In this episode, they discuss the scholarship surrounding the Book of 1 Nephi, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
References:
Approaching the Tree: Interpreting 1 Nephi 8. Eds. Benjamin Keogh, Joseph M. Spencer, and Jennifer Champoux. Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, 2023. Available at https://a.co/d/7o8VLDr
Spencer, Joseph. 1st Nephi: a brief theological introduction. Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, 2020. Available at https://a.co/d/8hdesoi
Glimpses of Lehi's Jerusalem. Eds. John W. Welch, David Rolph Seely, and JoAnn H. Seely. Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2004. Available at https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/glimpses-lehi%E2%80%99s-jerusalem
Reynolds, Noel B. “The Political Dimension in Nephi’s Small Plates.” BYU Studies Quarterly27:4 (1987). Available at https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/node/128
Hardy, Grant. Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader's Guide. United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, 2010.
Bradley, Don. The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon's Missing Stories. United States, Greg Kofford Books, 2019.
Welch, John W. “Legal Perspectives on the Slaying of Laban.” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 1:1 (1992). Available at https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/legal-perspectives-slaying-laban
Welcome to the first episode of the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, where Rosalynde Welch, Associate Director of the Maxwell Institute and Host of the podcast interviews Kimberly Matheson, a Laura F. Willes Research Fellow at the Maxwell Institute.
In this episode, they discuss the book of 1 Nephi, giving it context for readers of the Come, Follow Me curriculum for 2024.
Rosalynde Frandsen Welch, host of the Maxwell Institute Podcast announces a new show–the Book of Mormon Studies Podcast, which will be hosted in this feed. 2 episodes will be posted each month, one exploring the assigned text from Come, Follow Me, and the other exploring the most important books or articles relating to it.
I’m talking today with Professor Michalyn Steele, a member of the faculty at the J. Reuben Clark Law School, about Bryan Stevenson and his best-selling book Just Mercy. Stevenson has spent his career assisting people in some of the worst circumstances I can imagine: those on death row or facing a life sentence. He’s also a Christian, and his faith in Jesus and love of the Bible are on full display in his book. Professor Steele helped me see what Stevenson’s work with imprisoned people can teach all of us about mercy and justice. This is something she knows firsthand from her own experience ministering to incarcerated women in her community. As she says, “we're in a web of hurt and brokenness, but we're also together in a web of healing and mercy.”
Too often, though, we look away from that web and choose not to see our brothers and sisters in their lowest moments. Or we simply don’t know how to make the connections we want to make. How to “get proximate”, as Stevenson puts it, is a question we should be asking--and it’s the topic of our conversation today. I hope you enjoy it.
Today on the podcast I’m talking with Dr. Mary Eyring, associate professor of English at Brigham Young University. Dr. Eyring studies early American literature, and her research has immersed her in the physical and spiritual suffering of ordinary women and men who, like the man Elder Eyring spoke of, reached their breaking point but had to go on. In our conversation, we turn to the work of theologian Sarah Bachelard, author of a short book titled Experiencing God in a Time of Crisis. We talked about how to move forward when a crisis, whether sudden or slow-motion, causes spiritual collapse, and how the pattern of the atonement can give us something to hold on to.
Mary taught me a better question for a time of crisis. As natural as it is to ask “How could this happen?”, a better question might be: “How is God grieving in this situation?” Grieving as God grieves, not as our anxious and frightened human minds want to, can lead us through the valley of the shadow of death into a larger and truer life.
On this episode of the podcast, I interview Dr. Brigham Frandsen, professor of economics at Brigham Young University. Brigham happens to be my little brother, but I’ve looked up to him almost my whole life for his intelligence and his goodness. I invited Brigham on the show because I was curious about what disciple-scholarship looks like in quantitative or technical disciplines. Most of my guests this season have been scholars of the humanities--history, philosophy, literature--things like that. It’s not hard to draw connections between those fields and the faith that we share. But are the methods and findings of economics, engineering, and mathematics equally relevant to the gospel?
I think Dr. Frandsen shows convincingly that they are. Brigham shared with me an economics paper looking at the effects of certain policies aimed at rehabilitating ex-offenders by making it easier to get jobs after they’ve served their time. But those policies turn out to have unintended consequences that may harm employment opportunities for certain groups with clean records. So how do we protect the innocent, while helping those who want to turn their lives around? It turns out that this is a question with profound implications for lived Christian discipleship, and with immediate application in religious settings like a Latter-day Saint ward.
Today on the podcast I’m talking with Dr. Christopher Oscarson, a scholar of environmental humanities and an associate dean of undergraduate education at BYU. Christopher, or Chip as he’s known, recently delivered an address entitled “Let Your Education Change You,” and I wanted to talk with him about another important speech he cited in his talk, President Spencer W. Kimball’s landmark address “The Second Century of Brigham Young University.”
Dr. Oscarson challenged me to ask not how learning can help me get ahead, but how it can refine my character. We talk about the challenges of faith-based higher education, whether real learning can happen outside the classroom, and why President Kimball worried about “invading ideologies.” I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Life’s resistance is the topic of my guest Melissa Inouye’s new book, Sacred Struggle: Seeking Christ on the Path of Most Resistance. Dr. Inouye works in the Church History Department, where she specializes in global Christianity and the global Latter-day Saint tradition. Her new book draws on both her professional expertise and her personal experience to think about why and how and what to do when life is just … hard. The book is divided into three sections: struggles that result from human bodies and agency, the sacredness of our fellow creatures, and the imperative to build Zion. In each case, Melissa shows how sources of resistance can transform us into beings more like our Heavenly Parents--wiser, more loving, and more aware of the entire human family. At the same time, she manages never to romanticize or minimize suffering. She’s honest about anguish, but she’s tenacious in clinging to our vision of Zion.
One of the things I enjoyed most about this book is Dr. Inouye’s love of the scriptures. She turns often to scripture for truth and encouragement, and she has a way of finding new meaning in familiar words. I decided to organize our conversation around a few of the most interesting scripture discussions in the book, and I think you’ll be surprised and enlightened at what she’s found.
On this episode of the Maxwell Institute podcast, I talk with Rachael Johnson, a postdoctoral fellow at the Maxwell Institute, and a brilliant young scholar of early modern intellectual history. Dr. Johnson studies Christian theologies of embodiment -- the spiritual and religious significance of Christ’s body, and of our own bodies made in his image.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught powerfully that “We simply must understand the revealed, restored Latter-day Saint doctrine of the soul, and the high and inextricable part the body plays in that doctrine.” Our bodies are the ever-present condition of our experience, so it’s easy to tune them out and ignore--or resent--their role in our spiritual life. But Dr. Johnson gave me a whole new understanding of how our bodies can connect and empower us in light of the teachings of the Restoration and the gospel of Christ.
References
Caroline Walker Bynum. "Why all the fuss about the body? A medievalist's perspective." Critical inquiry 22.1 (1995): 1-33.
Jeffrey R. Holland. “Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments.” https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-holland/souls-symbols-sacraments/
BYU Mission Statement
MI Youtube and Publications Page
President Nelson recently taught, “As we seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our efforts to hear Him need to be ever more intentional. It takes conscious and consistent effort to fill our daily lives with His words, His teachings, His truths.” The prophet has asked us how we “Hear Him”--but have you thought about how you “See Him”? Do you bring pictures or other artistic representations of Christ into your spiritual life?
For today’s episode I interview Dr. Anthony Sweat, an oil painter himself and a professor of Church history and doctrine at BYU. Dr. Sweat has thought a lot about art and faith, in his creative and his scholarly pursuits. We discussed a fascinating article he co-authored analyzing Latter-day Saints’ preference for pictures of Christ praying in Gethsemane over Christ on the cross. We talk about why this might be the case, why we should make a point to include the crucifixion in our spiritual reflection, and how to incorporate art more deliberately into our faith lives.
Instead of asking, “What picture would look best above the couch?” Anthony challenged me to ask, “What am I seeking from art, and do my artistic choices lead me to Christ?” It’s not always about what looks prettiest. It can be hard to view the death of the Savior. But the experience can draw us to him. Join us, and see what you think.
Today I’m speaking with Dr. Ryan Tobler, a scholar of American religious history. Dr. Tobler worked as a postdoctoral fellow here at the Maxwell Institute for a year, and now is off to a new position as a lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. We’ll miss him, but we’re thrilled for his success.
Ryan and I discussed an article he wrote about the beginnings of the practice of baptism for the dead among the early Saints. He taught me that baptism for the dead doesn’t only answer questions about the afterlife. Baptism for the dead is also for the living: it’s profoundly empowering in modern life, changing our relationship to our own inevitable death and healing our troubled relationship with our bodies.
President Nelson taught that “Jesus Christ is the reason we build temples.” Dr. Tobler shows us how baptism for the dead kickstarted the modern Restoration of temple work, and how it draws us to Christ in its symbolism, its ritual, and its real spiritual power. I was really inspired by this conversation, and I hope you can feel the power of the ideas we discussed.
This episode of the podcast is very close to my heart. I’m speaking with Dr. Miranda Wilcox, my friend and colleague, about a new book just out from the Maxwell Institute, written by the late Kate Holbrook and titled Both Things Are True. Miranda and I had the privilege of shepherding the book to completion after Kate died of cancer in 2022. Miranda, who is a professor of English at BYU, co-edits the Maxwell Institute’s book series we call “Living Faith,” a series now up to seventeen titles featuring scholars who write in a personal, conversational way from their professional expertise to strengthen faith. In that capacity, Dr. Wilcox served as lead editor for Both Things Are True, the latest book in the series.
Kate Holbrook, who at the time of her death was the managing historian of women’s history at the Church History Department and a longtime friend and advisor to the Institute, spent her professional life discovering and amplifying the voices of other women, and mentoring other people in how to do the same. So Miranda and I wanted to find a very special lens to approach this very special book.
We settled on a luminous essay by the French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil, a writer whom Kate revered and whose rigorous spirituality inspired Kate’s own scholarly methods. We felt that Weil’s essay resonates in profound ways with Kate’s aims in Both Things Are True, and we hope that the essay will be a kind of gift to you from Kate. We also hope, of course, that this interview will inspire you to buy the book and fully absorb the wisdom and compassion of Kate Holbrook. She wanted nothing more than to share what she had found.
Life is a learning experience, they say. If so, what have you learned from life? Do you know it for sure? Absolutely sure? I’ll confess, this line of questioning leaves me feeling trapped in a mental corner. Is there a better question we should be asking?
Today on the podcast I talk with Katie Paxman, associate professor of philosophy at BYU. Dr. Paxman studies the work of David Hume, and she’s thought a lot about certainty, humility, and the ambition to form true beliefs. Our conversation helped me to reframe my question in a more productive way. Rather than getting trapped in skepticism, I should ask: “what kind of person do I want to be when I encounter uncertainty?”
Elder Richard G. Scott said, “I am convinced that there is no simple formula or technique that would immediately allow you to master the ability” to decide questions with absolute certainty. Instead, he goes on, “essential personal growth will come as you struggle to learn.“ Katie helped me approach that struggle with more humility, hope and faith. I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Today I’m speaking with Dr. Joseph Stuart, assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University. Dr. Stuart studies race and American religion, and we knew right away that we wanted to talk about Dr. Martin Luther King and the ongoing fight for civil rights and racial harmony in our society. Joseph had the great idea to pair one of Dr. King’s speech with a related talk by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Both of these deeply Christian men challenge us to wake up to the world around us and look for our individual places in God’s unfolding work of restoration.
In his 2019 speech to the NAACP, President Nelson quoted 2 Nephi 26:33, “black and white, bond and free, male and female… all are alike unto God,” and then said: “You who are gathered here in this room strive to make this heavenly truth an earthly reality. I commend you for it. And yet we all realize that, as a society and as a country, we have not yet achieved the harmony and mutual respect that would allow every man and woman and every boy and girl to become the very best version of themselves.”
In this conversation, Dr. Stuart and I talk about how we as Latter-day Saints can likewise “strive to make the heavenly truth” of racial equality “an earthly reality.” He provides fascinating historical background for Martin Luther King’s ministry, and he puts it all into a gospel context.
Dr. Stuart’s name and voice will be familiar to long-time listeners, because he hosted this podcast when he worked at the Institute as our public communications specialist a few years ago. It was fun to welcome him back on the other side of the microphone! I hope you enjoy the interview.
Today on the podcast I talk with Ryan Davis, associate professor of political science at BYU. Dr. Davis is a philosopher, a quick and humorous conversationalist, and a great storyteller. He suggested that there might be a better way to approach belief. What if we get curious not only about the content of the specific beliefs that we hold, but also about how we hold them? What if we attend to our ways of believing as much as to our articles of belief?
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said “The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue—it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know.” Christ commanded us to “be not afraid; only believe.” Could it be that believing, when undertaken with integrity and courage, is important in itself?
Ryan and I swapped stories, bonded over our love of ice cream, and even shared a few riddles. I hope you enjoy listening in as much as I enjoyed the conversation.
What does it mean to be an objective judge of history--of personal history, family history, or shared human history? Are charity and objectivity opposites--or are they partners? Today on the podcast I talk to Jenny Hale Pulsipher, a professor of history at BYU and a contributor to the Maxwell Institute’s recent book Every Needful Thing: Essays on the Life of the Mind and the Heart. As an historian, Jenny specializes in finding the nuance in complex historical figures--never excusing wrongdoing, but never losing sight of the gospel’s witness that we are all children of God.
In the October 2022 General Conference, Sister Anette Dennis, Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, asked, “How many wounded individuals do we have among us? How often do we judge others based on their outward appearance and actions, or lack of action, when, if we fully understood, we would instead react with compassion and a desire to help instead of adding to their burdens with our judgment?”
Jenny and I talked about how to balance objectivity and charity by adding, not subtracting, individual perspectives; and about how open-eyed interaction with our families and our histories can strengthen, not weaken, our bonds of love. We talked about the ways that the histories we tell might unknowingly burden the wounded. Jenny shared an amazing story about her own family history, and she talked about how her youthful testimony of the Book of Mormon grew through a challenge that forced her to revisit the questions she brought to it.
Thanks for joining us today, and I hope you enjoy this conversation with Jenny Pulsipher.
How can we best care for the beautiful planet God has given us for our home? And why do our relationships with other humans matter so much in the work of stewardship and conservation? Today on the podcast, Rosalynde talks to Ben Abbott, a professor of Plant & Wildlife Sciences at BYU. As a scientist, Ben specializes in ecosystem ecology — the complex ways that living and non-living components interact in a given place. But he’s found that his work as a teacher and mentor has shaped his research as much — or more! — than his rugged fieldwork.
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #160: How Can We Be Effective Stewards of the Earth? Featuring Ben Abbott appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Welcome to The Questions We Should Be Asking, a new season of the podcast from the Maxwell Institute that explores faith-building questions. In this episode, Rosalynde interviews Kimberly Matheson, a scholar at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religion. She asks the question: why do we pray? And what does prayer look like in our lives?
Kimberly Matheson is a Research Fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, with current projects focusing on gender in the Book of Mormon, a materialist theology of prayer, and Moroni 7 as a theological response to modernity. Her research centers more broadly on the Book of Mormon, Christian contemplative practice, and the continental philosophy of religion. Kimberly holds a Ph.D. in theology from Loyola University Chicago, an MTS in philosophy of religion from Harvard Divinity School, and a BA in ancient near east studies from Brigham Young University. She is the author most recently of Helaman: A Brief Theological Introduction (Maxwell, 2020) and sits on the boards of the Book of Mormon Studies Association and the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar.
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #159: Why Do We Pray? Featuring Kimberly Matheson appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Meet Rosalynde Frandsen Welch, our new host for the MIPodcast. Rosalynde is the Associate Director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, where she coordinates faculty engagement and co-leads a special research initiative. Her research focuses on Latter-day Saint scripture, theology, and literature. She holds a PhD in early modern English literature from the University of California, San Diego, and a BA in English from Brigham Young University. She is the author of Ether: a brief theological introduction, published by the Maxwell Institute, as well as numerous articles, book chapters and reviews on Latter-day Saint thought.
In this episode, Rosalynde introduces The Questions We Should Be Asking, a new season that explores questions that help build faith. The first full-length episode of the podcast will be posted on March 28, 2023.
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #158: Introduction to The Questions We Should Be Asking with Rosalynde Welch appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In the nineteenth century, a fascination with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made Mormons and Mormonism a common trope in French journalism, art, literature, politics, and popular culture. Heather Belnap, Corry Cropper, and Daryl Lee bring to light French representations of Mormonism from the 1830s to 1914, arguing that these portrayals often critiqued and parodied French society. Mormonism became a pretext for reconsidering issues such as gender, colonialism, the family, and church-state relations while providing artists and authors with a means for working through the possibilities of their own evolving national identity.
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #157: Latter-day Saints in the French Imagination, with Corry Cropper, Daryl Lee, and Heather Belnap appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
It’s Christmas! This may feel like an awkward lesson to have in the discussion of the Old Testament, it’s at least how I felt. But in considering the topic more deeply, I can’t think of a better way to prepare for celebrating the Savior’s birth. We’ve spent the year reading the scriptures that He read and recognizing the ways that ancient Israel expected a Savior to redeem them. We discuss the Old Testament in light of the Promised Lamb of God in this episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.”
The post Abide: Christmas appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Finding Christ in the Covenant Path offers a fresh but faithful focus on the journey of covenants and discipleship through the double lens of ancient words and medieval images. The first part of the book helps us see Christ’s identity as our Redeemer by exploring the ancient words that connect covenants, redemption, worship, the presence of the Lord, and sitting down enthroned in God’s presence as his children and heirs.
The second part of the book reveals Christ as our ransom by exploring medieval images, particularly the image of Christ. With personal anecdotes, historical background, and scriptural analysis, this section uses devotional images and late medieval practices of contemplation as a strategy to come unto Christ. By using medieval images as a counterpoint to Restoration practices and ordinances, we can more fully appreciate the gift of God’s Son and see that gift with fresh eyes.
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #156: Finding Christ in the Covenant Path, with Jennifer C. Lane appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In 2007, the Museum at Eldridge Street opened at the site of a restored nineteenth-century synagogue originally built by some of the first Eastern European Jewish immigrants in New York City. Visitors to the museum are invited to stand along indentations on the floor where footprints of congregants past have worn down the soft pinewood. Here, many feel a palpable connection to the history surrounding them.
Beyond the Synagogue argues that nostalgic activities such as visiting the Museum at Eldridge Street or eating traditional Jewish foods should be understood as American Jewish religious practices. In making the case that these practices are not just cultural, but are actually religious, Rachel B. Gross asserts if one looked outside of traditional institutions and practices, such as attendance at synagogue or membership in Jewish Community Centers, they would see that the embrace of nostalgia provides evidence of an alternative, under-appreciated way of being Jewish and of maintaining Jewish continuity.
Tracing American Jews’ involvement in a broad array of ostensibly nonreligious activities, including conducting Jewish genealogical research, visiting Jewish historic sites, purchasing books and toys that teach Jewish nostalgia to children, and seeking out traditional Jewish foods, Gross argues that these practices illuminate how many American Jews are finding and making meaning within American Judaism today.
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #155: Nostalgia as Jewish Religious Practice, with Rachel B. Gross appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
One of the most interesting days of my life took place a few years ago when I co-conducted a tour of the Jordan River Temple in Utah for non-Latter-day Saint specialists in American religion. As we walked from room to room, my co-tour guide, my second mission president, did his best to anticipate questions that my scholarly friends may have had. He did a great job! The most interesting part of the tour, though, came well after we left the temple’s doorways. My friend Bob asked “what does the temple DO for Latter-day Saints?” I answered about eternal kinship networks, the binding of families, and more. No, he said, pointedly, what does the temple DO for individuals like you? That questions took me back–as you can tell, I still reflect on it several years later. I think, if I were to think of how to describe what the temple does in the lives of everyday Latter-day Saints is flourishing. The flourishing of relationships, of personal peace and reflection, of revelatory capacity, and of my faith in Jesus Christ. As we discuss Haggai and Zechariah today, let’s keep that question in mind: what does the gospel DO for Latter-day Saints? Why are we so anxious to build temples and invite all we can to participate in their sacred rituals and spiritual splendor?
The post Abide: Haggai and Zechariah appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In Adam S. Miller’s lecture, “The Necessity of God: First person, Present Tense, Imperative Mood” Miller talks about Tim Farnsworth, a man who cannot stop walking from the fictional book The Unnamed.
Miller said that everyone has different crosses to bear, and although we cannot change them, like Farnsworth cannot stop walking, we have to learn how to love and accept these challenges in order to connect to God.
Link to view the Annual Lecture here: https://youtu.be/N1L_ctSw2pk
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #154: The Necessity of God, with Adam S. Miller (2022 Neal A. Maxwell Lecture) appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The Book of Mormon Art Catalog seeks to provide unprecedented access to visual imagery inspired by the Book of Mormon through a comprehensive, open access, and searchable digital database. In this role, the Book of Mormon Art Catalog supports research and education, aids scholarly and artistic work, promotes a greater knowledge of artists worldwide, provides […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #153: The Book of Mormon Art Catalog with Jennifer Champoux appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Abide: Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
One of my favorite sermons in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a sermon delivered by President Hugh B. Brown at BYU. It’s entitled God is the Gardner; I’m confident that many of you have heard this before. But I love the part at the end where, when dealing […]
The post Abide: Jonah and Micah appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Throughout the scriptures, the Lord and His prophets teach of covenants, the ability for us to bind ourselves to God through the power of the priesthood. Sometimes, though, we forget that we are also in covenant relationship to those we hold most dear. Indeed, that not only are we covenentally bound to our family members, […]
The post Abide: Hosea and Joel appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Andrew Jenson undertook a lifelong quest to render the LDS historical record complete and comprehensive. As Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jenson tirelessly carried out his office’s archival mission and advocated for fixed record keeping to become a duty for Latter-day Saints. Reid L. Neilson and Scott D. […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #152: Andrew Jenson and Latter-day Saint History, with Reid L. Neilson and Scott D. Marianno appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We are blessed to live in a time of prophets. I define this in two ways. The first is that we are fortunate to live in a time where the priesthood has been restored and that the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speaks for the Lord under priesthood authority. The […]
The post Abide: Ezekiel 1–3; 33–34; 36–37; 47 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Latter-day Saints recognize the Book of Mormon as the “keystone of our religion,” a book that will bring a person closer to Christ than by any other book. How do non-Latter-day Saints read the Book of Mormon, though, especially in their academic work? To answer that question, we’ll speak to Dr. Rosalynde Frandsen Welch, Research […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #151: The Book of Mormon and Literature Studies, with Rosalynde Frandsen Welch appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In last week’s episode, we discussed how Jeremiah introduces ideas about seemingly disparate events, including the apocalyptic here-and-now and the hope of a better future for all of humankind. As we continue into our second episode on Jeremiah, we take a turn to earthy practicalities. How do we commit ourselves to God’s work? How do […]
The post Abide: Jeremiah and Lamentations Part II appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In June 2022, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship and the David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding hosted a conference based upon Patrick Mason’s and David Pulsipher’s new book Proclaim Peace: The Restoration’s Answer to an Age of Conflict. Participants–scholars and non-scholars alike–reflected together on the interpersonal, ethical, and social dimensions of Christian discipleship and the […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #150: The Proclaim Peace Conference appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Today we are joined by Dr. Joseph Spencer, a philosopher, theologian and Assistant Professor of Ancient Scripture here at Brigham Young University. Dr. Spencer is the editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies and a leading scholar of the Book of Mormon. He is a prolific author, and among his recent works are […]
The post Abide: Isaiah 58-66 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Listen to Pastor Derwin Gray and Vicki Gray speak on Derwin’s new book, Healing Our Racial Divide: What the Bible Says, and the First Christians Knew, About Racial Reconciliation!Link to book: Amazon
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #149: Healing Our Racial Divide, with Derwin and Vicki Gray appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Jesus promises in the Gospel of John that he will not leave us comfortless, but that He will come to us. He promises in Matthew that he will give us rest when we are weary and heavy-laden. In my experience, though, that isn’t at the first instance of pain, whether it’s physical, mental, spiritual, or […]
The post Abide: Isaiah 40-49 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Richard Bushman once told me that “panic precedes revelation.” Dr. Bushman was discussing the process by which Joseph Smith received the First Vision (recall the line from the Pearl of Great Price that “at that moment of great alarm” that the Father and Son appeared to the boy prophet). While reading, Isaiah, though, I think […]
The post Abide: Isaiah 13-14; 24–30; 35 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Isaiah. Latter-day Saints have a special relationship to this Old Testament prophet. Not only do we recognize prophets across all dispensations, but his words were carried by Lehi’s family to the Americas. How do we think about Isaiah? What should we know about the construction of the book of Isaiah? We discuss this, and much […]
The post Abide: Isaiah 1-12 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Richard Bushman once told me that “panic precedes revelation.” Dr. Bushman was discussing the process by which Joseph Smith received the First Vision (recall the line from the Pearl of Great Price that “at that moment of great alarm” that the Father and Son appeared to the boy prophet). While reading, Isaiah, though, I think […]
The post Abide: Proverbs and Ecclesiastes appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Kate Holbrook, PhD (1972–2022) was a leading voice in the study of Latter-day Saintwomen and Latter-day Saint foodways. As managing historian of women’s history atthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints history department, she wrote, studied,and interpreted history full-time. Her major research interests were religion, gender,and food. Her primary professional activity was to discover, […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #148: The Weight of Legacy, with Kate Holbrook appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
A book has many lives. It’s thought, it’s edited, it’s printed, it’s reprinted, it’s commentated on, and this repeats, if the book merits it, ad infinitum. This is certainly true for the Bible as a whole, but, I suggest, for the Psalms in particular. How do we think about Psalms as an ancient text conveyed […]
The post Abide: Psalms Part Three appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In the decades before the Civil War, Americans appealed to the nation’s sacred religious and legal texts – the Bible and the Constitution – to address the slavery crisis. The ensuing political debates over slavery deepened interpreters’ emphasis on historical readings of the sacred texts, and in turn, these readings began to highlight the unbridgeable […]
The post (Reuploaded) Maxwell Institute Podcast #147: Slavery, Sacred Texts, and Historical Consciousness, with Jordan Watkins appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
One of the first things I tell my students, and that I repeat throughout a semester, is that texts do not interpret themselves. Every time a person reads scripture they see it with new eyes and with shifting perspectives. The words on the page may be the same, though, of course, with the Bible, those […]
The post Abide: Psalms Part Two appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Psalms! There’s over 150 of them marked in the book by the same name in the Old Testament. How can we read them? Are they more useful as a narrative thread, or as a spice to season our spiritual diet? We’ll discuss that and much more on today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.”
The post Abide: Psalms Part One appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Job, as a literary and biblical figure, gives us a lot to think about. He goes from riches to rags to riches again. He loses his family but begins another. He’s at the center of a contest between god and a devilish character. He relies on his friends but those same friends accuse him of […]
The post Abide: Job appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In Original Grace, Adam S. Miller proposes an experiment in Restoration thinking: What if instead of implicitly affirming the traditional logic of original sin, we, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, emphasized the deeper reality of God’s original grace? What if we broke entirely with the belief that suffering can sometimes be deserved and claimed that […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #146: God’s Original Grace, with Adam Miller appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Can one be directed by God when one doesn’t know that one is being directed? The answer, of course, is yes. We learn about how God directed Esther in ways that may not have been recognizable to her, to ancient Israelites, and in ways that still surprise us today. We’ll discuss that, and more, in […]
The post Abide: Esther appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
If an eighteenth-century cleric told you that the difference between “civilization and heathenism is sky-high and star-far,” the words would hardly come as a shock. But that statement was written by an American missionary in 1971. In a sweeping historical narrative, Kathryn Gin Lum shows how the idea of the heathen has been maintained from the […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #145: The Idea of the “Heathen” with Kathryn Gin Lum appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
How do we learn from failure? Especially the end of an organization as large as a kingdom? What if two kingdoms fall? Today, as we look at the end of both Kingdoms of Israel, I hope that we can explore what it means to understand a people’s historical failures and recognize that modern people are […]
The post Abide: 2 Kings 17-25 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Elijah and Elisha are well-known to Latter-day Saints. The prophecy that Elijah would return was foretold in each of the four books of the Latter-day Saint canon. Indeed, Elijah visited the Prophet Joseph Smith and his counselor, Sidney Rigdon, in the Kirtland Temple, restoring the keys of the sealing power to the earth. Elisha may […]
The post Abide: 2 Kings 2-7 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Solomon’s reign was glorious, but what he gained in wealth, wives and infrastructure he lost in spiritual standing. He had not been faithful to the God of Israel. Instead, he adopted a cosmopolitanism that accommodated the religious preferences of his wives. However, God kept faith with David and Solomon, and the kingdom was split in […]
The post Abide: 1 Kings 17-19 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Abide: 2 Samuel 5-7; 11-12; 1 Kings 3; 8; 11 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Spiritual experiences are famously transformative. They sometimes inspire dramatic effects of conversion and healing, of vision and new life direction. But even in their more quotidian forms they expand our cognitive and emotional capacities, help cultivate virtues, and intensify our feelings of closeness to God, others, and things we deem ultimate. For Matthew Wickman, spiritual experience […]
The post Maxwell Podcast Episode #144: A Spiritual Life in Literature, with Matthew Wickman appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In Mosiah 29, Mosiah says that “if it were possible that you could have bjust men to be your kings, who would establish the claws of God, and judge this people according to his commandments, yea, if ye could have men for your kings who would do even as my father dBenjamin did for this […]
The post Abide: 1 Samuel 8-10; 13; 15-18 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The Old Testament names more women, and has more books named for women, than any of the other texts in the Latter-day Saint canon. They fulfill their roles as disciples, family members, and in following their personal integrity with living up to their commitment within community relationships. How do they fulfill those roles? And how […]
The post Abide: Ruth; 1 Samuel 1-3 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
There’s a difficulty in reading the scriptures. I’m not referring to words on the page. I’m also not referring to the habit of scripture reading, though that could certainly apply, too. No, I’m referring to making the scriptures, whose figures and narratives are familiar to many Latter-day Saints, new and refreshing and insightful. In today’s […]
The post Abide: Judges 2-4; 6-8; 13-16 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
“This Church will stand, because it is upon a firm basis. … The Lord has shown it to us by the revealing principle of the Holy Spirit of light.” Lorenzo Snow, April 1900 That quotes embodies much of what is going on in the third volume of SAINTS, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #143: Saints in a Modernizing World, with Lisa Olsen Tait and Scott Hales appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Scholars spend entire careers debating texts, their origins, their impact, and the most valuable contributions they make to broader understanding. At the Maxwell Institute, we participate in these debates, but recognize that a text’s value cannot be narrowed down to observable fact–the long-lasting test of scripture is how it shapes the readers’ or hearers’ faith. […]
The post Abide: Joshua 1-8; 23-24 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Deuteronomy is the final book in the Pentateuch, containing Moses’ last sermons, as well as poetry regarding Israel’s future. Moses pleads with Israel not to repeat their past mistakes, such as falling into idolatry. They must keep their covenants and keep the law given by Yahweh, or else they will lose the Promised Land. What […]
The post Abide: Deuteronomy appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell once preached, “Faith also includes trust in God’s timing, for He has said, “All things must come to pass in their time.” (D&C 64:32.) Ironically, some who acknowledge God are tried by His timing, globally and personally!” We certainly see that in the Book of Numbers. The Israelites were thirsty but […]
The post Abide: Numbers 11-14; 20-24 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
When someone brings up Leviticus, my mind turns almost automatically to the Law of Moses. Which, I admit, doesn’t always seem like the most applicable thing to my life. However, when reframing it to think about the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, I can’t think of anything more important for Latter-day Saints to know […]
The post Abide: Exodus 35-40; Leviticus 1; 16; 19 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Knowing how to transform conflict is critical in both our personal and professional lives. Yet, by and large, we are terrible at it. The reason, says longtime mediator Chad Ford, is fear. When conflict comes, our instincts are to run or fight. To transform conflict, Ford says we need to turn toward the people we […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #141: Loving Dangerously, with Chad Ford appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Often, when we speak about matters of religion, we discuss belief. “I know the Church is true. I have received a witness for myself that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I have had these experiences and share them in Sunday school and other venues. For me, though, faith also takes place in the […]
The post Abide: Exodus 24; 31-34 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
President Spencer W. Kimball said in 1976 that “Few men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and his blessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise of faith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things more immediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer […]
The post Abide: Exodus 18-20 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Easter. A time for Christians to consider the life, atoning sacrifice, and miraculous resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How can we use our knowledge of the Old Testament to deepen our Easter experiences? And how can understanding how other religions approach Easter help us commit to being better Christians and Latter-day Saints.
The post Abide: Easter appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
“When we begin to see ourselves as the prodigal in that famed biblical parable, we are better able to minister to that prodigal daughter or that prodigal father. When we see them as in process and recognize the same in ourselves, we can forgive their wandering because we know we must.”
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #140: Prodigals All, with Spencer Fluhman appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In some ways, Israel has to be feeling pretty great in Exodus 14-17. They’re finally escaping enslavement and have been delivered by God through His prophet. On the other hand, they are also between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea. Spoilers: they escape. But they didn’t know that until the moment of deliverance–they had to […]
The post Abide: Exodus 14-17 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
God delivers us. That’s one of the central takeaways of Exodus’s story. But what do we do to ensure that we remember that takeaway? In this episode of Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast, we discuss what it means to hold on in the face of adversity, to remember the actions that ensure our temporal and […]
The post Abide: Exodus 7-13 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Exodus: a movement of the people. As we move into the second book of the Tanak, or Old Testament, we have more than a movement of people. We have a flurry of new people, ideas, and we see Jehovah’s miraculous work through ancient Israelite eyes. But how can we be moved? How can we learn […]
The post Abide: Exodus 1-6 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Throughout the Old Testament we learn much about the relationships of tribes, clans, and family groups. We began discussing Israel’s family in the last episode, focusing on Joseph, the favored son sold into Egypt whose meteoric rise in Egyptian politics through the spiritual gift of interpreting dreams ultimately provided a land inheritance that would keep […]
The post Abide: Genesis 42-50 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The version of Joseph in Egypt I got growing up was shaped heavily by Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Despite the delightful music and vivid color, there’s far more to the Joseph narrative than even Donny Osmond can share in 90 minutes. In today’s episode of Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast, we explore several […]
The post Genesis 37-41 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Volume 5 of the Revelations and Translations series from the Joseph Smith Papers Project presents all extant fragments of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon. For the first time ever, researchers have access to a photograph and color-coded transcripts of each fragment of the manuscript, showing every change made and which scribe made […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #139: The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, with Robin Scott Jensen appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Readers of the Tanak or Old Testament see that The Lord marks Israel as a chosen people. Modern Latter-day Saints identify with being a “peculiar people.” But what does it mean to be a chosen people? And how does one’s peculiarity mark boundaries of values, identity, and peoplehood? Chosenness does not mean a life without […]
The post Abide: Genesis 28-33 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
As Genesis marches on we are introduced to new people, whose lives are in some ways different than our own, but in many ways are similar. In this episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast,” we meet Isaac and Rebekah, who push us to think about what our responsibilities are in our families, and how […]
The post Abide: Genesis 24-27 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Today, Dr. Elisa Eastwood Pulido joins us to discuss her book, The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista: Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident, and Utopian Founder, 1878-1961 (Oxford University Press, 2020). Dr. Pulido’s book is the first full-length biography of Margarito Bautista (1878-1961), a celebrated Latino Mormon leader in the U.S. and Mexico in the early […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #138: The Biography of Margarito Bautista, with Elisa Eastwood Pulido appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The Lectures on Faith teaches that, “…a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.” But how much can we be asked to sacrifice? For Abraham, he seemed to have been asked to sacrifice in a myriad of ways. […]
The post Abide: Genesis 18-23 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Abide: Genesis 12-17 and Abraham 1-2 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Have you ever had anyone ask you “what is scripture?” For such a short question it has the possibility to open up into thousands of answers. For Latter-day Saints, it can be defined as “whatsoever [God’s representatives] shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost.” This definition is somewhat broader than many other Christian […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #137: BH Roberts, the Bible, and the Book of Mormon, with Matthew Bowman appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Introduction: The world of the Old Testament, like our own day, is swimming in violence. From the direct and intimate violence of person-to-person interaction to the structural violence that reinforce hunger, war, and inequality, each of us is affected by others’ use of force. Despite this reality, or perhaps because of it, the Lord commanded […]
The post Abide: Genesis 6-11 and Moses 8 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Moses 7 features Enoch, a figure that receives scant attention in Genesis, but has an overwhelming impact on the Pearl of Great Price. Importantly, Enoch’s experience with God also shapes how we view the Father, His relationship to us, and recognize his character and disposition. In today’s episode of Abide, we discuss Moses 7 and […]
The post Abide: Moses 7 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #136: Documenting a Relationship: Early Latter-day Saints and the Book of Mormon, with Janiece Johnson appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
A lot of time passes in Genesis 5. We see fathers and sons’ names and their ages when sons were sired. They lived a lot longer than we do now! In Moses 5 we receive far more detail about post-Eden life but without the connections to genealogy beyond Adam, Abel, Cain, and Lamech. What are […]
The post Abide: Genesis 5; Moses 6 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Please enjoy Dr. Jennifer Reeder’s 2021 Neal A. Maxwell Lecture! You can watch the address, with Dr. Reeder’s slides, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo7GR8ql_xY.
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #135: The Stuff of Discipleship, with Jennifer Reeder appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
“Adam fell that men might be. And men are that they might have joy.” Lehi’s declaration in 2 Nephi 2 is transformative in Latter-day Saint theology, transforming an event portrayed often in negative terms throughout Abrahamic faiths into something fulfilling and meaningful. That isn’t the only way that Latter-day Saints understand the Fall differently than […]
The post Abide: Genesis 3–4 and Moses 4–5 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Abide: Genesis 1–2; Moses 2–3; Abraham 4–5 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Throughout the Old Testament we learn much about the relationships of tribes, clans, and family groups. We began discussing Israel’s family in the last episode, focusing on Joseph, the favored son sold into Egypt whose meteoric rise in Egyptian politics through the spiritual gift of interpreting dreams ultimately provided a land inheritance that would keep the family together. What can we learn in the last chapters of Genesis about spiritual gifts, brotherly love, and how understanding biblical narrative can make sacred stories more clear? We discuss that, and much more, on today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.”
The post Abide: Genesis 42-50 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Abide: Moses 1 and Abraham 3 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #134: Proclaim Peace with Patrick Mason and David Pulsipher appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In October 1995 at the General Relief Society meeting of LDS General Conference, then President Gordon B. Hinckley presented “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” It was the 5th of 6 proclamations–we now have 7. the most recent being the Proclamation on the Restoration in 2020. Church communications come in a variety of modes. […]
The post Abide #25: The Family: A Proclamation to the World appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Spencer W. Kimball, his counselors, and their fellow apostles prayed about the revelation that Latter-day Saints have canonized as Official Declaration 2 in June 1978. They immediately let it be known that the Lord had told them that all worthy people, of any race, color, creed, or nationality, would be eligible for temple blessings and […]
The post Abide #24: Official Declaration Two appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In September 1890, Wilford Woodruff, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, met with his counselors with a vexing problem. How could they, as prophets and the First Presidency of the Church, prevent their religion from being squashed by the federal government over the practice of plural marriage? They ultimately decided that […]
The post Abide #23: Official Declaration One appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Though raised as a Latter-day Saint in Utah, Samuel M. Brown was an atheist from an early age and proud of it. Yet, by his own account, God became an undeniable presence in his life. Now a faithful Latter-day Saint, this practicing research physician narrates some of the waypoints on his journey into believing and […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #133: Where the Soul Hungers with Samuel M. Brown appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Abide #22: Doctrine and Covenants 137-138 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The Constitution of the United States guarantees that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Despite that promise, Latter-day Saints in the nineteenth century sometimes found themselves as victims of legal and extralegal violence against their leaders and lay members alike. When Joseph Smith ran for President […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #132: Joseph Smith for President with Spencer McBride appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Abide #20: Doctrine and Covenants 133-134 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast,” we are studying four of Joseph Smith’s revelations. Three of them, Sections 129-131 are written in Joseph Smith’s own style, you can hear him teaching the Saints. This makes sense; they are quite literally teachings from Joseph Smith in both personal and public settings, compiled and […]
The post Abide #19: Doctrine and Covenants 129-132 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Following the Latter-day Saints’ expulsion from Missouri and while they worked to make a new home in Nauvoo, IL, Joseph Smith received several revelations that brought divine insight into earthly problems. For instance, what to do for those who could not afford to live in Nauvoo, or who desired to live in small cities surrounding […]
The post Abide #18: Doctrine and Covenants 125-128 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
From acting as a scribe for the translation of the Book of Mormon to founding the Relief Society, Emma Hale Smith was a key figure in the Restoration. She was also her husband’s anchor and the love of his life. But how much do we really know about her role, teachings, and leadership? Drawing upon […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #131: An Elect Lady, with Jennifer Reeder appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
On January 19, 1841 Joseph Smith voiced a revelation that declared Nauvoo as the new gathering place for the Saints. Much had happened since we left Joseph in section 123. After the expulsion from Missouri, 5,000 Saints scattered traveling east across Missouri to safety in Illinois, 200 miles east of Far West, Missouri 1838, with […]
The post Abide #17: Doctrine and Covenants 124 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Everything changed for Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints in a few short months in 1838. 5000 Saints gathered in the burgeoning city of Far West, Missouri to celebrate the 4th of July. Confident and secure in their main settlement, Sidney Rigdon declared that if a mob came again, it would be a “war of […]
The post Abide #16: Doctrine and Covenants 121-123 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Eugene England was many things: a scholar, a theologian, an essayist, a husband, father, and teacher. But, above all, he defined himself as a disciple of Jesus Christ and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Today, we speak with Terryl Givens, a Senior Research Fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #130: Stretching the Heavens with Eugene England appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Sections 116-120 reveal a Church and prophet trying desperately to make the best of a bad situation. By the date of the last revelation a third of the Quorum of the Twelve would apostatize. The Lord directed that the Church move its headquarters from Ohio to Missouri. The Latter-day Saints changed their main county of […]
The post Abide #15: Doctrine and Covenants 116-120 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In July of 1836 JS Hyrum Smith OC SR travelled to Salem, MA. They arrived on 5 August and rented a house on Union Street for the next 3 weeks. The revelation in section 111 might have been received there, BUT There is no contemporary evidence that tells us why they were there. THe contemporary […]
The post Abide #14: Doctrine and Covenants 111-115 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
How do we understand the lives of women who lived in ancient times? Where do historians and scholars go for evidence when there’s relatively little available in written records? In this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, we will talk with Dr. Catherine Gines Taylor, a Nibley Postdoctoral Fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute, […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #129 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #13: Doctrine and Covenants 109-110 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In early 1835 the first Quorum of the 12 of the Restored Church were called and that spring were tasked with travelling “through the Eastern States, to the Atlantic Ocean, and hold conferences in the vicinity of the several branches of the Church for the purpose of regulating all things necessary for their welfare.” As […]
The post Abide #12: Doctrine and Covenants 107 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have taken the Lord’s call to “have a record kept among [them]” since the commandment was given in the first days of the Church. One of the ways that the Church accomplishes this is through the Joseph Smith Papers Project. In this episode, we will […]
The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #128: Joseph Smith Papers, Documents Volume 12 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #11: Doctrine and Covenants Sections 102-106 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Charles Inouye writes, “I am Japanese but was born and raised in rural central Utah. At first, my parents were afraid that our involvement with the Church would weaken our grounding in Japanese tradition. As it turned out, it only reinforced my interest in animism, Buddhism, and other aspects of Japanese culture. As a scholar […]
The post MI Podcast #127: ZION EARTH ZEN SKY appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #10: Doctrine and Covenants 98-101 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #9: Doctrine and Covenants 94-97 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #8.2: Doctrine and Covenants 93 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #8: Doctrine and Covenants 90-92 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #7: Doctrine and Covenants 89 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #6: Doctrine and Covenants 88 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #5: Doctrine and Covenants 85-87 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #4: Doctrine and Covenants 84 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #3: Doctrine and Covenants 81-83 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and […]
The post Abide #2: Doctrine and Covenants 77-80 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
On February 16, 1832, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were working on the Prophet’s “translation” of the Bible. This wasn’t a translation in a linguistic sense, where someone takes a text from one language and presents it in another. No, this was a project about seeking out meanings and insights that had been lost over […]
The post Abide #1: Doctrine and Covenants Section 76 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
How did early Latter-day Saints read the Book of Mormon? And how did that book, which the Prophet Joseph Smith called “the most correct of any book on earth” and “the keystone of our religion,” help Latter-day Saints make sense of their lives? In this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, Dr. Janiece Johnson, a Willes Center Research Fellow at […]
The post MI Podcast #126: Becoming a people of the Books appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIPodcast #125— ‘All Things New,’ with Fiona and Terryl Givens and Spencer Fluhman appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post GUEST HOST—‘Thinking Otherwise,’ with James E. Faulconer and Morgan Davis [MIPodcast #124] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post GUEST HOST—Pursuing the intellectual life from a place of commitment, with Ravi Gupta & Philip Barlow [MIPodcast #123] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post GUEST HOST—Briefly Moroni, with David F. Holland & Spencer Fluhman [MIPodcast #122] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post GUEST HOST—Briefly Ether, with Rosalynde Welch & James E. Faulconer [MIPodcast #121] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post GUEST HOST—Briefly Mormon, with Adam Miller and Spencer Fluhman [MIPodcast #120] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post The end of the world (Latter-day Saint style), with Christopher James Blythe [MIPodcast #119] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Briefly 3rd and 4th Nephi, with Daniel Becerra [MIPodcast #118] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Briefly Helaman, with Kimberly Matheson Berkey [MIPodcast #116] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Robert Alter on translating the Hebrew Bible [MIPodcast #115] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post China and the True Jesus Church, with Melissa Inouye [MIPodcast #114] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Briefly Alma 30–63, with Mark Wrathall [MIPodcast #113] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post ‘The Spiritual Practice of Remembering,’ with Margaret Bendroth [MIPodcast #112] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Latter-day Saint scholar Melissa Inouye reflects on her many crossings [MIPodcast #111] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Briefly Alma 1–29, with Kylie Nielson Turley [MIPodcast #110] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post The Book of Mormon’s ethic of mournful wakefulness, with David Charles Gore [MIPodcast #109] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post ‘Railroading Religion,’ with David Walker [MIPodcast #108] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post The life of Jane Manning James, with Quincy Newell [MIPodcast #107] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Briefly Mosiah, with James E. Faulconer [MIPodcast #106] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post ‘If Truth Were a Child,’ with George Handley [MIPodcast #105] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Briefly Enos, Jarom, & Omni, with Sharon J. Harris [MIPodcast #104] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Celebrating women’s suffrage in Utah, with Katherine Kitterman, Rebekah Ryan Clark, and Neylan McBaine [MIPodcast #102] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Rediscovering Mary, mother of God, with Catherine Taylor [MIPodcast #101] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Celebrating 100 episodes of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, with Blair Hodges [MIPodcast #100] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Briefly Second Nephi, with Terryl Givens [MIPodcast #99] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Briefly First Nephi, with Joseph M. Spencer [MIPodcast #98] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIConversations #10—Terryl Givens with Rosaynde Welch, “Life on the road to Emmaus” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Our wild hope, with Reverend Dr. Andrew Teal [MIPodcast #97] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post The untold story of Lin Zhao, a martyr in Mao’s China, with Xi Lian [MIPodcast #96] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post “Answering sincere gospel questions,” with Spencer Fluhman [MIPodcast #95] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post People with disabilities in religious communities [MIPodcast #94] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Women in the New Testament and beyond, with Carolyn Osiek [MIPodcast #93] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIConversations #9—Terryl Givens with Samuel Brown, “Confessions of an ‘Odd Intellectual’” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Joseph Smith left a lot of documents behind when he died in 1844, from the mundane to the intriguing. Some of the more puzzling documents deal with a book of scripture in the Latter-day Saint canon called the Book of Abraham. Said to be translated from ancient papyrus, the scripture broadens the story of the […]
The post Joseph Smith’s Egyptian papers, with Robin Jensen & Brian Hauglid [MIPodcast #92] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post The contested history of religious freedom, with Tisa Wenger [MIPodcast #91] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIConversations #8—Terryl Givens with Thomas Wirthlin McConkie, “The spiritual journey” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Editing and illuminating the Book of Mormon, with Grant Hardy and Brian Kershisnik [MIPodcast #90] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post ‘Sister Saints,’ with Colleen McDannell [MIPodcast #89] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post The risks and rewards of interreligious dialogue, with Catherine Cornille [MIPodcast #88] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIConversations #7—Thomas Wayment with Terryl Givens, “Translating a new New Testament” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post William Bickerton: Forgotten Latter Day Prophet, with Daniel P. Stone [MIPodcast #87] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIConversations #6—Terryl Givens with Margaret Blair Young, “The deep waters” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Danes, Lutherans, and Latter-day Saints, with Julie K. Allen [MIPodcast #86] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
This year marks forty years since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began, once again, to ordain black members of African descent to its priesthood. Forty years since the church began administering it sacred temple ordinances to black women and men. Over the past forty years the body of scholarship on race and […]
The post Race and the Making of the Mormon People, with Max Mueller [MIPodcast #85] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Jane and Emma is a new film based on the historical relationship of Jane Manning—one of the few black converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during its infancy—and Emma Smith, who presided over the Church’s women’s organization, the Relief Society, and who was married to the prophet Joseph Smith. It’s an emotional film […]
The post The making of Jane and Emma, with Chantelle Squires and Melissa Leilani Larson [MIPodcast #84] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIConversations #5—Brian Kershisnik with Terryl Givens, “Surprising angels” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIConversations #4—Thomas F. Rogers with Terryl Givens, “Risk-taking discipleship” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
What comes to mind when you hear the term “American Christians”? Most people today think of the so-called Religious Right, a loosely knit group of conservative Christians who oppose legal abortion, favor gun rights, and hail Ronald Reagan as one like unto Moses. Matthew Bowman’s latest book is a wake-up call, reminding us that there’s […]
The post Christianity and American politics, with Matthew Bowman [MIPodcast #82] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIConversations #3—Kate Holbrook with Terryl Givens, “Extraordinary Women in Mormon History” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Forgiveness, with Mpho Tutu van Furth [MIPodcast #81] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIConversations #2—Steven Peck and Terryl Givens, “The God Who Marvels” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
How can scholars of religion explain religious faith without explaining it away? Over the centuries many scholars have come to discuss religion as a purely human phenomenon, leaving no room for “special beings” like God, Jesus Christ, angels, or departed loved ones. Robert Orsi confronts such scholarship in his new book History and Presence, inviting scholars to […]
The post Robert Orsi on History and Presence [MIPodcast #80] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post MIConversations #1—George Handley and Terryl Givens, “Can creation heal us?” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Americans in the early nineteenth century loved the writing of John Milton. Milton’s embrace of liberal individualism, meritocracy, and his championing of the right to free speech made him an easy sell to anti-British Americans. His epic poem Paradise Lost was a bestseller. Something like twenty editions of Paradise Lost were produced in America during the first half of […]
The post Milton and early Mormonism, with John Rogers [MIPodcast #79] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Latter-day Saint historians have long demonstrated that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not established all at once, but that it has unfolded—line upon line, precept upon precept, to borrow a biblical phrase. Ideas about priesthood in Mormonism, for example, have developed in fascinating ways. In a new book from Oxford University Press, […]
The post The development of LDS liturgy and cosmology, with Jonathan Stapley [MIPodcast #78] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The Reverend Billy Graham rose to international prominence in the 1940s preaching an evangelical Christian gospel. Hailing from North Carolina, the charismatic preacher filled stadiums, counseled American presidents, and encouraged millions of people around the world to seek personal transformation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Historian Grant Wacker joins us to talk […]
The post Billy Graham and the shaping of a nation, with Grant Wacker [MIPodcast #77] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Adam Miller wrote Letters to a Young Mormon for thoughtful people yearning for a more thoughtful faith. It's a little book, but it packs a powerful punch. In this episode, Miller is talks about the new second expanded edition, which the Maxwell Institute recently published in partnership with Deseret Book. We also talk about the perils of Mormon quasi-celebrity, bad book reviews, apologetics, his future projects, and other things.
The post Adam Miller on more Letters to a Young Mormon [MIPodcast #76] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The Book of Mormon warns against mistaking intelligence for wisdom, but adds a crucial caveat: “to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God” (2 Nephi 9:29). Where LDS founding prophet Joseph Smith declared that a person is saved no faster than they get knowledge, historian Richard Bushman adds a corollary: A person gains knowledge no faster than they are saved. Bushman […]
The post “To be learned is good,” with Richard Bushman [MIPodcast #75] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Latter-day Saint scholar Terryl L. Givens is back with us again. Dr. Givens spent the summer here at the Institute as a Neal A. Maxwell fellow. It was a real treat to have Terryl here in the building, and he sat down with MIPodcast host Blair Hodges to talk about the second and final book […]
The post Feeding the Flock, with Terryl L. Givens [MIPodcast #74] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
If you’re familiar with African American religious history, you know that black women outnumber black men in the church. There are a lot of theories about why, too. Author Zora Neale Hurston, for example, said that black women were “the mules of the world,” and that the church gave them a place to lay their […]
The post Women and power in the Church of God in Christ, with Anthea Butler [MIPodcast #73] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
When the Qur’an was revealed to the prophet Muhammad, it arrived in the language of his place and time—Arabic. To this day, for virtually all Muslims whether Arab or not, the Qur’an only truly exists in Arabic. You can read an English translation, there are many to choose from, but the Qur’an is said to […]
The post The Koran in English, with Bruce Lawrence and David Peck [MIPodcast #72] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post Mormon exorcism lore, with Stephen Taysom [MIPodcast #71] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Who owns religion? Who gets to say what is right or wrong, fact or fiction about any religious tradition? Religious believers and scholars of religion don’t always see eye to eye on this question. In this episode, Dr. Ravi Gupta joins us to talk about where the academic study of religion meets the practice of […]
The post A Hindu perspective on being a disciple-scholar, with Ravi Gupta [MIPodcast #70] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
An estimated twelve million Africans were forced into slavery from the seventeenth century until Emancipation. Torn from their land, separated from family and kin, their bodies were stolen and their very identities were at risk of annihilation. So Africans became African Americans. Years before Reconstruction, they began reconstructing their own past. Many of them combined […]
The post Setting down the sacred past of African Americans, with Laurie Maffly-Kipp [MIPodcast #69] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Martin Luther believed the Bible proved that the Catholic Church had gone astray. His efforts to bring reform to the church wound up leading to his excommunication and the Reformation was off and running. In the previous two episodes we heard from Craig Harline and Brad Gregory, talking about Martin Luther’s life and the Reformation […]
The post Reforming the sacraments, with Jennifer Powell McNutt [MIPodcast #68] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
When Martin Luther published his 95 Theses in October of 1517 he had no intention of starting a revolution. But he became a rebel and the Reformation took off. And then the Reformation rebelled against Luther, and we’re still dealing with consequences that would have horrified the reformer five hundred years later. That’s how historian […]
The post How the Reformation rebelled against Luther, with Brad S. Gregory [MIPodcast #67] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
What was Martin Luther trying to accomplish when he nailed his ninety-five theses to the Wittenburg church door? Would you believe he didn’t intend to start a new religious movement at all? Down the centuries Martin Luther has been lauded by some, lambasted by others. Was he an amazing hero or an arch heretic, or perhaps […]
The post Martin Luther and the birth of the Reformation, with Craig Harline [MIPodcast #66] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
When you think about your religious beliefs, your theology, how much consideration have you given to your race? How has the color of your skin affected your understanding of God, of Jesus Christ, or of your religious community? Maybe you’ve never thought much about it. If you’re a black Latter-day Saint in America, you virtually […]
The post Womanist theology and Mormonism, with Janan Graham-Russell [MIPodcast #65] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died at the hands of an angry mob in June of 1844. Shortly before his death he is reported to have made this bold declaration: “I should be like a fish out of water, if I were out of persecutions…the Lord […]
The post Heresy, opposition, and becoming gods, with Adam J. Powell [MIPodcast #64] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In the late nineteenth century, a newspaper written and published by women and for women sprung up in what most Americans thought was the unlikeliest of locations: Utah, the home of the Mormons. Along the top of the newspaper the masthead proudly declared its concern: “The Rights of the Women of Zion, and the Rights […]
The post Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and “A House Full of Females” [MIPodcast #62] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
There’s a famous passage from First Corinthians: “Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted into them to speak. But they are commanded to be under obedience, as also say the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husband at home. For it is a shame […]
The post Women at the Latter-day Saint pulpit, with Jennifer Reeder and Kate Holbrook [MIPodcast #61] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
When the Lotus Sutra arrived in Boston in 1844 the few people who could read it were intrigued by its parables that reminded them of the Bible. For these westerners, the Lotus was like a gateway into a mysterious and profound culture from across the world. But it took a long time to get there, from […]
The post The life of the Lotus Sutra, with Donald S. Lopez, Jr. [MIPodcast #60] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Are you familiar with the New Atheists? The late Christopher Hitchens wrote biting books about religion as “poison,” Richard Dawkins champions a sort of scientism as a replacement for faith, and people like Bill Maher spend time each evening poking fun at the pious. Despite their unofficial “New Atheist” title, they’re perhaps not actually all […]
The post Village atheists, with Leigh Eric Schmidt [MIPodcast #59] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
People are usually more comfortable talking about their strengths rather than their weaknesses. It’s human nature. The same can be said about religious studies. When scholars talk about it, you can expect them to emphasize the positive. But like many academic fields, religious studies also faces challenges. Some come from the outside—say, when schools and […]
The post Some challenges of religious studies, with Thomas Tweed [MIPodcast #58] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
One Hundred Birds Taught Me to Fly is the latest book in the Maxwell Institute's Living Faith series. In this episode, author Ashley Mae Hoiland joins Blair Hodges, co-editor of the series, to talk about the revelatory nature of writing.
The book is for restless souls who [...]
The post One Hundred Birds Taught Me to Fly, with Ashley Mae Hoiland [MIPodcast #57] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The deep red state of Utah is surprising pundits as the 2016 presidential election approaches. For the first time in over fifty years, the state is poised to vote for someone other than the Republican nominee. Mormons within the Republican party have been singled out as a significant reason Utah is looking elsewhere. It’s useful to […]
The post Mormons and American politics, with David E. Campbell and J. Quin Monson [MIPodcast #56] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
As the twentieth century dawned, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remained at odds with the United States, a country that had provided fertile soil for the growth of their faith, but also a country they felt alienated from. Some of the things Mormons did to keep themselves separate from the outside world ended […]
The post American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism, with Thomas W. Simpson [MIPodcast #55] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Perhaps you’ve experienced moments of doubt about your religious faith. Or maybe you’re one of the people who find doubt to be a more frequent companion in your spiritual life. Either way, doubt can be unsettling and uncomfortable. Biblical scholar Peter Enns suggests that part of the problem is that many Christians have come to […]
The post The Sin of Certainty, with Peter Enns [MIPodcast #54] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
James L. Kugel is one of the foremost scholars of the Hebrew Bible of our time. Kugel recently visited BYU’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute to talk about his work and about the relationship between religious faith and scholarship about scripture. Kugel is an orthodox Jew and biblical scholar who became somewhat legendary for revisiting ancient paradigms. […]
The post James L. Kugel on how to read the Bible [MIPodcast #53] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
“Be fruitful and multiply.” According to the book of Genesis, these are the first words God speaks to humanity. People have understood these words over the centuries as a commandment to procreate, and the ability to bear and raise children has been understood as a divine blessing. But what about people who can’t bear children due […]
The post Reconceiving infertility in the Bible, with Candida Moss and Joel Baden [MIPodcast #52] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
What good is a dead body? How have humans cared for dead bodies through the ages and why do we do it? What do dead bodies tell us about the things we value most and about the things we’re afraid of? All of us will be dead bodies someday, so these questions are relevant for everyone. […]
The post The Work of the Dead, with Thomas W. Laqueur [MIPodcast #51] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In some ways it’s been a lonelier than usual summer at the Maxwell Institute. Since it was founded in 2006 we’ve had the privilege of hosting the Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, a remarkable research opportunity that is somewhat legendary for the people that have passed through it, like Reid Neilson of the Church History Library, […]
The post The Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, 2015 [MIPodcast #50] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
When the Protestant Reformer John Calvin published his book Institutes of the Christian Religion in the 1500s, he couldn't have anticipated the incredibly different purposes his book would come to serve long after he died and was buried somewhere in an unmarked grave by his own request. The Institutes was a blockbuster[...]
The post #49—The unexpected life of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, with Bruce Gordon [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
What do you know about African American religious history? Julius H. Bailey joins us in this episode to talk about his new overview, Down in the Valley: An Introduction to African American History. Bailey’s book operates on a few different levels. The ground floor contains a general story beginning with African traditional religions. It moves through slavery and […]
The post #48—(Almost) all about African American religious history, with Julius H. Bailey [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
If you surveyed Americans, asking them to identify themselves as:
A) Catholic
B) Muslim
C) Evangelical
D) Mormon
...and so on, an increasing number will select the very last option—none of the above. [...]
The post #47—The spiritual lives of America’s “Nones,” with Elizabeth Drescher [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The New York Times Review of Books says Marilynne Robinson “is not like any other writer. She has created a small, rich, and fearless body of work in which religion exists unashamedly, as does doubt, unashamedly.” Robinson is perhaps best known for her Pulitzer Prize winning novel Gilead (2004). This year she received the Library of […]
The post #46—Marilynne Robinson on The Givenness of Things [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post #45— How (Not) to Be Secular, with James K. A. Smith [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Even if you’ve never heard of a Christian movement scholars call “the prosperity gospel,” chances are you know some of its most famous proponents, like Joel Osteen or Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. “The prosperity gospel” is not officially associated with any particular denomination. It’s more a style of Christianity, one that emphasizes God’s desire to […]
The post #44—Kate Bowler’s history of the prosperity gospel movement [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
C. S. Lewis died in 1963 on the same day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Before the decade was over, few expected his works to last. “We think Lewis’s star has risen and is about to set,” said one Catholic publisher. “His day is over. No one will be reading C. S. Lewis twenty years […]
The post #43—The life of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, with George Marsden [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In the land of Israel, rain falls during a single, crucial, season of the year beginning in October or November and continuing through the spring. Lives depended on successful harvests which depended on healthy rainfall. According to the Hebrew scriptures, weather proved God's blessing or cursing the people of Israel:
"From the rain of the heavens, you will drink water—
a land that the Lord your God seeks out perpetually;
the eyes of the Lord your God are upon it" [...]
The post #42—The rabbis and the rain, with Julia Watts Belser [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In the last episode we heard from three editors of a new book of Relief Society documents published by the LDS Church. Jill Mulvay Derr, Kate Holbrook, and Matt Grow talked about the origins of the Relief Society and why its activities were suspended in 1844. Today is the Relief Society’s 174th anniversary. In this episode […]
The post #41—The First Fifty Years of Relief Society, with Jill Mulvay Derr, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew Grow (2 of 2) [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The Church Historian’s Press just released a landmark book of documents all about the Relief Society, the women’s organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was organized in 1842 with high hopes for benevolent service and holiness, and it was suspended in 1844 in the midst of conflict and controversy. Thursday, […]
The post #40—The First Fifty Years of Relief Society, with Jill Mulvay Derr, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew Grow (1 of 2) [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The New Testament records seven phrases Jesus uttered as he hung on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23.34) “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23.43) “Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.” (John 19.26–27) “My God, My […]
The post #39—The seven last words of Jesus, with James Martin, SJ [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
When N.T. Wright was composing a massive 1600+ page treatment of the apostle Paul he wanted to begin with an overview of how scholars have interpreted Paul over the years. It quickly became apparent that the topic could fill its own book, and Paul and His Recent Interpreters was born. In this episode Wright explains how various historical figures understood Paul. Along the way we see how [...]
The post #38—N.T. Wright on Paul and His Recent Interpreters [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Willis Jenkins wanted to inspire Christians to exercise faith in God as well as in contemporary science—science which suggests humans are damaging the earth God created. So he did like any good academic does; he wrote a book called Ecologies of Grace, which explores how being saved [...]
The post #37—Climate change and Christianity, with Willis Jenkins [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
There’s an old saying that goes “the essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity.” Sometimes scholars bring clarity by making things less clear. This is true in most academic pursuits, but it matters especially in biblical scholarship which deals with sacred texts. Peter Martens explores the task of Bible interpreters, religious, scholarly, and scholarly-religious, […]
The post #36—Part 2: Early Christian interpreters of the Bible and the scholars who interpret them, with Peter Martens [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
For centuries Christians have gathered to worship God and study the Bible. But this same text that has unified the faithful has also been the source of much discord. One of the most exciting—though by no means uncontroversial—academic developments during the past century has been the renaissance of interest in early Christian biblical scholarship. Earlier this year […]
The post #35—Part 1: Early Christian interpreters of the Bible and the scholars who interpret them, with Peter Martens [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
On October 27, the third book in the Maxwell Institute's Living Faith series was released—Steven L. Peck's Evolving Faith: Wanderings of a Mormon Biologist. We celebrated by hosting a panel discussion at Writ & Vision in Provo, Utah. Three panelists shared their thoughts about[...]
The post #34—An ‘Evolving Faith’ panel discussion [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The Study Quran from HarperOne is a historic and ground-breaking work produced by a distinguished team of Islamic Studies scholars. Maria Dakake and Joseph Lumbard are two of the book’s general editors. They helped produce the brand new translation and contributed to footnotes and essays exploring various aspects of Islam’s holy scripture. In this episode, we are privileged to hear […]
The post #33—The Study Quran, with Maria Dakake and Joseph Lumbard [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post #32—The printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon, with church historian Robin Scott Jensen [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Everyone knows the classic story of how America was founded by pilgrims and puritans fleeing oppressive lands in search of religious freedom. The problem is that this classic story doesn't adequately relate the much messier and more interesting history of religious tolerance in the United States or elsewhere. From Roger Williams's Bloudy Tenent to today's Internet debates, the idea of [...]
The post #31—Religious tolerance in American history, with Chris Beneke and Christopher Grenda [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Terryl and Fiona Givens joined me back in July of 2013 for the first episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, and it seems fitting that they're back on the nice round number of episode 30.
Here we talk about their latest book The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections on the Quest for Faith. One of the fundamental [...]
The post #30—Terryl and Fiona Givens on The Crucible of Doubt [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
gracePaul’s New Testament letter to the Romans is one of the most important Christian writings ever recorded. The passage of time has obscured the letter’s original context, not to mention the language it’s been rendered in—from its original Greek to archaic King James English. It can be difficult for readers today to appreciate the logic […]
The post #29—Adam Miller’s Grace is Not God’s Backup Plan [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Amy-Jill Levine is a Jewish scholar with a deep love for the New Testament. Her latest book is a detailed, scholarly, and witty investigation of some of Jesus's parables. It's called Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi. Levine exposes ways the parables have been misinterpreted from the past to the present and shows that they are as relevant today as they were when they were recorded centuries ago.
The post #28—The parables of Jesus, with Amy-Jill Levine [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
“If you, like me, picture God in lots of different ways, or if sometimes God seems easy to speak about, and on some days you have no words for God, and sometimes you feel that there are too many words for God, so many that the abundance stumps you—if that is the case, then you […]
The post #27—Wearing God, a conversation with Lauren F. Winner [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post #26—Martyrdom past and present, with Jolyon Mitchell [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post #25—All about the Jewish Annotated New Testament, with Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Brettler [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
On April 9, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazi regime in Germany just two weeks before Allied forces liberated the camp where he was hanged—70 years ago this week. Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian. Leading up to his death at the age of 44, Bonhoeffer spent two years held captive […]
The post #24—Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison, with Martin E. Marty [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post #23—Race and Mormonism in the 19th century, with Paul Reeve and Ardis Parshall (part 2) [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
One of the most anticipated reviews in the upcoming Mormon Studies Review focuses on a landmark book called Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness by W. Paul Reeve. In this special two-part episode, historians Reeve and Ardis E. Parshall talk about the book and answer questions about the historian's craft more broadly.
The post #22—Race and Mormonism in the 19th century, with Paul Reeve and Ardis Parshall (part 1 of 2) [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
This episode delves into the most famous Hindu book of scripture. The Bhagavad Gita relates a conversation between god and human about war and violence, duty and obligation. Millions have looked to the Gita to gain insight into the struggle for self-mastery that we all must wage. Richard H. Davis tells the story from its beginnings in ancient India, through medieval […]
The post #21—The Bhagavad Gita, with Richard H. Davis [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Many Latter-day Saints find it difficult to appreciate the archaic King James language of the New Testament. The gospel writers presented their witnesses to an ancient audience whose customs are unfamiliar to readers today. Biblical scholarship has come a long way in clarifying cultural and historical backgrounds of scripture but most Mormons haven’t taken advantage […]
The post #20—Reading the New Testament Gospels with Julie M. Smith [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century. The scrolls include the oldest biblical manuscripts ever found. Most intriguingly, they date from the crucial transitional period when Christianity began to emerge from Judaism. They’ve been the focus of rigorous debate and research ever since they came back from […]
The post #19—Investigating the Dead Sea Scrolls, with John J. Collins [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
“Oh, that my words were written down! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever!” (Job 19:23-24) Having indeed been written down, Job’s words are found in one of the most fascinating books in the Bible and in world […]
The post #18- Job through the ages, with Mark Larrimore [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” It’s one of the most easily recognizable opening lines from any literary work, the Book of Genesis, a book that has been interpreted in countless ways over the thousands of years of its existence. In this episode I speak about it with an expert on […]
The post #17- The life of Genesis, with Ronald Hendel [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Dr. Peter Enns just released a brand new book called The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It. Enns wants the Bible to be interpreted for what it actually seems to be [...]
The post #16- Peter Enns on reading the Bible critically and religiously [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Does academic study of the Bible undermine its value or diminish the religious messages it contains? In 2012, three scholars—a Jew, a Protestant, and a Catholic—came together at the intersection of their academic work on the Bible and their religious faith to discuss that very question. Their outstanding book The Bible and the Believer seeks to demonstrate […]
The post #15- Reading the Bible critically and religiously, with Marc Brettler [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Miranda Wilcox and John Young recently published one of the most fascinating books ever compiled on the subject of Mormon studies. It's called Standing Apart. In the book, a group of Latter-day Saint scholars examine Mormonism's "Great Apostasy" narrative.
The post #14- Standing Apart, or Reconsidering the “Great Apostasy,” featuring Miranda Wilcox and John Young [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Although the Maxwell Institute focuses its attention primarily on religious texts of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, this episode examines a religious text from an eastern tradition (the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali) in order get a better understanding of the nature of religious texts in general.
The post #13- What’s the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, featuring David Gordon White [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
What's it like to participate in the Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture? Six participants from this year's seminar answer that question in this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast.
The post #12- Summer Seminar scholars discuss “The History of the Mormon Family” [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Bernard McGinn recently completed the biography of one of the most influential theological works in Christian history: Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologiae, and he joins us in this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast to talk about it. McGinn’s book is part of Princeton University Press’s “Lives of Great Religious Books” series in which leading scholars write biographies of the birth […]
The post #11- Bernard McGinn on Aquinas’s Summa theologiae [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
This episode features three scholars discussing the relevance of scripture. Last Wednesday, Zion's Books in Provo, Utah hosted a roundtable discussion on the subject featuring Joseph Spencer, David Bokovoy, and Adam Miller, who read a chapter from his recent release, Letters to a Young Mormon.
The post #10- Spencer, Bokovoy, Miller: Three Mormon scholars discuss the relevance of scripture [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
It’s all about Brigham Young on this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast.
The post #9- John Turner on Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, historian Molly Worthen joins us to discuss her new book Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism. Evangelical Christians comprise nearly 25% of the population of the United States, and although the tradition has produced a number of outstanding scholars, Evangelicalism has a reputation for promoting anti-intellectualism. Having [...]
The post #8- Molly Worthen on faith and the intellect in American Evangelicalism [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
The post #7—“Joseph Smith’s American Bible,” by Terryl Givens [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, Adam S. Miller discusses his latest book Letters to a Young Mormon. Miller spends his days...
The post #6- Adam Miller discusses Letters to a Young Mormon [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, physician and historian Samuel M. Brown discusses his book, In Heaven as it is On Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death and his recent BYU Studies article, "Believing Adoption."
The post #5- Samuel Brown on In Heaven as It Is on Earth and “Believing Adoption” [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
This episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast focuses on the topic of apologetics, or defending the faith. Myron Bradley Penner, an Anglican priest from Canada, discusses his new book, The End of Apologetics: Christian Witness in a Postmodern Context. In the book, Penner addresses problems he sees with certain modern apologetic methods, but they might not be what you expect.
The post #4- Myron Penner on The End of Apologetics [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
In this episode of the MI Podcast, Blair Hodges talks to author James Goldberg about The Five Books of Jesus. James Goldberg is a Mormon author with Jewish and Sikh roots and these background elements permeate his recent novel. The story of Jesus has been told and retold, of course, for centuries. Over the past 200 years or so a “quest for the historical Jesus” has been launched, with archaeologists, theologians, and historians combing records and ruins for evidence of the life and teachings of Jesus. At the same time, another quest was launched—“the quest for the fictional Jesus.”
The post #3- James Goldberg on The Five Books of Jesus [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
Mormon theology and environmental concerns is our topic in this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast.
The post #2- George Handley on Mormonism and the environment [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
This first episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast features Fiona and Terryl Givens, authors of The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life. We talk briefly about the book—subjects like the character of God, premortality, and human agency—which you can learn more about in Episode 23 of “The Mormon Book Review.” This interview focuses […]
The post #1- Terryl and Fiona Givens, on faith, doubt, and The God Who Weeps [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.
