Mormonism

Mormonism

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Mormonism about their new books.

William R. Jankowiak, "Illicit Monogamy: Inside a Fundamentalist Mormon Community" (Columbia UP, 2023)

January 29, 2024

Illicit Monogamy

William R. Jankowiak
Hosted by Yadong Li

Angel Park is a Mormon fundamentalist polygamous community where plural marriages between one man and multiple women are common. Based on many years o…

Richard L. Bushman, "Joseph Smith's Gold Plates: A Cultural History" (Oxford UP, 2023)

January 25, 2024

Joseph Smith's Gold Plates

Richard L. Bushman
Hosted by Blair Hodges

Renowned historian of Mormonism Richard Lyman Bushman's latest book presents a vibrant history of a sacred object that gave birth to a new religion: t…

Janiece Johnson, "Convicting the Mormons: The Mountain Meadows Massacre in American Culture" (UNC Press, 2023)

August 22, 2023

Convicting the Mormons

Janiece Johnson
Hosted by Joseph Stuart
Listen:

On September 11, 1857, a small band of Mormons led by John D. Lee massacred an emigrant train of men, women, and children heading west at Mountain Mea…

Stephen C. Taysom, "Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith" (U of Utah Press, 2023)

July 28, 2023

Like a Fiery Meteor

Stephen C. Taysom
Hosted by Joseph Stuart
Listen:

Joseph F. Smith was born in 1838 to Hyrum Smith and Mary Fielding Smith. Six years later both his father and his uncle, Joseph Smith Jr., the founding…

Deidre Nicole Green, "Works of Love in a World of Violence: Feminism, Kierkegaard, and the Limits of Self-Sacrifice" (Mohr Siebeck, 2016)

April 21, 2023

Works of Love in a World of Violence

Deidre Nicole Green
Hosted by Blair Hodges

Today I talked to Deidre Nicole Green about her book Works of Love in a World of Violence: Feminism, Kierkegaard, and the Limits of Self-Sacrifice (Mo…

Benjamin E. Park, "Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier" (Liveright, 2020)

April 20, 2023

Kingdom of Nauvoo

Benjamin E. Park
Hosted by Blair Hodges

Compared to the Puritans, Mormons have rarely gotten their due, treated as fringe cultists at best or marginalized as polygamists unworthy of serious …

Deidre Nicole Green, "Jacob: A Brief Theological Introduction" (Neal A. Maxwell Institute, 2020)

April 19, 2023

Jacob

Deidre Nicole Green
Hosted by Blair Hodges

"What could I have done more for my vineyard?" In one of the Book of Mormon's most magisterial passages, the lord of a vineyard looks over his beloved…

Melanie Heath, "Forbidden Intimacies: Polygamies at the Limits of Western Tolerance" (Stanford UP, 2023)

March 21, 2023

Forbidden Intimacies

Melanie Heath

In the past thirty years, polygamy has become a flashpoint of conflict as Western governments attempt to regulate certain cultural and religious pract…

Jason Olson and James Goldberg, "The Burning Book" (By Common Consent Press, 2022)

February 6, 2023

The Burning Book

Jason Olson and James Goldberg
Hosted by Blair Hodges

The Burning Book (By Common Consent Press, 2022) is an unusual and intriguing memoir about Jason Olsen's conversion from Judaism to Mormonism. But it …

Reflections of a Mormon who Became a Catholic

January 21, 2023

Reflections of a Mormon who Became a Catholic

Jeremy Christiansen

Jeremy Christiansen’s autobiography, From the Susquehanna to the Tiber, tells the story of his happy Mormon upbringing, the questioning of his faith, …

Amanda Hendrix-Komoto, "Imperial Zions: Religion, Race, and Family in the American West and the Pacific" (U Nebraska Press, 2022)

January 3, 2023

Imperial Zions

Amanda Hendrix-Komoto
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has always been globally situated, argues Montana State history professor Amanda Hendrix-Komoto in Imp…

Peter Coviello, "Make Yourselves Gods: Mormons and the Unfinished Business of American Secularism" (U Chicago Press, 2019)

October 12, 2022

Make Yourselves Gods

Peter Coviello

From the perspective of Protestant America, nineteenth-century Mormons were the victims of a peculiar zealotry, a population deranged––socially, sexua…

On "The Book of Mormon"

September 13, 2022

On "The Book of Mormon"

David Holland
Hosted by Zachary Davis

In 1827 a young farmer named Joseph Smith was visited by an angel. The angel led him to a hillside where he uncovered a set of ancient gold plates wri…

On Mormon Fundamentalism

August 11, 2022

On Mormon Fundamentalism

Cristina Rosetti
Hosted by Gregory Soden

Cristina Rosetti completed her Ph.D. in religious studies at the University of California Riverside. She writes about Mormon fundamentalism.…

Holly Welker, "Revising Eternity: 27 Latter-Day Saint Men Reflect on Modern Relationships" (U Illinois Press, 2022)

July 8, 2022

Revising Eternity

Holly Welker
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Marriage's central role in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints distinguishes the faith while simultaneously reflecting widespread American…

On Plural Marriage

June 23, 2022

On Plural Marriage

Philippa J. Meek
Hosted by Gregory Soden

Philippa J. Meek is a doctoral fellow at the University of Exeter. Meek researches public perceptions versus the realities of plural marriage within F…

Konden Smith Hansen, "Frontier Religion: The Mormon-American Contest for the Meaning of America, 1857-1907" (U Utah Press, 2019)

May 19, 2022

Frontier Religion

Konden Smith Hansen
Hosted by Brady McCartney

In Frontier Religion: The Mormon-American Contest for the Meaning of America, 1857-1907 (U Utah Press, 2019) Konden Smith Hansen examines the dramatic…

On Mormonism, Race, and Politics

March 8, 2022

On Mormonism, Race, and Politics

Max Perry Mueller
Hosted by Gregory Soden

Max Perry Mueller received his PhD from Harvard University. He is a historian of American religion and an assistant professor of religious studies at …

Mary Woodger and Casey Griffiths, "50 Relics of the Restoration" (Ceder Fort, 2020)

May 12, 2021

50 Relics of the Restoration

Mary Jane Woodger and Casey Paul Griffiths
Hosted by Daniel Stone

Just as early Christians sought out pieces of the cross or searched for the location of Noah's Ark, it is natural for members of the Church of Jesus C…

Elisa Pulido, "The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista: Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident, and Utopian Founder, 1878-1961" (Oxford UP, 2020)

January 20, 2021

The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista

Elisa Pulido

The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista: Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident, and Utopian Founder, 1878-1961 (Oxford University Pre…