Maxwell Institute Podcast

For centuries, Christians have celebrated Mary as the miraculous virgin and Mother of God. Catherine Taylor suggests a much richer history of traditions about Mary, much closer to the experiences of Christian women down through the ages. These traditions aren’t found in the Bible. We’ll need to look at other texts and ancient artifacts—burial boxes, jewelry, art. Catherine Taylor specializes in late antique Christian art history and iconography and joins us to talk about women of the ancient world. Images discussed in this episode are available in the transcript.  About Catherine Taylor Catherine Gines Taylor is the Hugh W. Nibley Postdoctoral Fellow. She is author of Late Antique Images of the Virgin Annunciate Spinning: Allotting the Scarlet and the Purple. She specializes in late antique Christian art history and iconography. Dr. Taylor holds graduate degrees from the University of Manchester and Brigham Young University. Her work is focused on the interdisciplinary study of art, scripture, lay piety, Chri

Get behind the scenes of the Maxwell Institute Podcast in this special interview celebrating one hundred episodes. Jeremy King, the Maxwell Institute’s administrator and controller, invited host Blair Hodges to talk about how the show is made and what he hopes it offers to listeners. About the Guest Blair Hodges is the public communications specialist at the Maxwell Institute. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication with a minor in religious studies from the University of Utah in 2010. He received a master’s degree in religious studies from Georgetown University in 2013. He hosts, produces, and edits the Maxwell Institute Podcast. Hodges also served as an acquisitions and development editor for the Living Faith series from 2013–2017 and as chief editorial assistant for the Mormon Studies Review from volumes 1–5. Jeremy King hosted this episode. He is the Administrator and Controller for the Maxwell Institute. He earned a bachelor’s of science in accounting from BYU–Idaho, minoring in English and

This episode continues our special series of episodes on the Maxwell Institute’s brief theological introductions to the Book of Mormon. Terryl Givens is author of the volume on what many readers consider to be the most challenging part of the scripture—Second Nephi. The authors of our Brief Theological Introductions are “seeking Christ in scripture by combining intellectual rigor and the disciple’s yearning for holiness.” About the Guest Terryl L. Givens is a Neal A. Maxwell Senior Research Fellow. He formerly held the Jabez A. Bostwick Chair of English and was Professor of Literature and Religion at the University of Richmond. He is the author of many books about Latter-day Saint history and culture, including Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought, Feeding the Flock: The Foundations of Mormon Practice, and By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture That Launched a New World Religion, each with Oxford University Press. He is also co-author, with Fiona Givens, of The God Who Weeps, The Cruc

“I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents...” So begins the first book in the Book of Mormon. First Nephi. And this is the first episode in a special series of interviews with authors of the Maxwell Institute’s forthcoming “Brief Theological Introductions to the Book of Mormon. Twelve different authors tackle twelve different parts of the book, and Joseph M. Spencer of Brigham Young University was given the task of approaching First Nephi. Learn more about the Brief Theological Introductions series at mi.byu.edu/brief. About the Guest Joseph M. Spencer is an assistant professor in the department of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University and editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. He’s written a number of books on the Book of Mormon such as An Other Testament: On Typology, For Zion: A Mormon Theology of Hope, and his latest book, First Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction. The post Briefly First Nephi, with Joseph M. Spencer [MIPodcast #98] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell

Maxwell Institute Conversations are special episodes of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, hosted by Terryl Givens and created in collaboration with Faith Matters Foundation. Audio and video available. Is faith a choice? Does faith come naturally to some more than others? Terryl Givens and Rosalynde Welch have written and spoken on these questions, and each of them bring interesting perspectives to the discussion. About the Guest ROSALYNDE FRANDSEN WELCH is an independent scholar in St. Louis, Missouri and a member of the Maxwell Institute’s advisory board. She is working on a book about Ether for the Institute’s Brief Theological Introductions series on the Book of Mormon. The post MIConversations #10—Terryl Givens with Rosaynde Welch, “Life on the road to Emmaus” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

When Latter-day Saint apostle Elder Jeffrey R. Holland visited Oxford University in England last year, he became fast friends with Reverend Dr. Andrew Teal of Pembroke College. The two of them hit it off so well that Elder Holland invited Dr. Teal to Utah to attend General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and to visit Brigham Young University. Rev. Teal spent some time at the Maxwell Institute where he sat down with Blair Hodges to talk about his life as a chaplain, about inter-religious dialogue, about faith, hope, and charity, and all sorts of other things. Read more about Rev. Teal’s visit with Elder Holland here. About the Guest The Rev. Dr. Andrew Teal is Chaplain and Fellow at Pembroke College and Lecturer in Theology and Religion within Oxford University. He is Warden of the Community of the Sisters of the Love of God, and a trustee of All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor, Helen and Douglas House Children’s Hospices, St John’s Home for Vulnerable people, and The Porch for home

One of the most outspoken critics of Chairman Mao’s cultural revolution was a young poet and journalist named Lin Zhao. She was a Christian convert, then a member of the Communist Party, then an enemy of the state who paid for her opposition with her life. She was executed by firing squad. And her story would have vanished—along with the lives of some two million other Chinese who were killed during the cultural revolution—but she left a record. She wrote her witness in her own blood. In this episode you’ll encounter one of Christianity’s most remarkable martyrs of the twentieth century. Professor Xi Lian joins us to discuss his latest book, Blood Letters: The Untold Story of Lin Zhao, A Martyr in Mao’s China. About the Guest XI LIAN, Professor of World Christianity at Duke Divinity School, is the author of Blood Letters: The Untold Story of Lin Zhao, A Martyr in Mao’s China (2018). His other books include The Conversion of Missionaries: Liberalism in American Protestant Missions in China, 1907-1932 (Pennsylv

This bonus episode feature Spencer Fluhman delivering his 2019 BYU Women’s Conference address, “Answering Sincere Questions about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” It also features an announcement about the Institute’s forthcoming series about the Book of Mormon, Brief Theological Introductions. Originally presented on May 2, 2019. The post “Answering sincere gospel questions,” with Spencer Fluhman [MIPodcast #95] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Almost fifty million people in the United States live with some type of physical or intellectual disability. That’s one in five. In this special episode, twelve distinguished guests—scholars, organizers, religious leaders, writers—join us to talk about how we can create communities of belonging where people with disabilities and everyone else can feel welcome. This panel discussion took place during the Summer Institute on Theology and Disability at Hope College. Learn more about disability resources in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at disability.churchofjesuschrist.org. The video referenced during the episode is available here. About the Guests (in order of appearance) Devan Stahl Assistant professor in the Department of Religion at Baylor University. Stahl studies intersections between disability studies, theology, and bioethics. Munorwei Chirovamavi Executive director of “To Love a Child” in Zimbabwe, a ministry providing pre-school children with a secure and caring environment while fee

When you think about the earliest Christians you might imagine the twelve disciples, like Peter and John. Maybe Paul comes to mind. But what about women in early Christianity? What drew them to a life of discipleship and what did they bring to the community and the church as it began to spread? Few people have spent as much time thinking about these questions as Dr. Carolyn Osiek, co-author of A Woman’s Place: House Churches in Earliest Christianity. Osiek visited BYU’s Maxwell Institute earlier this year to deliver the keynote address at the conference “Material Culture and Women’s Religious Experience in Antiquity.” You can watch her address now on the Institute’s YouTube channel. In this interview we dig a little deeper into her research and thoughts about how the lives of ancient Christian women wove culture and faith into a tapestry of devotion. About the Guest CAROLYN OSIEK, RSCJ is Charles Fischer Professor of New Testament emerita with the Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. She is co

Maxwell Institute Conversations are special episodes of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, hosted by Terryl Givens and created in collaboration with Faith Matters Foundation. Audio and video available. Samuel Brown deals in matters of life and death every day. He’s a doctor working in a Shock/Trauma ICU. In his spare time, he’s also a theologian and a historian of Latter-day Saint thought. In this interview with Terryl Givens, Brown talks in his own unique style about the ways of discipleship. About the Guest SAMUEL M. BROWN is a medical researcher, intensive care unit physician, and historian of religion and culture. He is author of First Principles and Ordinances, part of the Maxwell Institute’s Living Faith book series, and a number of other titles including In Heaven as it is On Earth and Through the Valley of Shadows: Living Wills, Intensive Care, and Making Medicine Human, both from Oxford University Press. The post MIConversations #9—Terryl Givens with Samuel Brown, “Confessions of an ‘Odd I

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 Hebrew Bible’s figure of Abraham. Where did the papyrus come from? What do modern Egyptologists have to say about it? And what do these documents suggest to Latter-day Saint historians about Joseph Smith’s work as a translator? Brian Hauglid and Robin Scott Jensen join us in this episode to talk about the latest scholarship on the Book of Abraham. Jensen is an associate managing historian with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the project archivist for the Joseph Smith Papers. Hauglid is a visiting fellow here at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute. Together they edited Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts, part of the Joseph Smith Papers project. Lucky for you, this material is al

In this episode, historian Tisa Wenger of Yale University joins us to talk about religious freedom—the legal right to worship according to the dictates of a person’s own conscience. An important ideal to be sure, but—as historians like Wenger are fond of saying—it’s complicated. We’re talking about her new book Religious Freedom: The Contested History of an American Ideal. About the Guest Tisa Wenger is Associate Professor of American Religious History in the Divinity School, American Studies, and Religious Studies at Yale University, where she has been teaching for almost ten years. Wenger’s work explores the cultural politics of religious freedom, the religious histories of the American West, and the intersections of race, empire, and religion in U.S. history. Her books are We Have a Religion: The 1920s Pueblo Indian Dance Controversy and American Religious Freedom (University of North Carolina Press, 2009) and Religious Freedom: The Contested History of an American Ideal (University of North Carolina Press

We’re extremely excited that the Maxwell Institute Study Edition of the Book of Mormon has finally been published. We see it as a watershed moment in the history of Latter-day Saint scripture publishing. It’s the first study edition ever published by a church affiliate, and it includes new formatting, useful footnotes, original artwork, and more. Editor Grant Hardy and artist Brian Kershisnik join us to talk about the new edition and all the work that went into it, on this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast. About the Guests Grant Hardy is a professor of history and religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. He is the editor of The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition (University of Illinois Press) and author of Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (Oxford University Press), in addition to several other books and articles on Chinese history, ancient historiography, and studies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brian Kershisnik is an American painter

According to historian Colleen McDannell, women have played vital roles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the beginning. From the hard-scrabble pioneer worker to the Progressive Era suffragette, from the domestic housewife to the working mother, the international convert, the single adult, the black Latter-day Saint—each have contributed to the church’s development and growth in their own important ways. In this episode Dr. McDannell introduces us to many of these women whose stories are told in her new book Sister Saints: Mormon Women since the End of Polygamy. About the Guest Colleen McDannell is Professor of History and Sterling M. McMurrin Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Utah. One of the nation’s foremost experts on American religious history, she is the author of several books including Material Christianity, Heaven: A History, and her latest book, Sister Saints: Mormon Women since the End of Polygamy. The post ‘Sister Saints,’ with Colleen McDanne

Many believers live their entire lives without learning much about other people’s religion. Maybe some people avoid interreligious dialogue because they think they already know their religion is true. Maybe some people fear that such exchanges might somehow change them and they don’t want change. In this episode we’re joined by Catherine Cornille. She’s a Catholic theologian at Boston College and an enthusiastic supporter of interreligious dialogue. We’re talking about her book, The Impossibility of Interreligious Dialogue. If you’ve ever wanted to have better conversations with people of different faiths—or even with people of your own faith who see things differently—this episode is for you. Cornille identifies behaviors to cultivate when talking to people who see things differently. She says interreligious dialogue can teach us so much about other religions, but also so much more about our own. Special thanks to our friends at Brigham Young University’s Wheatley Institution, who invited Dr. Cornille to del

Maxwell Institute Conversations are special episodes of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, hosted by Terryl Givens and created in collaboration with Faith Matters Foundation. Audio and video available. A lot has changed for Thomas Wayment since this he sat down for this conversation with Terryl Givens. At the time, Thom was a professor of ancient scripture working on a new translation of the New Testament intended for Latter-day Saints. Now he’s teaching classical studies and his translation has been published by the Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book—just in time for Latter-day Saint Sunday school’s focus on the New Testament. This conversation focuses on his new translation and other insights from his work in biblical scholarship. About the Guest Thomas A. Wayment is a professor of Classical studies at Brigham Young University, where he previously worked as publications director of the Religious Studies Center and as a professor of ancient scripture. He received his BA in Classics from the University of

William Bickerton was a coal miner from England who emigrated to the United States and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1845. Without ever having met the church’s founding prophet, he soon came to see himself as Joseph Smith’s true heir, leading what came to be called simply The Church of Jesus Christ, but more commonly referred to as the Bickertonites. Despite founding the third largest church tracing its lineage back to Joseph Smith, Bickerton’s biographer Daniel P. Stone calls him a forgotten prophet—and he’s not referring to the memories of members of the Salt Lake-based church. He says in many ways Bickerton has been forgotten in his own movement. About the Guest Daniel P. Stone holds BA and MA degrees in history from the University of Florida and Florida Atlantic University. He has taught classes at Broward College, Schoolcraft College, University of Detroit Mercy, and Wayne County Community College. Currently he is a researcher at a private library-archive in Detroit, where he

Maxwell Institute Conversations are special episodes of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, hosted by Terryl Givens and created in collaboration with Faith Matters Foundation. In this episode Terryl Givens sits down with Margaret Blair Young to talk about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Congo, faith transitions, spiritual healing, writing, and more. About the Guest Margaret Blair Young is an American author, filmmaker, and writing instructor who taught for 30 years at Brigham Young University. She’s written with Darius Grey about early black Latter-day Saints and her latest project is a film about more recent black converts in Africa. The film is called Heart of Africa. The post MIConversations #6—Terryl Givens with Margaret Blair Young, “The deep waters” appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

The religious marketplace in Denmark was thrown wide open in 1849 when the country ratified its first democratic constitution. After nearly a thousand years of state control, the people were guaranteed religious freedom. No more would Danes automatically be Lutheran. Missionary-minded Christians from around the world flocked to Denmark. Thousands upon thousands of Danes joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this episode, Dr. Julie K. Allen joins us to talk about these converts as described in her new book Danish But Not Lutheran: The Impact of Mormonism on Danish Cultural Identity 1850-1920. About the Guest Julie K. Allen is a professor of comparative literature at Brigham Young University and author of Danish, But Not Lutheran: The Impact of Mormonism on Danish Cultural Identity, 1850-1920. Before coming to BYU she held the position of Paul and Renate Madsen Professor of Danish in the Scandinavian Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The post Danes, L