Latter-day Saint Perspectives

Welcome to the Latter-day Saint Perspectives Podcast. I’m your host Laura Harris Hales. I created this podcast over four and a half years ago. As I prepare to shutter the production, I am going to follow the example of fellow podcaster Nick Galieti and post an introductory episode explaining how this podcast got started, what I hoped to accomplish, and what you can expect as you listen. The story of this podcast began in June 2016. After co-authoring the book, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding and the website josephsmithspolygamy.org, my husband and I were asked to speak at a conference held in Sweden. After our presentation, I was approached by a local member, who mentioned he was grateful my husband and I as well as other conference presenters traveled so far to visit with the Swedish members. “We don’t have many options when we want to learn about church history,” he said. "Many of the books published in the United States are difficult to get ahold of here,” he continued. “

R. Eric SmithMatthew C. Godfrey The Interview In this episode of Latter-day Saint Perspectives Podcast, Laura Harris Hales interviews R. Eric Smith and Matthew C. Godfrey about Know Brother Joseph: New Perspectives on Joseph Smith’s Life and Character, the new book that they coedited with Matthew J. Grow. The Joseph Smith Papers Project has published thousands of pages of transcripts, introductions, footnotes, and supplemental materials in recent years. The project’s print volumes have sold more than 200,000 copies, and last year alone, the project’s website, josephsmithpapers.org, had more than 650,000 unique visitors. Though the publications are aimed primarily at scholars, these numbers make it clear that Church members are the main consumers. Other recent Church publications, such as Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, have also made information from the Joseph Smith Papers available to many Latter-day Saints. Still, it is undoubtedly the case that the majori

About the Interview: Celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of the Restoration has proven to be one of the few highlights of 2020 for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In commemoration, the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles issued a Bicentennial Proclamation that boldly affirmed beliefs in a restored church, restored priesthood authority (including priesthood keys), restored revelation through living prophets, and a restored fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This declaration affirmed church leaders’ consistent message regarding the importance of past revelations and the Latter-day Saint Church’s future path. President Russell M. Nelson and other apostles have repeatedly reminded members of the church that God’s work of restoration began with Joseph Smith, but it didn’t end with him. We believe in an “ongoing Restoration”—an organic, dynamic process by which God continues to breathe life into both the church and the world not just yesterday but today and tomorrow and always. As

The Interview: In this episode of the Latter-day Saint Perspectives Podcast, Laura Harris Hales interviews Mark Ashurst-McGee, co-author of a new in-depth study of the Kinderhook plates saga. It is well-known that Joseph Smith claimed to have translated the Book of Mormon by “the gift and power of God” from a set of golden plates that he found in a stone box buried in a hill near his home. Lesser known is his later translation from a collection of brass plates disinterred from an Indian burial mound near Kinderhook, Illinois, located about seventy miles downstream from Nauvoo. The History of the Church records that Joseph Smith “translated a portion” of these plates and declared that they contained “the history of the person with whom they were found,” who was “a descendant of Ham.” That official narrative dominated the legacy of this second set of plates for over a century. Nevertheless, controversy always swirled around the affair. This recital is a strange episode in early Mormon history, but the his

About the Interview: Many relationships may be improved simply by practicing good communication skills. In this interview, Emil Harker discusses a program for improving our ability to communicate well in crucial conversations. Over the past 20 years, he has counseled thousands of couples on how to improve their marriages by applying 7 critical skills: Assuming Good IntentDefining and Accepting RealityCommunicating with the Desired Outcome in MindClear, Direct, and Sensitive CommunicationKilling CriticismsFencing ConflictDisarming Landmines Listen as Emil Harker discusses how we can improve our most important relationships. You can receive a free book by here on Emil's website: emilharker.com. About Our Guest: Emil Harker graduated with a master’s degree in family and marriage therapy in 1999 from Utah State University. He is a popular speaker for public and professional organizations and companies as he teaches his innovative communication and conflict resolution strategies from

About the Interview: The mayhem of 2020 has brought the Apocalypse to the forefront of many people’s minds, but for Latter-day Saints, this kind of thinking is nothing new. Christopher J. Blythe describes in his new book, Terrible Revolution: Latter-Day Saints and the American Apocalypse, how apocalypticism has presented itself throughout the church’s history. Blythe notes, “Latter-day Saints of the nineteenth century belonged to an apocalyptic tradition. Their very identity was entangled with the belief that society was headed toward cataclysmic events that would uproot the current social order in favor of a divine order that would be established in its place” (p. 8). Nearly 200 years later, that tradition is still alive within Latter-day Saint culture. In this episode, Christopher J. Blythe discusses how end-times narratives have evolved and been perpetuated not only through official Latter-day Saint leadership channels but also folk traditions and lived religion. About Our Guest: Christopher Jame

The Interview: In this episode of the LDS Perspectives Podcast, Laura Harris Hales interviews Mark Ashurst-McGee, a co-editor of a new book, Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity. The Book of Mormon is well known, but there were several subsequent texts that Joseph Smith translated after the Book of Mormon. This collaborative volume is the first to provide in-depth analysis of each and every one of Joseph Smith’s translation projects. The compiled chapters explore Smith’s translation projects in focused detail and in broad contexts, as well as in comparison with one another. The various contributors approach Smith’s sacred texts historically, textually, linguistically, and literarily to offer a multidisciplinary view. While most of the contributors are Latter-day Saints, not all are. From its inception, the book was meant to be a scholarly work that anyone could read and engage in—whether a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latte

This is Laura Harris Hales, and I am pleased to introduce a special series for the Latter-day Saint Perspectives Podcast’s fourth season. We will be highlighting chapters from the much-anticipated volume, Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity edited by Michael Hubbard MacKay, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Brian M. Hauglid. In anticipation for our fourth-year launch on September 16, 2020, this is the second interview with a chapter author we will be highlighting. This week’s feature first aired as Episode 51. In this episode, Dr. Matthew J. Grey discusses his research for his chapter, “Approaching Egyptian Papyri through Biblical Language: Joseph Smith’s Use of Hebrew in His Translation of the Book of Abraham.” Be sure to listen through the end credits to hear information about our new show feature “Comments and Questions from Readers,” which provides opportunities for listeners to submit content for future episodes as well as receive gift

For the Latter-day Saint Perspectives Podcast’s fourth season, we will be highlighting chapters from the much-anticipated volume, Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity edited by Michael Hubbard MacKay, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Brian M. Hauglid. In anticipation for our fourth-year launch on September 16, 2020, we will be rereleasing interviews with chapter authors. This week’s feature first aired as Episode 55. In our discussion, Dr. Thomas A. Wayment covers his research for his chapter “A Recovered Resource: The Use of Adam Clarke’s Bible Commentary in Joseph Smith’s Bible Translation.” Be sure to listen through the end credits to hear information about our new show feature “Comments and Questions from Readers,” which provides opportunities for listeners to submit content for future episodes as well as to receive gift cards and free books. From episode 55: In this episode, Laura Harris Hales visits with Thomas Wayment, Latter-d

About the Interview: Daniel O. McClellan won the Best Student Paper Award at the 2nd Annual Book of Mormon Studies Association conference for his paper on the linguistic and rhetorical contexts of 2 Nephi 25:23. In his work as a translation coordinator for the Church, he noticed that there were inconsistencies in the translation of this verse that led to misunderstandings. This finding led him to get to the roots of the phrase by studying the historical context of the reading. His research provides persuasive arguments to an interpretation of grace that clears up common misunderstandings of Restoration theology.   In this interview, Laura Harris Hales also discusses “As Far As It Is Translated Correctly” published in the Religious Educator and “The Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament” from Lincoln Blumell’s anthology on the New Testament, which provides valuable contexts and insights into the translation process. About Our Guest: Daniel O. McClellan received his bachelor’s degree from

Debra Theobald McClendon About The Interview: In this episode of Latter-day Saint Perspectives, Laura Harris Hales interviews licensed psychologist, Debra Theobald McClendon, PhD. Anxiety is a normal emotion with adaptive functions that provides us with important data. For example, anxiety anticipates future danger and notifies us of risk, prepares us for action, and heightens our senses. These responses help us to focus on what we need to do in particular situations. Anxiety prior to completing a task may be an indication that you need to work to build proficiency to match the demand of the moment, so it has positive benefits on performance at a moderate level.  But as anxiety continues to increase to higher levels, performance proficiency decreases significantly until you shut down and are unable to cope.  Difficulty managing anxiety in a healthy way can severely impair our quality of life.  Neal A.  Maxwell clarified: “There is a difference, therefore, between being ‘anxiously engaged’ and be

About the Interview: The First Vision is a podcast produced by the Joseph Smith Papers and published by the Latter-day Saint church, which is now available on the Joseph Smith Papers website and podcast syndicators. Our guest, Spencer W. McBride, wrote and hosted the show, which has proven to be wildly popular. During its debut week, it ranked in the top 25 of all podcasts on iTunes. The format of the show is engaging and innovative, interspersing narration with interviews. Moving beyond the standard narrative, McBride elevates the discussion regarding one of the most familiar incidents in Latter-day Saint history as he urges listeners to view Joseph’s experience “through the eyes of a historian.”   Building on the familiar, guests provide additional context to the “unusual excitement” that encourages a young man to seek forgiveness for his sins in a nearby grove of trees. About Our Guest: Spencer W. McBride is a volume editor of the Documents series of the Joseph Smith Papers. He earned a P

Horrified by the Holocaust and fearful that the New Testament, as it has been traditionally understood, may have contributed to this tragedy, Christian scholars and ministers of all stripes have, in recent decades, proposed several, “extra-textual” ways of altering that understanding. Eugene Fisher, for instance, the former director of ecumenical affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, warns against reading the passion accounts, which seem to portray all Jews as guilty of Jesus’s death, from the pulpit without “adequate catechesis and preparation.” He also recommends that passages that reinforce this charge, such as the Parable of the Marriage Feast in Matthew (22:1–15), should be avoided entirely. Marilyn Salmon, an episcopal priest and writer, similarly counsels caution when presenting certain incidents in the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of John. She encourages ministers to read from Bibles that substitute “our people,” “the crowd,” or “the public” for John’s spiritually blind “

The Book of Mormon contains a multitude of short, impressive statements, which Latter-day Saints often memorize and even “master,” so they can repeat them as the occasion requires. These statements include divine promises such as “Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land” (2 Ne. 1:20); inspiring resolutions such as Nephi’s commitment to “go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded” (1 Ne. 3:7); theological insights such as “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Ne. 2:25); as well as ringing assertions such as “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10) and “charity is the pure love of Christ” (Moro. 7:47). Nevertheless, despite the obvious utility of these statements, Bradley J. Kramer asserts that “the Book of Mormon is simply too much of a book to be approached simply as a source of quotations. It is a sophisticated literary work where ideas do not exist in isolation, but where wording, characterization, setting, description, plot, a

The editors of the Joseph Smith Papers Project spend years poring over the documents that are featured in each volume. After marinating themselves in the record, they become pretty familiar with Joseph's daily activity for the period. I asked Christian Heimburger, an editor of the recently released volume 9 of the Document Series, to identify several items that shed light on Joseph's life in Nauvoo from December 1841 to April 1842. Below are the documents we discuss: Joseph Smith as editor of the Times & Seasons Revelation, 28 January 1842Agreement with Ebenezer Robinson, 4 February 1842Editorial, ca. 1 March 1842Book of Abraham Excerpt and Facsimile No. 2, 15 March 1842Church History, 1 March 1842 (Wentworth Letter)Selections from Times and Seasons, 1 and 15 March 1842 An Interesting, Cryptic Letter Letter from B. F. Withers, 28 December 1841 Missionary Work and Eastern Branches Letter from Eli Maginn, 22 March 1842Letter from Erastus Snow, 11 April 1842Petition from Philadelphia

In 1979, the first Latter-day Saint edition of the Bible was published. Notably, it included a "Topical Guide with Selected Concordance and Index." Approximately 100 Church Education System teachers and about the same number of returned missionaries at Brigham Young University assisted in the process of gathering scriptural references for a long list of categories. Subsequently, several committees continued the process of compiling, organizing, and categorizing this large collection of topical verses.1 This tool was designed as a significant resource to aid church members in a more purposeful, robust study of the scriptures. Though not exhaustive, the Topical Guide provides just under 3,500 categories with reference to over 50,000 verses of scripture across the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price.  Beginning in 2017, President Russell M. Nelson extended challenges to the members of the Church to study Jesus Christ across the Standard Works. He invited them to begin

Nick Frederick has a gift for sharing thought-provoking insights about familiar topics. In Episode 92, we discussed intertextuality in the Book of Mormon. This time around we discuss the Book of Revelation, perhaps one of the most neglected books in our contemporary Latter-day Saint lexicon. Lesson manuals usually refer to verses that encapsulate concepts or convey warm feelings about the gospel; the Book of Revelation defies this picking and choosing and demands a treatment that looks at the whole picture. But let’s admit it, wading through its ancient imagery is difficult. Lucky for us, Dr. Frederick has done the heavy lifting and shares his insights on both the beautiful metaphors contained within the book and how Joseph Smith used this New Testament book to frame Restoration concepts. Please join me as we dive for hidden treasures in the Book of Revelation. About Our Guest: Nicholas J. Frederick served a mission in Brussels, Belgium, then attended BYU where he received his BA in classi

Laura Harris Hales interviews George B. Handley about If Truth Were a Child: Essays. They dive into such diverse topics as religion, politics, and community involvement. About Our Guest: George B. Handley teaches interdisciplinary humanities at Brigham Young University. He also serves as the associate director of the Faculty Center. He received his PhD in comparative literature from UC Berkeley.

Dr. Lincoln Blumell discusses the landmark Council of Nicaea, the Nicaean Creed, and a new book he edited about New Testament times.

About the Interview: With the release of Saints last year, the study of church history officially moved beyond the dusty cobwebs of the Church History Library and the podiums of sparsely attended academic conferences to the nightstands of lay members. Suddenly, members were talking about a more complex narrative than they had rehearsed in their Sunday meetings. But was this change really sudden? J. B. Haws, associate dean of BYU’s College of Religious Education, believes this interest has been growing for many years. In 2017, guest podcaster Taunalyn Rutherford interviewed Dr. Haws about his research on what he sees as a seminal moment in the study of Latter-day Saint history. He traces the origins of this new trend and speculates why this moment has been so much more successful than a similar increase in interest during the 1970s. Their discussion identifies key players in architecting a movement that will shape how a new generation of Saints approach Latter-day Saint history. Please note that this interv