Faith Matters

By Faith Matters Foundation

Religion & Spirituality Christianity

What's Faith Matters about?

Faith Matters offers an expansive view of the Restored Gospel, thoughtful exploration of big and sometimes thorny questions, and a platform that encourages deeper engagement with our faith and our world. We focus on the Latter-day Saint (Mormon) tradition, but believe we have much to learn from other traditions and fully embrace those of other beliefs.

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185. Your Faith Isn't Broke...

09.24.2023

For this week’s episode, we’re sharing one more talk with you from our Restore gathering in 2022. This was one of our absolute favorite sessions, and it was the final presentation, right at the end on Saturday afternoon. We were ...

Faith Matters episodes:

09.24.2023 185. Your Faith Isn't Broken — Brian McLaren at Restore For this week’s episode, we’re sharing one more talk with you from our Restore gathering in 2022. This was one of our absolute favorite sessions, and it was the final presentation, right at the end on Saturday afternoon. We were ...
09.16.2023 184. Your Brain on Awe — A Conversation with Dacher Keltner Dacher Keltner is a scientist who has been studying happiness and well-being for decades. He writes that he’s taught happiness to hundreds of thousands of people around the world and that twenty years into teaching happiness, he’s actually found an ...
09.09.2023 183. Sex Educated — A Conversation with Bonnie Young When therapist Bonnie Young was a teen, the subject of sexuality was for her, “drenched in fear.” And many of us can probably relate. For many Latter-day Saints growing up in a sexually conservative culture and with a strict law ...
09.03.2023 182. Missionaries Ministering Through Service — Jeff Strong at Restore This week, we’re excited to share with you another gem from our Restore gathering last year. This is a presentation by Jeff Strong. Now his name may sound familiar to you because Jeff also came on for an incredible episode ...
08.27.2023 181. Creative Stewardship — A Conversation with Stake President Ben Behunin Today we talked with Ben Behunin, and we think when you hear him, you’ll feel immediately what we felt: this is someone who is absolutely full of pure, good energy who has been able to fully align his own gifts ...
08.20.2023 180. Renewing Our Religious Language — Terryl Givens at Restore This week we’re sharing something really special — it’s Terryl Givens’ talk that opened last year’s Restore gathering. In it, Terryl gets more personal than we’ve ever heard him, telling a dramatic story about nearly drowning off the West coast ...
08.12.2023 179. The Path of a Seeker — A Conversation with Charles Stang Religion in America is undergoing a revolution. In 1972, 90% of Americans were self-professed Christians. Now, that number is about 64%. There are now large and growing populations of non-Christians, as well as many who have no particular religious beliefs. ...
08.06.2023 178. Modesty from the Inside Out — A Conversation with Jennifer Finlayson-Fife Before we get started, we just wanted to give you a quick note that this episode does contain frank discussion about sexuality, so you can determine if it’s appropriate for anyone listening in. For this conversation, we were really happy ...
07.29.2023 177. Tackling the Teen Mental Health Crisis — A Conversation with Gov. Spencer J. Cox In recent months, Governor Spencer J. Cox of Utah has been in the news for the passage of two new state laws: one that puts strict limits on access to social media for teens, and another that would prohibit social ...
07.22.2023 176. The Cherished Doctrine of Heavenly Mother — A Conversation with McArthur Krishna and Michal Thomas The Gospel Topics essay titled “Mother in Heaven,” on churchofjesuschrist.org states “The doctrine of a Heavenly Mother is a cherished and distinctive belief among Latter-day Saints.” It’s with this in mind that three Latter-day Saint women — McArthur Krishna, Ashli ...
07.15.2023 175. The Story of You — A Conversation with Ian Morgan Cron This week we are covering the Enneagram, a fascinating topic and a tool that we’ve found to be very helpful and deeply meaningful over the past few years. For this conversation, we were lucky enough to bring on one of ...
07.09.2023 174. Faith Journey 101 — A Conversation with Jana Spangler Over the years, much of the work that we’ve done at Faith Matters has tried to take into account much of the wisdom and research that’s been done in the field of faith and adult development. It’s also been important ...
07.02.2023 173. The $100 Billion Question — A Conversation with Aaron Miller In May of this year, the news program 60 Minutes aired a segment exploring the finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. David Nielsen, a former portfolio manager at Ensign Peak, the investment arm of the Church, ...
06.25.2023 172. Exploring Atonement — A Conversation with Terryl Givens A few weeks ago, we released a conversation with Terryl Givens about the life of Eugene England. England’s work on atonement theology had felt like it necessitated another conversation, but it was too big to fit into the first one. ...
06.17.2023 171. My Lord, He Calls Me — A Conversation with Alice Faulkner Burch For this week’s episode, we were honored to bring on Alice Faulkner Burch, General Editor of Deseret Book’s new collection of essays by Black American Latter-day Saints: My Lord, He Calls Me. The title of the book comes from an ...
06.10.2023 170. Reckoning with Mountain Meadows — Richard Turley and Barbara Jones Brown In September of 1857, one of the greatest atrocities in the history of Mormonism was carried out. Now known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre, a group of Latter-day Saints led a siege in Southern Utah against a wagon train of ...
06.03.2023 169. Audacious Hope — A Conversation with Tim Shriver It isn’t easy to be born into a famous family with big expectations. And there’s few families more famous or with bigger expectations than the Kennedys. Tim Shriver’s immediate family includes not only a former US president, a US Attorney ...
05.28.2023 168. Parenting with Grace — A Conversation with Brooke Romney For this week's episode, we spoke with Brooke Romney, a guest that had been recommended to us over and over — and we were so happy we were able to connect with her. Brooke is a writer who began her ...
05.21.2023 167. When Conscience and Authority Seem to Collide — The Life of Eugene England For today’s episode, we were honored as always to bring back one of our favorite people and conversation partners, and likely one of yours: Terryl Givens. We spoke with Terryl about a book he released in 2021, a biography called ...
05.13.2023 166. Finding Beauty in the Mundane — A Conversation with Darlene Young This week’s episode is with an incredible Latter-day Saint poet, Darlene Young. Darlene has just released a new book of poetry, called Here, and published by BCC Press. It’s an honest, vulnerable, relatable, and incredibly approachable book that we laughed ...
05.07.2023 165. Love in the Trenches — A Conversation with Dr. Jason Whiting For this week’s episode, we’re bringing you a conversation with Jason Whiting, a Professor and Program Director in the Marriage and Family Therapy program at Brigham Young University. Jason received his PhD from Michigan State University, and is a Licensed ...
04.29.2023 164. The Call To Be in the World — A Conversation with Astrid Tuminez We’ve been really excited to share this week's interview with you. Our guest was Astrid Tuminez, President of Utah Valley University. Astrid is an absolute delight to talk with and listen to. She’s full of stories, humor, and deep insights ...
04.22.2023 163. Why We Can't Cherry-Pick the Bible — A Conversation with Dan McClellan We’re super excited to share this week’s episode with you. Our interview was with Dan McClellan, a Bible scholar who began sharing his insights and scholarship on TikTok in 2021, and immediately began racking up millions of views and hundreds ...
04.15.2023 162. Rethinking Forgiveness — A Conversation with Matthew Potts In June 2015, a white supremacist entered the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and murdered 9 members of the church during a Bible study. During the first court hearing, a number of family members of victims said that they forgave ...
04.08.2023 161. 15 Years to Redemption — A Conversation with Dave Durocher For today’s episode, we thought we’d bring you a really special story that we think we can all learn from, especially during this Easter season as we ponder concepts like redemption and new life. Our guest was Dave Durocher, the ...
04.02.2023 160. Reckoning with Marriage — A Conversation with Rachel Rueckert This week we’re bringing you a conversation with Rachel Rueckert, a really amazing young writer who recently published a memoir called East Winds: A Global Quest to Reckon with Marriage. Rachel’s story is a fascinating one. Perhaps due to a ...
03.25.2023 159. How to Celebrate Holy Week — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman When BYU professor Eric Huntsman was growing up, he spent time among Catholics in Pittsburgh and Baptists in Alabama and came to love the different ways other Christian denominations worshiped Jesus. And one of his favorite ways that other Christians ...
03.18.2023 158. The Other Side Academy: "Zion with F-Bombs" — Joseph Grenny at Restore This week we’re sharing with you one of the most popular presentations from our Restore gathering that happened last October — a talk by Joseph Grenny called “The Other Side.” As a young father, Joseph was determined to have the ...
03.11.2023 157. Using Your Gifts for Good — A Conversation with Liz Shropshire For this week’s episode, we’re bringing you a story that we really think will uplift and inspire you. Our guest was Liz Shropshire, the founder of Peace Through Music. In our interview with her, Liz tells the story of how ...
03.04.2023 156. Friendship in Faith — A Conversation with Andrew Teal Several years ago, Matthew Holland, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s son, was on a sabbatical at Oxford University. One day, he passed by a door that said “Chaplain.” Intrigued, he decided to knock. Thus began a remarkable relationship with Andrew Teal, ...
02.24.2023 155. A Year of War and Miracles — Svitlana Miller and Nancy Cadjan To help, head to https://www.toukrainewithlove.org It’s been exactly a year since the world received the shocking news that Russian troops had invaded Ukraine, and exactly a year since the lives of millions of Ukrainian people changed forever. As ...
02.19.2023 154. Every Needful Thing — Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook Today, you’re going to hear a really special episode. It’s a conversation with Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook that took place last summer, not long before Kate’s passing in August 2022. We spoke with Kate and Melissa about an amazing ...
02.12.2023 153. Developing Sexual Wholeness — Jennifer Finlayson-Fife This week, we’re sharing another one of our favorite presentations from our Restore conference, given by Jennifer Finlayson-Fife and called Developing Sexual Wholeness. In her talk, Jennifer brilliantly laid out human sexuality in terms of development, in the same way ...
02.05.2023 152. The Richard Bushman Interview This week's guest is Richard Bushman, who is simply one of the most important scholarly voices ever in the Latter-day Saint tradition. Of course, Richard has been interviewed many times over the years, and we wanted to make sure that ...
01.29.2023 151. When Faith is Hard — A Conversation with Terryl Givens For today’s episode, we were honored to bring back the inimitable Terryl Givens. Terryl and his son Nathaniel have recently released a new book, called Into the Headwinds: Why Belief Has Always Been Hard — And Still Is. This is ...
01.22.2023 150. How Are We Like the Ancient Christians? — A Conversation with Kristian Heal For today’s episode, we spoke with Kristian Heal. BYU’s Maxwell Institute has just released an amazing new volume of research called Ancient Christians, that offers remarkable insights into Christianity’s earliest centuries. It’s intended for Latter-day Saints, but based on the ...
01.15.2023 149. Don't Let a Good Faith Crisis Go to Waste — Jared Halverson This week, we’re excited to share with you another presentation from our Restore conference, and one that we think was super memorable to everyone who attended. It was given by our friend Jared Halverson, and called “Don’t Let a Good ...
01.07.2023 148. Equal Partnership in Marriage — McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding This week, we’re bringing back a couple of our favorite guests and close friends, McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding. McArthur and Bethany have just released a new book titled: In the Image of Our Heavenly Parents: A Couples’ Guide ...
01.01.2023 147. Bittersweet - A Conversation with Susan Cain This week, we were honored to bring on a guest we’ve hoped to have on for years — Susan Cain. In 2013, she released her book Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. But today, ...
12.24.2022 146. Savior of the World - A Conversation with Esther Candari As we imagine many of you have, we’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus these last few weeks. From the nativity we set up in our living room to the movies we’re watching to the hymns we’re singing in Church, ...
12.18.2022 145. Envisioning the Restoration's 3rd Century — Patrick Mason Today we’re sharing with you one of our absolute favorite presentations from our Restore gathering that happened in October — a talk by Patrick Mason that he called “Envisioning the Restoration’s Third Century.” As we prepare for our Church to ...
12.11.2022 144. The Art of Transformation — A Conversation with Makoto Fujimura In Japanese culture there is a beautiful practice called Kintsugi, which translates roughly to “golden repair”. This is how it works: when a piece of ceramic breaks, like a teacup or plate, instead of gluing the broken pieces back together ...
12.04.2022 143. The Sin of Certainty — A Conversation with Peter Enns We couldn’t be more excited about today’s episode, and it’s with someone we’ve wanted to get on the podcast for years — Peter Enns. Pete is a well-known bible scholar and is the Abram S. Clemens professor of Bible Studies ...
11.27.2022 142. The Truth Will Set You Free — A Conversation with Jason Portnoy Everything seemed to be going right for Jason Portnoy. While studying engineering at Stanford, his career took a sharp and unexpected turn upward when he met the CEO of a new startup — a company that became PayPal. He was ...
11.20.2022 141. The Song of the Heart — Brett Stewart and Brandon Stewart A few years ago, we were invited by some good friends to see a Christmas concert their kids were participating in. We were happy to be invited, and of course, wanted to support our friends and their kids! So we ...
11.13.2022 140. Understanding and Preventing Sexual Abuse — Sage Williams and Rebecca Bettilyon This discusses the topic of sexual abuse and prevention of sexual abuse. Please use discretion in determining whether or not this is a suitable episode for you or for anyone listening in. Sexual abuse and sexual violence are shockingly prevalent. ...
11.13.2022 139. How the Helpline Actually Works — A Conversation with Kate Taylor Lauck *This episode discusses the topic of sexual abuse, and in particular, the recent sexual abuse case in Arizona that was covered by the Associated Press and widely shared and discussed in mainstream/social media. Please use discretion in determining whether or ...
11.05.2022 138. The Rediscovered Gospel — A Conversation with Elaine Pagels In 1945 fifty-two papyrus texts were found concealed in an earthenware jar buried in the Egyptian desert. They turned out to be early Christian writings, some dating all the way back to the first few centuries AD. Elaine Pagels, a ...
10.30.2022 137. Loving Your Enemy: Daryl Davis and the Ku Klux Klan This week, Faith Matters is bringing you a story that defies expectations so completely that you really have to hear it straight from the source. Our guest was Daryl Davis, who’s easily one of the most fascinating and inspiring people ...
10.23.2022 136. Let Me Drown with Moses — A Conversation with James Goldberg For this episode, we were happy to bring on someone that’s been on our list for a long time — scholar and writer James Goldberg. James is a fascinating person and Latter-day Saint, and brings a truly unique perspective to ...

Older episodes

Faith Matters

What's Faith Matters about?

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Faith Matters episodes:

185. Your Faith Isn't Broken — Brian McLaren at Restore

184. Your Brain on Awe — A Conversation with Dacher Keltner

183. Sex Educated — A Conversation with Bonnie Young

182. Missionaries Ministering Through Service — Jeff Strong at Restore

181. Creative Stewardship — A Conversation with Stake President Ben Behunin

180. Renewing Our Religious Language — Terryl Givens at Restore

179. The Path of a Seeker — A Conversation with Charles Stang

178. Modesty from the Inside Out — A Conversation with Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

177. Tackling the Teen Mental Health Crisis — A Conversation with Gov. Spencer J. Cox

176. The Cherished Doctrine of Heavenly Mother — A Conversation with McArthur Krishna and Michal Thomas

175. The Story of You — A Conversation with Ian Morgan Cron

174. Faith Journey 101 — A Conversation with Jana Spangler

173. The $100 Billion Question — A Conversation with Aaron Miller

172. Exploring Atonement — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

171. My Lord, He Calls Me — A Conversation with Alice Faulkner Burch

170. Reckoning with Mountain Meadows — Richard Turley and Barbara Jones Brown

169. Audacious Hope — A Conversation with Tim Shriver

168. Parenting with Grace — A Conversation with Brooke Romney

167. When Conscience and Authority Seem to Collide — The Life of Eugene England

166. Finding Beauty in the Mundane — A Conversation with Darlene Young

165. Love in the Trenches — A Conversation with Dr. Jason Whiting

164. The Call To Be in the World — A Conversation with Astrid Tuminez

163. Why We Can't Cherry-Pick the Bible — A Conversation with Dan McClellan

162. Rethinking Forgiveness — A Conversation with Matthew Potts

161. 15 Years to Redemption — A Conversation with Dave Durocher

160. Reckoning with Marriage — A Conversation with Rachel Rueckert

159. How to Celebrate Holy Week — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman

158. The Other Side Academy: "Zion with F-Bombs" — Joseph Grenny at Restore

157. Using Your Gifts for Good — A Conversation with Liz Shropshire

156. Friendship in Faith — A Conversation with Andrew Teal

155. A Year of War and Miracles — Svitlana Miller and Nancy Cadjan

154. Every Needful Thing — Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook

153. Developing Sexual Wholeness — Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

152. The Richard Bushman Interview

151. When Faith is Hard — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

150. How Are We Like the Ancient Christians? — A Conversation with Kristian Heal

149. Don't Let a Good Faith Crisis Go to Waste — Jared Halverson

148. Equal Partnership in Marriage — McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding

147. Bittersweet - A Conversation with Susan Cain

146. Savior of the World - A Conversation with Esther Candari

145. Envisioning the Restoration's 3rd Century — Patrick Mason

144. The Art of Transformation — A Conversation with Makoto Fujimura

143. The Sin of Certainty — A Conversation with Peter Enns

142. The Truth Will Set You Free — A Conversation with Jason Portnoy

141. The Song of the Heart — Brett Stewart and Brandon Stewart

140. Understanding and Preventing Sexual Abuse — Sage Williams and Rebecca Bettilyon

139. How the Helpline Actually Works — A Conversation with Kate Taylor Lauck

138. The Rediscovered Gospel — A Conversation with Elaine Pagels

137. Loving Your Enemy: Daryl Davis and the Ku Klux Klan

136. Let Me Drown with Moses — A Conversation with James Goldberg