Join co-hosts Brian Whitney (Greg Kofford Books) and Brandt Malone (Mormon News Report) in this lively look at the latest happenings in the field of Mormon studies, including news, blogs, new book releases, and events from the past month. Highlights from this episode include: Lost causes, pants and parental leave policies for Church employees, Brigham Young's potty mouth, Deseret Books and bad hypotheses, new podcast finds, and more!   In the News Passing of Greg Bragg Church Historian details forthcoming new comprehensive Church history Why don't Mormons have a lost cause? Church Historian reviews progress on Hamilton Church History Centre   On the Blogs Ardis Parshall, "The Lesser-Used Detritus of Long-Dead File Clerks" Ardis Parshall, "I Don't Blame Timothy Ballard. I Blame Deseret Book." Ben Park, "The LDS Church's Parental Employment Policy: Some Context" Jeff Lindsay, "The Book of Mormon Versus the Consensus of Scholars: Surprised from the Disputed Longer Ending of Mark, Part 1" Mormon Interpreter Journal Vol 24 now available Ben Spackman, "MHA Presentation and Reconciling Science with Scripture" Joseph Stuart, "Patriarchal Blessings, Lineage, and Race: Historical Background and a Survey" Ben Park, "JI Summer Book Club 2017: A House Full of Females, Chapter 4" Clark Goble, "Future Mormon Reading Chapter 1" Dave Banack, "6 Questions for Tom Kimball on the Kirtland Temple" Podcasts LDS Perspectives: "Mormon Stories in Shorts - Scott Hales" LDS Perspectives: "The Divine Council - Stephen Smoot" Year of Polygamy: "Update on Short Creek" Year of Polygamy: "Denver Snuffer, The Remnant Movement, and Polygamy" Gospel Tangents: Curt Bench interviews Gospel Tangents: Brian Hales interviews Faith Promoting Rumors podcast Recent Book Releases  Terryl L. Givens, Feeding the Flock: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Church and Praxis" (Oxford University Press) Papers/Articles Susan McCloud, "The remarkable brothers of the Prophet Brigham Young" Christopher Blythe, "Ann Booth's Vision and Early Conceptions of Redeeming the Dead among Latter-day Saints" Christopher Blythe, "The Council of Fifty Minutes and Latter-day Saint Studies on Succession" Matthew Godfrey, "A Season of Blessings: The Function of Blessings in Kirtland Ohio, 1834 - 1835" Matthew Godfrey, "Wise Men and Wise Women: The Role of Church Members in Financing Church Operations, 1834-1835"   Digital Content Maxine Hanks, Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism at Archive.org Conferences and Events Utah’s Tanner Humanities Center: "Manifest Destiny Reconsidered: The Utah Experience" LDS Educators Association first annual conference Samuel Brown, "To Save the Bible, First You Must Kill It."  Sunstone 2017 SLC Symposium Women Scholars in Contemporary Mormonism: Changes, Challenge, and Choosing Fatih Call for Papers/Applications  2018 Mormon History Association Conference - an addendum   Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts

Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 11: The Attributes of God Ch 6 - The Incompatibility of Free Will and Infallible Foreknowledge By Corey Ostler We discuss arguments for infallible foreknowledge being compatible or incompatible with libertarian free will. We come up with a logical argument for the incompatibility of free will and infallible foreknowledge and discuss the assumptions of each premise. Topics Discussed: • An unsound Argument for Incompatibility • Argument A • A Sound Argument for Incompatibilism from the Necessity of the Past • Argument B • Some Clearly Unsuccessful Attempts to Escape Incompatibility www.facebook.com/ExploringMormonThought www.exploringmormonthought.com/ Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts

Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 12: The Attributes of God Ch 7 - Divine Foreknowledge and the Mormon Concept of Free Agency (Part 1) By Corey Ostler Topics Discussed: • Hypothetical Free Will • Libertarian Free Agency www.exploringmormonthought.com/ Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts

Join co-hosts Brian Whitney (Greg Kofford Books) and Brandt Malone (Mormon News Report) in this lively look at the latest happenings in the field of Mormon studies, including news, blogs, new book releases, and events from the past month. Highlights from this month include: MHA 2017, barbecue, Book of Mormon as literature, Joseph Smith: Monogamist?, LGBT history in Utah, new history of the Church, and David Bokovoy's mustache.   In the News Passing of Nathan Ulrich Passing of Charles S. Peterson Administrative changes at Maxwell Institute   On the Blogs Ardis Parshall, "The Sailor and the Apostle: 'The Thinking Has Been Done'?" Ben Park, "LDS Church Distances Itself from Boy Scouts: Some Thoughts" Matt B, "Ted Chiang, 'Arrival,' Mormons, Science Fiction, Angels, Time Travel, Sex, Free Will, The Tower of Babel, and the Secular: A Roundtable" Michael Austin, "The Chosen People are Always Wrong" Michael Austin, "Scripture as Genre" Steve Evans, "Book Review Roundup" Blair Hodges, "Troubling the Old Stories with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich" Juvenile Instructor Summer Book Club Update Jeff Turner, "The End of the Gathering: Mormonism and Immigration Regulation" Grant Shreeve, "The Book of Mormon Gets the Literary Treatment" Digital Content Joseph Smith Papers updates Signature Books updates at Archive.org Podcasts LDS Perspectives: "A Heavenly Mother - Rachel Steenblik and Caitlin Connolly" LDS Perspectives: "Joseph's Seer Stones - Michael Hubbard MacKay" LDS Perspectives: "Tough Questions about Mormon Polygamy - Brian and Laura Hales" Year of Polygamy: "The Succession Crisis" Year of Polygamy: "Lorenzo Snow" Faith Matters: "Conversations with Terryl Givens" Recent Book Releases  Joseph Smith Papers: Documents, Vol 5 (Church Historian's Press) Seth Anderson, LGBT Salt Lake (Arcadia) Joseph M. Spencer and Jeremiah John, Embracing the Law: Reading Doctrine and Covenants 42 (Maxwell Institute) Mark D. Ogletree, No Other Success: The Parenting Practices of David O. McKay (BYU RSC) Papers/Articles Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, "A New Voice from the Past: The Council of Fifty Minutes" Brady Winslow, "Irregularities in the Work of the Nauvoo Lodge: Mormonism, Freemasonry, and Conflicting Interests on the Illinois Frontier" Brian C. Hales, "Joseph Smith: Monogamist or Polygamist?" Colby Townsend, "Behold Other Scriptures I Would That Ye Should Write: Malachi in the Book of Mormon" Joseph Spencer, "Isaiah 52 in the Book of Mormon: Notes on Isaiah's Reception History"   Conferences and Events Faith Matters: "New Perspectives on Joseph Smith and Translation" Mormon Scholars in the Humanities Mormon Transhumanist Association JSP Documents, Vol 5 release event at Benchmark Books Mormon History Association 2017 Conference Sunstone 2017 SLC Symposium FairMormon 2017 Conference John Whitmer Historical Association 2017 Conference Book of Mormon Studies Conference Call for Papers/Applications  2018 Church History Symposium 2018 Mormon History Association Conference   Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts

Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 10: The Attributes of God Ch 5 - Models of Divine Knowledge (Part 2) By Corey Ostler In this episode we go over the second part of Ch 5: Models of Divine Knowledge. We talk about Middle Knowledge and Joseph Smith's evolving view of God's knowledge. We discuss James E. Talmage's view of God knowing our character so well that he can know the future and problems with that. Topics Discussed: • Middle Knowledge • Problems of Middle Knowledge • No Grounds Objection • Counterfactuals of Freedom Are Probable Only • The "Agents Are Not Free" Objection • Mormonism and Middle Knowledge Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts

Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 9: The Attributes of God Ch 5 - Models of Divine Knowledge (Part 1) By Corey Ostler We start discussing different models for God's knowledge. We focus on the aspect of God's knowledge of the future or infallible foreknowledge and if it can coexist with free will. Topics Discussed: • Simple Foreknowledge • Timeless Knowledge Through Perception • The Einstein-Minkowski Spacetime • Timeless Knowledge Through Divine Causation Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought. Show notes for this episode. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts

Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 6: The Attributes of God Ch 3 - The Restoration and Systematic Theologies (Part 1) By Corey Ostler We discuss The Lectures on Faith and Joseph Smith's evolving revelations on the nature of God, man, the universe, and how they relate to each other. We get into discussing different interpretations of the King Follett Discourse and The Sermon in the Grove. The Lectures on Faith can be found here: lecturesonfaith.com/ King Follett Discourse: www.lds.org/ensign/1971/04/the-…ett-sermon?lang=eng www.lds.org/ensign/1971/05/the-…ett-sermon?lang=eng Sermon in the Grove: emp.byui.edu/jexj/courses/sermon_in_the_grove.htm Topics Discussed: The Lectures on Faith Joseph Smith and the Foundational Scriptures Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts

Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 7: The Attributes of God Ch3 - The Restoration and Systematic Theologies (Part 2) By Corey Ostler Continuing our survey of Mormon systematic Theologies we discuss the thought of the Pratts, John A. Widtsoe, B.H. Roberts, and Modern Mormon leaders. We talk about why they portrayed things as they did and what some strengths and weaknesses of each view are. Pratt's 'The Seer': archive.org/details/seereditedbyorso01unse Widtsoe's 'A Rational Theology': archive.org/details/rationaltheologywidtsoe B.H. Roberts' 'The Seventy's Course in Theology': archive.org/details/seventyscoursein00robe Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts

Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 8: The Attributes of God Ch 4 - Maximal Divine Power By Corey Ostler We go over various theories of God's power and then come to a definition that seems to fit. We then address problems with that view and see if they can be overcome while keeping the definition intact. Topics Discussed: • Logical Limitations on God's Power • Limitations on God's Power Arising from Divine Attributes • Limitations on God's Power Imposed by Significant Human Freedom • Past Necessity and God's Power • Problems for Omnipotence • Persuasive and Coercive Power • God's Power and Natural Laws • God's Power and Creation Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts

Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 1: Interview with Blake Ostler By Corey Ostler My father Blake Ostler is a well-known Mormon Theologian and Scholar (In a addition to being a full-time attorney ) Over the years he has written several articles for scholarly Mormon publications such as Dialogue, FARMS, Sunstone Mag, Element, and others. What I want to do is take the complex issues in these books and discuss them in a way that makes sense to the average listener. So this is sort of going to be like taking me to school on a lot of these issues and topics. For the most part we will go chapter by chapter of each book starting with the first one: The Attributes of God However I wanted to start off with an episode of getting to know Blake Ostler. His background, journey and motivations for writing these books and so forth. Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought. Download Subscribe in Pocket Casts