Welcome to the Season 2 premiere of my Book Review series! One of the most important books ever written about Mormonism and Joseph Smith, Richard Bushman's "Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling" is reviewed by Evangelical Steven Pynakker. In this episode Steven gives his personal insights of the book and compares and contrasts it with Fawn Brodie's "No Man Know My History" and Dan Vogel's "Pious Fraud" hypothesis. He also gives some background on how he was able to get Dr. Bushman to be a guest on his program.

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On the latest Mormon Book Reviews the book "Obscure Mormon Doctrine" by Chris Jensen is discussed by Evangelical Steven Pynakker. The book covers lesser know beliefs and doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Topics covered in the book include Adam/God, Blood Atonement, Mother in Heaven, the Plan of Salvation, the nature of God, the Word of Wisdom, and many other unique topics and doctrines. This is a document that all who are interested in "Deep Mormon Doctrine" should have in their library.

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On the latest episode of Mormon Book Reviews Robin Jensen editor of the Revelations and Translations series of volumes for the Joseph Smith Papers Project joins me for a conversation. We discuss the latest volume of the of the Project, the recently released Facsimile Edition of the Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon. We discuss the history of the Joseph Smith Papers as well as the preservation history of the Book of Mormon and the various attempts to photograph it . Robin discusses how he got involved in the project and the very laborious process of piecing together small fragments and indentifying their placement in the text. We then talk about our friend Christopher Thomas's reaction to being able to see the original manuscript in person. I want to thank Robin for taking the time to come on and the Church History Department for overnighting me a copy.

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On a special episode of Mormon Book Reviews Rick Bennett of Gospel Tangents guest hosts the 100th episode of the program. We are joined by our friend Dr. Christopher Thomas of the Pentecostal Theological Seminary and and author of the book "A Pentecostal Reads the Book of Mormon: A Literary and Theological Introduction". In this episode Rick, Chris, and Steven discuss some of the accomplishments, guests, breaking news, and original research that have occurred on this program. Some "behind the scenes" info is also discussed. This was a fun episode to tape and I know that my audience will really enjoy it.

On the latest episode of Mormon Book Reviews Steven Pynakker welcomes back on Brent Asworth for our continuing "Show and Tell" series. To herald the coming forth of the Book of Mormon a newspaer ad was purchased in the Wayne-Sentinal. Very few copies of this ad are in existence. Brent Ashworth discusses the history and preservation of the ad and how he was able to acquire it. We also discuss Bringham Young's extensive newpaper clipping collection which Brent also owns. Then the discussion turns to Mark Hofman and how Brent is now better able to detect forgeries as a result of his experiences with him. I want to thank Brent once again for coming on and I look forward to continuing this series.

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On the latest episode of Mormon Book Reviews, Jonathan Neville returns to respond to some of the guests and controversies that this channel has been recently engaged with. We discuss the film "Who Killed Joseph Smith?", Hanna Seariac and her critique of the Heartlander Movement, Dan Vogel and Thomas Murphy's studies of early Mormonism, Jonathan Edwards, translation theories of the Book of Mormon, John Dehlin, and the F.A.I.T.H. Model that Neville uses to engage ideas. It was a fun and informative conversation that I had with Jonathan. I know you all will enjoy it!

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On the latest episode of Mormon Book Reviews Nathan Smith returns to kick off a "limited series" of conversations where he discusses books that he thinks will be helpful to those on a quest for knowledge, wisdom, and spirituality. Latter-day Saints believe in becoming “acquainted with all good books” (LDS D&C 90:15) and seeking “out of the best books words of wisdom” (LDS D&C 88:118). In that spirit, Nathan Smith rejoins host Steven Pynakker to share some of the “best books” that have shaped his spirituality and overall worldview. In this conversation, Nathan shares The Wisdom of Insecurity, written by the late Alan Watts, British-American philosopher, former Anglican priest, and popularizer of Eastern wisdom traditions in the West. Though no longer a Latter-day Saint himself, Nathan still strongly believes in seeking wisdom from the best books and wishes to share what he has learned with others.

The Wisdom of Insecurity

Nathan Smith can also be found on Medium, where he has written about the intersections of psychology, philosophy, and religion

On the latest episode of Mormon Book Reviews we continue our "Show and Tell" series with Brent Ashworth. On this segment we discuss how Joseph and Emma Smith's Family Bible was found in 1970 and the process of how Brent was able to acquire it. This Bible has the handwriting of Joseph and Emma Smith as well as Joseph Smith III. It was very touching to see where Joseph Smith recorded the death of his brother Alvin and Joseph Smith III recorded his father's death. The discovery of this Bible was able to provide the names of the twin babies that Emma lost as well as a son that was unknown to history.

Link to purchase Show and Tell by Traci McFarland Fieldsted

On a special episode of Mormon Book Reviews Steven Pynakker interviews Justin Griffin the writer and director of the controversial film "Who Killed Joseph Smith?". I was at first reluctant to have this conversation, but the more I thought about it I felt it would be important for an outsider like me to participate in it. I also felt that it was important to discuss Justin's faith journey which can often be overlooked when someone does something controversial. The making of the film and building the set, how studying the Book of Isaiah led him to investigate what happened at Carthage, how watching an old video uploaded to YouTube impacted him, and encountering the work of Sam Weston and John Hajicek are among the many topics covered. I want to thank Justin for coming on at such short notice and I look forward to hearing feedback from my audience.

On the latest episode of Mormon Book Reviews Steven Pynakker interviews Kimberly Watson Smith, researcher for the Joseph Smith Foundation. Kimberly reached out to me to come on so she could offer a response to the movie "Who Killed Joseph Smith?" written and directed by Justin Griffin. Kimberly attempts to offer a constructive critique of the film and gives additional facts she feels need to be included into the narrative. I know this is a very sensitive topic and I hope that this interview can, like the one with Justin, lead to civil discourse.