Scholars & Saints

Professor Brenda Weber of Indiana University-Bloomington joins me and Professor Kathleen Flake to discuss how representations of Latter-day Saints have been used in American media for a variety of purposes. 

Professor Elizabeth Fenton of the University of Vermont joins me and guest co-host Professor Kathleen Flake to discuss the "Hebraic Indian Theory" and The Book of Mormon. Where did the Lost Tribes of Israel go after the Assyrian captivity in the Bible? The center of the Earth? Another planet? The North Pole? You decide. 

Professor Jon Bialecki of the University of California-San Diego joins me to discuss what Mormon Transhumanism reveals about speculative thought. 

Professor Jake Johnson joins me to discuss the history of American Latter-day Saints' affinity for musical theater as a mode of religious expression and cultural belonging. 

Professor Rebecca Janzen (University of South Carolina) joins me to talk about the commonalities and differences among Latter-day Saints, Mormon fundamentalists, and Mennonites in Mexico.

Prof. Joseph Spencer (Brigham Young University) joins me to discuss Postponing Heaven, a short book by Lebanese Catholic philosopher and theologian that meditates comparatively on human messianicity in Latter-day Saint scripture, Mahayana Buddhism, and Twelver Shiism. 

McKay Coppins (The Atlantic) joins me and Kathleen Flake to discuss his December 2020 longform essay "The Most American Religion" which pauses on the cusp of Mormonism's third century to meditate on questions of American religious belonging. 

Dan Ellsworth joins me to discuss the Latter-day Saint Radical Orthodoxy manifesto. Part 2 of 2.

Christina Rosetti joins me to discuss the Latter-day Saint Radical Orthodoxy manifesto. Part 1 of 2.

Professor Konden Smith Hansen joins me to talk about how 19th-century frontier living shaped Latter-day Saints and how they were perceived by Americans.