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Dr. Matt Harris is a specialist in US history with a particular focus in religion and the law, church and state, American religious history, civil rights, and Mormon Studies. He received a BA and MA in history from Brigham Young University and an MPhil and PhD, also in history, from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

He is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History (Univ. of Illinois Press, 2015), Thunder on the Right: Ezra Taft Benson in Mormonism and Politics (Univ. of Illinois Press, 2019), “Watchman on the Tower”: Ezra Taft Benson and the Making of the Mormon Right (Univ. of Utah Press, 2019) and (with Newell G. Bringhurst) The Mormon Church and its Gospel Topics Essays: The Scholarly Community Responds (Univ. of Utah Press, 2019). He is currently at work on three book-length manuscripts: “The Long Awaited Day”: Blacks, Mormons, and the Lifting of the Priesthood and Temple Ban, 1945-2018; J. Reuben Clark and the Making of Modern Mormonism (Univ. of Illinois Press); and Hugh B. Brown: Mormonism’s Progressive Apostle (Signature Books). His article “Mormonism’s Problematic Racial Past and the Evolution of the Divine-Curse Doctrine,” published in The John Whitmer Historical Society Journal, won the Vera Jean and J. Talmage Jones Award from the Mormon History Association in 2014. His work has been featured on CSPAN and various social media outlets.

Episode 417 Joseph Freeman Jr

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Listen to the song

Clair Crosby Version

“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.” 

Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–19

Composer: Melanie F. Hoffman

Key Line:

Melanie F. Hoffman composed “Gethsemane” in 2007. She and her husband Roger have dedicated over 35 years to writing sacred music, feeling that their compositions are often divinely inspired. The couple is also known for “Consider the Lilies” and their involvement in the “Scripture Scouts” project. 

Melanie Hoffman described the creation of “Gethsemane” as a spontaneous and rapid process, emphasizing its importance in teaching children about Jesus Christ’s life and Atonement​​​​.

Commonality Outside LDS Culture: While “Gethsemane” is deeply rooted in LDS culture, its theme of Christ’s atonement makes it universally relatable to Christians worldwide. However, its widespread recognition outside LDS circles is limited.

Central Theme and Doctrine:

Fulfillment of Church’s Criteria for Hymn Selection:

Speculative Inclusion Reason:

Initial Reactions:

Potential Impact on Worship:

Interesting Facts:

Multimedia Elements:

This comprehensive look at “Gethsemane” provides insight into its background, significance, and reception, making it a valuable addition to the LDS hymnbook.

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With her unique mix of humor and candor, empathy and idealism, Inouye draws upon her academic training in Chinese history and religious studies, her rich cultural heritage, her experiences raising a family in an international setting, her tangle with cancer, and her resilient faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ to unfurl vibrant reflections on the enduring question of what it means to be a Latter-day Saint today.

She passed away from cancer on April 23, 2024.

Read The Church Newsroom article about her passing.

Read the Salt Lake Tribune piece about her dreams for the Church, which she gave five days before her death.

Read her obituary.

*This page contains Amazon affiliate links.

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Zachary Wright was born in American Fork, UT. He served his mission speaking Spanish in North Carolina and the Dominican Republic. He currently attends BYU studying psychology, but loves writing, and studying LDS theology and history. His biggest desire is to help other people bring them closer to each other, and ultimately bring people closer to God. He has recently become a part of a new critical thinking podcast on FAIR called Me, My Shelf, & I, with fellow hosts Jennifer Roach and Sarah Allen.

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Darin Scott is an American actor, writer, and director of English, Scottish, and German decent, born in the small town of Vernal, Utah. Most of his childhood and adolescence (12 years) was spent in Vancouver, Washington. A month before Scott’s seventeenth birthday, his father died of a heart attack. As the youngest and last of five children in the home, Scott became the man of the house.

PrePurchase Tickets to The Oath

The school stage is where Scott’s passion for acting began but he was also very into sports. After playing college football at Brigham Young University-Idaho, Scott finished his BA at the University of Utah. His football days led to his first acting role in the Disney film “Going To The Mat,” working with Khleo Thomas as the football jock, “Yardley”. The following year, Scott booked another role in Disney’s “Halloweentown High,” where he worked with Academy Award Nominated, Debbie Reynolds, as well as Teen Choice Nominated, Lucas Grabeel. Scott read for the role of Wylie in Disney’s “Buffalo Dreams” and had the director all but convinced until he was asked his age (being 25 at the time). Though Scott is typically cast in younger roles, in this case, the director took Scott’s age a bit too literally. Scott took a few roles in independent films and then landed a lead role in Discovery Channel’s “I Shouldn’t Be Alive.”

In spite of his brewing film success, with a young family, Scott relocated to California to pursue a law degree. Shortly after moving, he booked a role in “127 Hours” where he worked with Golden Globe Winner (and Academy Award Nominated), James Franco. Although the role turned out to be smaller than anticipated, as the entire wedding scene was cut from the final edit, it did steer Scott from law school. He withdrew after one semester to attend Playhouse West Acting School in North Hollywood. While studying there, he booked roles in a number of films, including the title role of the mountain man scout Ephraim Hanks in “Ephraim’s Rescue,” where he showed his ability to carry a film. Later, Scott was also direct-cast as a younger character version of Emmy-Nominated, John Heard, in “Counting For Thunder.” Not letting his law background go to waste, Scott followed by landing a supporting role as the lead Defense Attorney in “Just Let Go,” where he worked opposite Emmy-Nominated Henry Ian Cusick and Sam Sorbo (Jenkins). Scott continued his success working opposite Teen Choice Winner, Josh Lucas, in Kevin Costner’s acclaimed, Emmy-Nominated and Golden Globe winning series, “Yellowstone”.

Scott is also the writer and director of over 30 commercials and short films, including the third all-time highest crowdfunded short film on Kickstarter in 2017, “Reign of Judges: Title of Liberty.” In late 2021, Scott made his feature directorial debut, writing, directing, and starring in “The Oath,” based on his award-winning short film, “Reign of Judges: Title of Liberty,” also starring Billy Zane, Karina Lombard, and Eugene Brave Rock. “The Oath” is set to release in theaters in 2023.

Let us know what you think about this or any episode!

Check out The Oath’s Kickstarter launch video

Join us on Patreon!

Check out the trailer for The Oath at oathmovie.com

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Part 1 – Richard Ostler

The “Good Ship Zion” represents The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and all the good it can bring into our lives. But not everyone feels welcome and secure in the boat.

Through the power of storytelling, former YSA bishop Richard Ostler invites all of us to listen, learn, and love so we can do our part to make the Church more welcoming. This book – which is supportive of the Church, its leaders, and doctrine – is an extension of Ostler’s enormously popular podcast Listen, Learn & Love, and his previous two books. Visit his website.

Part  2 – Richard Turley

Turley has written more than 20 books, including Victims: The LDS Church and the Mark Hoffman Case and Vengeance is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath.

“The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has commissioned former Assistant Church Historian and Recorder Richard E. Turley Jr. to write a new biography of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The book will be called “Joseph the Prophet.”

President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency made the announcement at the end of his keynote remarks at the seventh annual Joseph Smith Papers conference in the Conference Center Theater in Salt Lake City on Friday, September 15, 2023.

“With the completion of the Joseph Smith Papers [in June 2023], a firm foundation has been laid on which additional works can be solidly built,” President Oaks said.

The new biography will take years to complete. Teams aiding on the project include Church History Department scholars, including many who worked on the Joseph Smith Papers volumes and who collectively have already devoted decades of study to the Prophet. Staff and volunteers of the Family History Department are also contributing their skills in local research and building databases to help answer important questions. Professors from BYU have joined seasoned legal scholars and interns from the J. Reuben Clark Law School to study the legal papers of Joseph Smith and his family.

The biography will rely on the research of these and other scholars, who are expected to generate a number of publications with detailed findings on which the biography can then rely. The biography itself will be written as a narrative for a general audience and is expected to garner a wide readership.

He has served as the managing director of the Church Historical Department (as it was then called) when the Joseph Smith Papers were launched in June 2001 and served as chair of the project’s editorial board, as well as a volume editor. He was managing director of the Family History Department when FamilySearch was launched and later served as managing director of the Church’s Public Affairs and Communication Departments.” (Church Newsroom)

Part 3 Richard Bushman

Renowned historian Richard Lyman Bushman presents a vibrant history of the objects that gave birth to a new religion. He’s perhaps best known for Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, but he’s at work on a commissioned book about Joseph Smith with new information and a lens of his prophetic calling.

According to Joseph Smith, in September of 1823 an angel appeared to him and directed him to a hill near his home. Buried there Smith found a box containing a stack of thin metal sheets, gold in color, about six inches wide, eight inches long, piled six or so inches high, bound together by large rings, and covered with what appeared to be ancient engravings.

Exactly four years later, the angel allowed Smith to take the plates and instructed him to translate them into English. When the text was published, a new religion was born. The plates have had a long and active life, and the question of their reality has hovered over them from the beginning. Months before the Book of Mormon was published, newspapers began reporting on the discovery of a “Golden Bible.” Within a few years over a hundred articles had appeared. Critics denounced Smith as a charlatan for claiming to have a wondrous object that he refused to show, while believers countered by pointing to witnesses who said they saw the plates.

Two hundred years later the mystery of the gold plates remains. In this book renowned historian of Mormonism Richard Lyman Bushman offers a cultural history of the gold plates.

Bushman examines how the plates have been imagined by both believers and critics–and by treasure-seekers, novelists, artists, scholars, and others–from Smith’s first encounter with them to the present. Why have they been remembered, and how have they been used? And why do they remain objects of fascination to this day? By examining these questions, Bushman sheds new light on Mormon history and on the role of enchantment in the modern world.

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