About Patrick and John

Mormonism: Inside and Out is an ongoing conversation between a nationally-recognized authority on Mormonism and a prominent ex-communicant of the Mormon Church.

Patrick Mason is the Chair of Mormon Studies and Associate Professor of Religion at the Claremont Graduate University. He directs the Department of Religion’s programs in North American Religion and Mormon Studies. He is the author of The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South (Oxford University Press, 2011), and co-editor, with David Pulsipher and Richard Bushman, of War and Peace in Our Time: Mormon Perspectives (Greg Kofford Books, 2012). He has also written a number of articles and book chapters on Mormonism, American religious history, and religion, conflict, and peacebuilding. He earned his graduate degrees from the University of Notre Dame in history and international peace studies.

Prior to joining the CGU faculty Mason held positions at the University of Notre Dame and American University in Cairo. His current research projects include a biography of Ezra Taft Benson and a co-authored book developing a Mormon theology and ethic of peace.

Mason has become a nationally recognized authority on Mormonism with articles or appearances in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, ABC News, National Public Radio, PBS, and the Huffington Post.

John Dehlin is a psychologist, researcher, podcaster, and social activist. He has a Ph.D. in Clinical and Counseling Psychology from Utah State University.

Dehlin’s clinical and research interests involve the nexus of religion and mental health. John’s research has been published in numerous peer reviewed scientific journals including the Journal of Counseling Psychology (APA), the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, Identity, the Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, the Journal of Homosexuality, and the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

He founded Mormon Stories Podcast, the most popular and longest running podcast in Mormonism, to explore and challenge Mormon culture. In January 2015, an LDS disciplinary council ruled that his online statements rejecting particular church teachings constitute apostasy, and he was excommunicated.

Dehlin’s work has been featured in the New York Times, National Public Radio, ABC’s Good Morning America, ABC’s Nightline, the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, VH1, and RadioWest.