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Faith Matters

Faith Matters offers an expansive view of the Restored Gospel, thoughtful exploration of big and sometimes thorny questions, and a platform that encourages deeper engagement with our faith and our world.We focus on the Latter-day Saint (Mormon) tradition, but believe we have much to learn from other traditions and fully embrace those of other beliefs.

Spotify Podcasts

2021

CLEAN

1 seasons

Production: Faith Matters Foundation

Faith Matters

Faith Matters offers an expansive view of the Restored Gospel, thoughtful exploration of big and sometimes thorny questions, and a platform that encourages deeper engagement with our faith and our world.We focus on the Latter-day Saint (Mormon) tradition, but believe we have much to learn from other traditions and fully embrace those of other beliefs.

2021

CLEAN

1 seasons

Production: Faith Matters Foundation

Episodes

221. The Amen Effect - A Conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous

221. The Amen Effect - A Conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous

This week, we are honored to share with you a conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous, author of the The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World. From the moment we started reading Sharon’s book, we knew that she had a special message, and that she would be an incredible guest. Sharon’s book is a beautiful blend of ancient Jewish wisdom, contemporary science, and deep personal experience that shows how humans throughout history have taken up the responsibility to sit with...

220. Pioneering Peace - A Conversation with Eboo Patel

220. Pioneering Peace - A Conversation with Eboo Patel

This week, we’re sharing an episode from Proclaim Peace, a podcast we proudly co-sponsor in collaboration with Mormon Women for Ethical Government. Proclaim Peace is hosted by Jennifer Thomas, Co-Executive Director of MWEG, and Patrick Mason, Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University, and longtime friend and advisor of Faith Matters. In this episode, Patrick and Jennifer chat with Eboo Patel, the founder and president of Interfaith America and a powerful bridge-builder in t...

219. What's the Future of Women at Church? A Conversation with Neylan McBaine and Bethany Brady Spalding

219. What's the Future of Women at Church? A Conversation with Neylan McBaine and Bethany Brady Spalding

This week we’re bringing you a conversation on a subject that we’re always thinking about, but that has taken on a special urgency over the last two months—the role of women in the Church. A large survey recently released showed a societal shift with regard to women and religion. In a reversal of trends from prior generations, young women are now leaving religion at significantly higher rates than men. Social issues and patriarchal structures are oft-cited reasons. Are there signs of tro...

218. A New Book Every Time - A Conversation with Bob Rees

218. A New Book Every Time - A Conversation with Bob Rees

This week, we're excited to have Bob Rees on the podcast. Bob is a true "long-haul hero" (to use Pete Davis's term) -- a Latter-day Saint who has been studying and writing on Latter-day Saint topics for more than fifty years. To us, Bob exhibits the best of what we have to offer theologically, and practically, to the world. Bob believes that the deepest power of the Book of Mormon, even more than its remarkable origin story, is its ultimate message of love. After a lifetime of serious st...

217. Surveying the Saints — A Conversation with Josh Coates

217. Surveying the Saints — A Conversation with Josh Coates

This week, we’re sharing a fascinating conversation we had with Josh Coates, a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and founder of the BH Roberts Foundation. The BH Roberts Foundation is the non-profit behind Mormonr, a producer of Latter-day Saint media that tackles hard questions about the faith, as well as "LDSBot," an AI-driven chatbot that is able to handle just about any question about Latter-day Saint culture and theology shockingly well. In February of this year, Josh and his collea...

216. Big Stories, Little Saints — A Conversation with Sarah and Josh Sabey

216. Big Stories, Little Saints — A Conversation with Sarah and Josh Sabey

We're so excited to have Sarah and Josh Sabey on the podcast this week. Sarah and Josh are writers, filmmakers, and spouses. Their films cover important issues in non-polarizing ways. Their first film, American Tragedy, reached the top ten most watched films on Amazon Prime. Their latest project is called The Book of Mormon Storybook for Little Saints. It's a beautiful 2-volume collection of 50 Book of Mormon stories, adapted for children and their parents. They write that the prima...

215. Finding the Still Point in Tension — John Kesler and Thomas McConkie

215. Finding the Still Point in Tension — John Kesler and Thomas McConkie

This week we’re joined by our good friend and contributor to Faith Matters, Thomas McConkie, along with his longtime mentor and friend, John Kesler.In many ways, Thomas and John's paths were mirror images of each other until they eventually collided. John Kesler developed an awareness and life practice called IPP or Integral Polarity Practice that has had a profound impact on Thomas's life. You're going hear a little about polarities or fundamental tensions of human development and how in fin...

214. Gathering All Safely In — A Conversation with Liz and Jordon Sharp

214. Gathering All Safely In — A Conversation with Liz and Jordon Sharp

**Disclaimer that this episode mentions suicide in connection to LGBTQ youth. If you are not in a place to listen right now, you might want to skip this one. If you are, though, we really encourage you to listen on this tough but important topic that impacts so many in our community.**In this conversation, Dr. Jordon and Liz Sharp from St. George, Utah, shared their remarkable and inspiring story of moving from trauma, confusion, and loss to miracles, enlightenment, and strength as an L...

213. Leading Deseret Book — A Conversation with Laurel Day

213. Leading Deseret Book — A Conversation with Laurel Day

We’re really excited to share this episode with you. It was with someone we’ve wanted to talk to for a very long time — Deseret Book president Laurel Christensen Day. We knew from afar that she was a trailblazing leader and a thoughtful publisher — and we were not surprised to find that as we got to know her a little bit that she’s a woman of deep faith as well. Uniformly, everyone we have ever spoken with who has had a chance to work with Laurel absolutely loves her.We’ve always been fascina...

212. Is God Disappointed in Me? — A Conversation with Kurt Francom

212. Is God Disappointed in Me? — A Conversation with Kurt Francom

This week, we’re bringing you an interview with Kurt Francom, author of a new book titled, Is God Disappointed in Me? Removing Shame from a Gospel of Grace. It seems to us that culturally, Latter-day Saints don’t usually imagine an angry vengeful God but we may very well imagine a god who is perpetually disappointed with us when we inevitably fail again to live up to our highest ideals. Kurt’s book unpacks what hurts about the idea of a disappointed God and why this belief can be a real stumb...

211. Come As You Are — A Conversation with Jen and Sam Norton

211. Come As You Are — A Conversation with Jen and Sam Norton

We’re excited to bring you an episode with a genuine ‘lift-where-you-stand story’ of a family in the UK. Sam and Jen Norton have served young people in the church for more than twenty years and most recently as FSY Session Directors in London. FSY stands for “For the Strength of Youth”, and refers to the week-long summer events held for youth around the world.As FSY leaders, Jen and Sam began facing difficult questions about how to include and support youth with a range of perspectives and li...

210. The Gift of Dissonance — A Conversation with Patrick Mason

210. The Gift of Dissonance — A Conversation with Patrick Mason

It’s General Conference weekend! Time to dig up the BINGO cards and park yourself in front of the TV with some cinnamon rolls and a Diet Coke or two, to soak in some inspiration and maybe even encounter some discomfort.We thought we’d release a re-edited episode with Patrick Mason that feels really timely.In this conversation with Patrick, we talked about creating what Brian McLaren has called a “four-stage community.”. The “stages” we’re referencing here come from Brian’s book Faith After Do...

209. What's So Good About Good Friday? — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman

209. What's So Good About Good Friday? — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman

As Latter-day Saints, we often say that we focus more on Jesus’ resurrection than on His death, and we consider the atonement in Gethsemane as the most sacred event in Jesus’ life. In this episode, we consider a question we don’t think about too often, stemming from this: why have we not cultivated more robust ways to celebrate Holy Week, and all the events leading up to Easter Sunday? Especially when we compare it to all that we do leading up to Christmas? We sat down to talk with Eric...

209. What's so good about Good Friday? — Eric Huntsman

209. What's so good about Good Friday? — Eric Huntsman

As Latter-day Saints, we often say that we focus more on Jesus’ resurrection than on His death, and we consider the atonement in Gethsemane as the most sacred event in Jesus’ life. In this episode, we consider a question we don’t think about too often, stemming from this: why have we not cultivated more robust ways to celebrate Holy Week, and all the events leading up to Easter Sunday? Especially when we compare it to all that we do leading up to Christmas? We sat down to talk with Eric Huntsman, a professor of ancient scripture at BYU and author of God So Loved the World: The Final Days of the Savior's Life. Eric has done a lot of work as a scholar to understand the events of Holy Week leading up to Jesus’ death on the cross on Friday, his resurrected visitations on Sunday, and where, as Latter-day Saints, we might place the points of emphasis differently than other Christian denominations. His family has cultivated Easter traditions, complete with meals, activities, and scripture readings, to help them really feel and anticipate these events, and invite a deeper witness of the Savior. By getting more creative with our Holy Week traditions, Eric says we can connect ourselves more deeply with the rest of Christianity while immersing ourselves more fully in a scriptural journey. We hope this episode inspires you to get more out Easter Weekend, which is coming up in just a few days. And for more on this topic, you can check out Eric’s book God So Loved the World at Deseret Book, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.

208. Curious Mind, Open Heart — A Conversation with Bill Turnbull and Kathy Clayton

208. Curious Mind, Open Heart — A Conversation with Bill Turnbull and Kathy Clayton

This week we sat down with Kathy Kipp Clayton and Bill Turnbull to talk about the fascinating chapters they contributed to a new book entitled No Division among You: Creating Unity in a Diverse Church. Bill, and his wife Susan, are two of Faith Matters’ co-founders. Kathy and her husband Whitney have served around the world on Church assignments for the past two decades. Whitney served in the presidency of the Seventy until his release in 2020. They now help supervise and often travel the wor...

207. Feeling Separated? So did Jesus. — A Conversation with Kerry Muhlestein

207. Feeling Separated? So did Jesus. — A Conversation with Kerry Muhlestein

As Holy Week and Easter Sunday approach, we thought it would be helpful to visit with someone who could help us reflect on these sacred events in a new way. Our guest today, Dr. Kerry Muhlestein, recently wrote The Easter Connection, which dives into the biblical account of Holy Week and illuminates the theme of eternal unification. In this short book—you could read it in just one sitting—Kerry explores the various ways Jesus’s final week teaches us about disconnection, and the idea that thro...

206. Tragedy in the Holy Land: What Can We Do? — A Conversation with Chad Ford

206. Tragedy in the Holy Land: What Can We Do? — A Conversation with Chad Ford

Ever since October 7th, we’ve been wanting to better understand the conflict in Israel and Gaza and how we as Latter-day Saints can be good neighbors and friends to everyone impacted by it. We know there are no easy answers. Our guest this week, BYU Hawaii professor Chad Ford, has been working on peacemaking initiatives in the region for several decades and acknowledges the very real fear people involved in this conflict feel: that peace isn’t going to happen in their lifetime. In the convers...

205. Tough Love from the Book of Mormon — A Conversation with Grant Hardy

205. Tough Love from the Book of Mormon — A Conversation with Grant Hardy

Book of Mormon scholar Grant Hardy knows that there are lots of different views about what The Book of Mormon is—how it came to be, how credible its origin story and originator are, and what its value is to Latter-day Saints, and to the world.Though he himself falls firmly on the side of belief, he believes the approach of the Book as sacred text asks its reader to consider that “every word or phrase may hold existentially significant meaning” — regardless of exactly how one views the Book’s...

204. Advice from "The World's Worst Mom" — A Conversation with Lenore Skenazy

204. Advice from "The World's Worst Mom" — A Conversation with Lenore Skenazy

When Lenore Skenazy’s son was nine, he asked her repeatedly if she would let him have a solo adventure in their hometown of New York City. Her son had a specific plan for this adventure: he wanted her to take him somewhere new in the city and then let him find his own way home. Lenore took the leap of faith, and when her son burst into their apartment later, he was practically “levitating with pride and joy” at what he had accomplished.Lenore then wrote an article in the New York Sun called “...

Proclaim Peace: A New Podcast by Faith Matters and Mormon Women for Ethical Government

Proclaim Peace: A New Podcast by Faith Matters and Mormon Women for Ethical Government

Today we’re sharing with you an episode from a brand new podcast that Faith Matters is co-sponsoring in collaboration with Mormon Women for Ethical Government, called Proclaim Peace. This podcast is hosted by Jennifer Thomas, Co-Executive Director of MWEG, and Patrick Mason, Leonard Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University, and longtime friend and advisor of Faith Matters. In this first season, these two will be exploring with guests a “peaceful reading of t...

203. Love is a Law, not a Reward — Adam Miller at Restore

203. Love is a Law, not a Reward — Adam Miller at Restore

We’re back sharing a favorite session from last year’s Restore Conference. In this session, Adam Miller retells the parable of the prodigal son and a highlight from the Children’s book series, 'Frog and Toad", to re-examine our relationship to love. It is our nature to think we have to work hard to earn love, and we constantly tell ourselves stories about what we have to do to earn it. But if God’s love is constant, then these stories are elaborate distractions. We feel guilt and shame whenev...

202. The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God — A Conversation with Justin Brierley

202. The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God — A Conversation with Justin Brierley

A little less than two decades ago, you might walk past a bookstore and see The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins featured among the bestsellers. The mid to late 2000’s were the heyday for the New Atheists, a small cohort of scientists and philosophers who were convinced religion was both untrue and a bad influence in the world. At the time, it was easy to see the rise of the New Atheists as the latest peak of secularism, a sign that public belief in religion was long gone, and there was no goi...

201. The Counter-Culture of Commitment — A Conversation with Pete Davis

201. The Counter-Culture of Commitment — A Conversation with Pete Davis

In 2018, Pete Davis was graduating from Harvard Law School and was chosen to give a commencement address that ended up going unexpectedly viral, having now been viewed over 30 million times.The thesis of Pete’s speech was that our culture has entered what he calls “infinite browsing mode”—with so many options to choose from, and devices that present those options to us literally endlessly—we can become paralyzed by choice and inadvertently live out our lives without ever dedicating ourselves...

200. The Awakened Brain — Lisa Miller at Restore

200. The Awakened Brain — Lisa Miller at Restore

Today we’re sharing another fantastic session from our Restore Conference last October, this time from Lisa Miller. Lisa is a clinical psychologist and professor at Columbia University who specializes in the science of spirituality. She’s also the author of the popular 2021 book The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life.We often think of science and spirituality as separate ways of knowing that don’t really speak to each other, where science focuse...

199. Integrity and Institutions — A Conversation with George Handley on Lowell Bennion

199. Integrity and Institutions — A Conversation with George Handley on Lowell Bennion

We’re excited to share with you this interview with George Handley, a professor of humanities at BYU. George recently published a fascinating and moving intellectual biography of Lowell Bennion. As we’ve learned more about Bennion, he’s begun to loom large for us as a truly inspiring figure who models some of the best of what our faith tradition has to offer. He was an educator, humanitarian, and practical philosopher who had an outsized impact on the Church in the 20th century, even if few m...

198. Seven Gospels — A Conversation with Adam Miller and Rosalynde Welch

198. Seven Gospels — A Conversation with Adam Miller and Rosalynde Welch

To kick off the new year, we recently had the privilege to speak to academic duo and long-time friends, Adam Miller and Rosalynde Welch about the new book they co-authored together, titled Seven Gospels: The Many Lives of Christ in the Book of Mormon. Their book examines the many ways that Christ shows up in the lives of individuals in the Book of Mormon, including Nephi, Abinadi, Abish, and others. Like the New Testament gospels, these distinct witnesses both affirm and challenge each o...

197. The Divinity and Humanity of the Book of Mormon — A Conversation with Jared Halverson

197. The Divinity and Humanity of the Book of Mormon — A Conversation with Jared Halverson

Today we’re sharing a conversation that we had a lot of fun with, along with an exciting announcement about the work we’re doing at Faith Matters.Our guest was our friend Jared Halverson. Few people we know exude as much enthusiasm for scripture—the Latter-day Saint canon in particular—as Jared does. He’s someone who clearly loves and cherishes these holy texts, and has taken the best they have to offer to heart. He’s as genuine, loving, and big-hearted as they come.So we felt Jared would be...

196. Peaceable Things: Three Names of Christ — Terryl Givens at Restore

196. Peaceable Things: Three Names of Christ — Terryl Givens at Restore

This week, we’re sharing another session from our Restore conference, this time featuring a scholar most of you will be familiar with: our long time friend and advisor Terryl Givens.Terryl’s heartfelt session explores what he finds to be the “peaceable things” of Christ, referred to in scripture. An unsettling experience at the age of sixteen led Terryl to confront the inherent risk and uncertainty of our choices in life. And while life may not always be “peaceful,” Terryl says, we can always...

195. Who is the Church for? — A Conversation with Patrick Mason

195. Who is the Church for? — A Conversation with Patrick Mason

Nearly everything we do in the Church — from missionary work and ministering efforts to baptisms and temple work — hinges on an underlying question: who is the Church for? Is the project of the Restoration to find and shepherd the elect of God to exaltation in the next life, or is it to create a Zion community here that strives to include those on the margins, the way Jesus ministered? Should it be one or the other?It’s seemed to us that there’s an implicit discourse around this question play...

193. How to Celebrate Advent — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman

193. How to Celebrate Advent — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman

Professor Eric Huntsman has an infectious enthusiasm when he talks about Christmas. He’s up for the fun, the decorating, the shopping, the lights, and the gift-giving. He also has a deep intellectual curiosity and many years’ academic research into the historical development of this holy day. And of course, most importantly, he has a profound devotional attachment to the holiday’s namesake, Jesus Christ. So it’s only natural that he would spend years developing ways to help his family, s...

194. Sacred Struggle — A Conversation with Melissa Inouye

194. Sacred Struggle — A Conversation with Melissa Inouye

Buy Melissa’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Struggle-Seeking-Christ-Resistance/dp/1639931872/As we’ve gotten to know her over the past few years, we’ve noticed that Melissa Inouye, in any group, has a remarkable way of reorienting a conversation. She tends to be the one with the eyes to see “the least of these.” She has a profound and sincere empathy for those who are in deep struggle, those on the edges, the marginalized, the looked-over, the passed-by. When these people and...

How to Celebrate Advent — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman

How to Celebrate Advent — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman

Professor Eric Huntsman has an infectious enthusiasm when he talks about Christmas. He’s up for the fun, the decorating, the shopping, the lights, and the gift-giving. He also has a deep intellectual curiosity and many years’ academic research into the historical development of this holy day. And of course, most importantly, he has a profound devotional attachment to the holiday’s namesake, Jesus Christ. So it’s only natural that he would spend years developing ways to help his family, students and community find more meaning throughout the Christmas season. One way that he’s done that is through the observance of Advent. Much more than just the calendar many of us think of checking off the days in December leading up to Christmas, Advent is a traditional Christian season that’s been observed for at least 1500 years and is marked by the four Sundays prior to Christmas, each of which celebrates a theme of Christ’s birth: hope, love, joy, and peace. In today’s conversation, Eric shared with us the background and purpose behind Advent and some of its symbolism, how he celebrates it, and what he recommends for anyone looking to observe Advent as part of creating their own traditions or rituals. Resources: Good Tidings of Great Joy: An Advent Celebration of the Savior's Birth (Eric's book): https://www.amazon.com/Good-Tidings-Great-Joy-Celebration/dp/1606416596/r Come, Lord Jesus: An Advent Invitation (Wayfare Magazine): https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/come-lord-jesus Celebrating Advent: https://huntsmanseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/11/celebrating-advent.html First Advent: https://huntsmanseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/12/first-advent-hope.html Christmas Resource Guide (Daily December devotionals): https://huntsmanseasonal.blogspot.com/p/christmas-resource-guide.html Advent Carols: https://www.amazon.com/Advent-Carols-Countdown-Stories-Christmas/dp/1639930477

192. How Church? — Tom Christofferson at Restore

192. How Church? — Tom Christofferson at Restore

A few weeks ago, Faith Matters released a video we called “Why Church?” It features several of our favorite people, who gave really thoughtful answers to that question that is present for so many. Today, we’re sharing Tom Christofferson’s Restore talk, which addresses the next question: “How Church?” Tom describes in poignant and sometimes hilarious detail his experiences joining a new ward where so many people are so unlike him, and, in the end, found that that was kind of the point.&nb...

191. At-One-Ment — A Conversation with Thomas McConkie

191. At-One-Ment — A Conversation with Thomas McConkie

Our guest today is a long-time friend and collaborator, and an incredibly unique voice in the Latter-day Saint tradition: Thomas McConkie. Thomas is an author, developmental researcher and meditation teacher who has been practicing under masters in the traditions of Sufism, Buddhism and Christian contemplation, among others for over 25 years. Thomas is the founder of Lower Lights School of Wisdom, and is is currently researching and writing on transformative spiritual practice at Harvard Divi...

190. Romney: A Reckoning — A Conversation with McKay Coppins

190. Romney: A Reckoning — A Conversation with McKay Coppins

We’re very excited about this week's episode. In early 2021, in the wake of January 6th, McKay Coppins contacted Mitt Romney with a bold request: he wanted to write a biography about him. But McKay had stipulations: not only would he have full access to the Senator — he’d also retain full editorial control. To his surprise, Romney agreed, and shortly had given him stacks of journal entries, emails, and texts. They met over 45 times over the coming years for lengthy interviews, and McKay...

189. The Future of Spirituality — A Conversation with Casper ter Kuile

189. The Future of Spirituality — A Conversation with Casper ter Kuile

Organized religious communities have seen steep declines in participation in recent decades and the rise of the “nones,” those who have no particular religious affiliation, is a well-rehearsed story. But that story isn’t just about loss and lack. New forms of spiritual life and meaning-making are emerging that seek to fill the universal longings of the human heart: belonging, transformation, and love. Casper ter Kuile has studied this horizon of spiritual frontier for many years. 10 years ago...

188. Disagree Better: Governor Spencer Cox with Judge Thomas Griffith at Restore

188. Disagree Better: Governor Spencer Cox with Judge Thomas Griffith at Restore

This week, we’re sharing with you one of sessions we had to kick off our Restore conference, which featured Utah Governor Spencer Cox along with Judge Thomas Griffith.Before we get going, we’re very excited to announce that we’ve decided to give free digital access to all of our Restore recordings! Although we were joined by 3500 of our closest friends, we know there were so many who wanted to join us but couldn’t for a variety of reasons, so we decided to make all of the sessions available,...

187. All Things New — A Conversation with Fiona and Terryl Givens

187. All Things New — A Conversation with Fiona and Terryl Givens

For this week’s episode, we’re sharing a conversation we had originally released almost three years ago — before many of you had started listening to the podcast! It’s the discussion we had with Fiona and Terryl Givens about the ground-shifting book they published in 2020 through Faith Matters Publishing, called All Things New: Rethinking Sin, Salvation, and Everything in Between.When this book was first published, we knew it had the potential to truly change lives, and change how Latter-day...

186. Both Things Are True — Rosalynde Welch on the Writings of Kate Holbrook

186. Both Things Are True — Rosalynde Welch on the Writings of Kate Holbrook

In July of 2022, Rosalynde Welch had a distinct impression while cleaning her house — that she should reach out to Kate Holbrook and ask how she could help share more of Kate’s own writing and thinking with the world.As many of you know, Kate was a historian, scholar, and a light in so many lives. Kate had been previously diagnosed with a rare eye cancer, which had just entered a terminal phase. As she cleaned, it struck Rosalynde that Kate had spent so much time promoting others’ voices, par...

185. Your Faith Isn't Broken — Brian McLaren at Restore

185. Your Faith Isn't Broken — Brian McLaren at Restore

For this week’s episode, we’re sharing one more talk with you from our Restore gathering in 2022. This was one of our absolute favorite sessions, and it was the final presentation, right at the end on Saturday afternoon. We were privileged to hear from Brian McLaren, who shared his simple and incredibly resonant framework for faith development. It’s one that we’ve referenced before on this podcast, and we think you’ll love hearing Brian teach it. Brian does a beautiful job emphasizing that th...

184. Your Brain on Awe — A Conversation with Dacher Keltner

184. Your Brain on Awe — A Conversation with Dacher Keltner

Dacher Keltner is a scientist who has been studying happiness and well-being for decades. He writes that he’s taught happiness to hundreds of thousands of people around the world and that twenty years into teaching happiness, he’s actually found an answer to how to live the good life: find awe.To that end, he’s written a new book called Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life.The book was not only moving, fascinating and thoroughly researched, it also r...

183. Sex Educated — A Conversation with Bonnie Young

183. Sex Educated — A Conversation with Bonnie Young

When therapist Bonnie Young was a teen, the subject of sexuality was for her, “drenched in fear.” And many of us can probably relate. For many Latter-day Saints growing up in a sexually conservative culture and with a strict law of chastity — for all of the goods those things can bring — feelings of anxiety, fear, and shame around sexuality may be more the rule rather than the exception.Bonnie’s on a mission to change that, and we think she’s done really important work to do so with her new b...

182. Missionaries Ministering Through Service — Jeff Strong at Restore

182. Missionaries Ministering Through Service — Jeff Strong at Restore

This week, we’re excited to share with you another gem from our Restore gathering last year. This is a presentation by Jeff Strong. Now his name may sound familiar to you because Jeff also came on for an incredible episode called “Getting Real About Missionary Work” last year- episode #124, which we highly recommend. That episode is one of Faith Matters’ most listened to of all time.But in today’s episode, you’re going to hear about Jeff’s experience as a mission president of the Benton...

181. Creative Stewardship — A Conversation with Stake President Ben Behunin

181. Creative Stewardship — A Conversation with Stake President Ben Behunin

Today we talked with Ben Behunin, and we think when you hear him, you’ll feel immediately what we felt: this is someone who is absolutely full of pure, good energy who has been able to fully align his own gifts to serve in the world.Ben is a full-time artist, potter, and writer who makes his living through creativity. He’s also a stake president in downtown Salt Lake City. In our conversation with Ben, he talked about his mission experience and conversion to the Church — his story...

180. Renewing Our Religious Language — Terryl Givens at Restore

180. Renewing Our Religious Language — Terryl Givens at Restore

This week we’re sharing something really special — it’s Terryl Givens’ talk that opened last year’s Restore gathering. In it, Terryl gets more personal than we’ve ever heard him, telling a dramatic story about nearly drowning off the West coast of Africa and how the experience has helped him frame key aspects of his faith.Terryl also shares some other really meaningful moments from his life and career. In one of our favorite moments, he says "I have come to know the love of God as it is...

179. The Path of a Seeker — A Conversation with Charles Stang

179. The Path of a Seeker — A Conversation with Charles Stang

Religion in America is undergoing a revolution. In 1972, 90% of Americans were self-professed Christians. Now, that number is about 64%. There are now large and growing populations of non-Christians, as well as many who have no particular religious beliefs. Such a time of change has made it an exciting time to be a scholar of religion, charged with making sense of the shifting landscape of American religious experience. For today’s conversation, Zach Davis sat down with one of those scholars,...

178. Modesty from the Inside Out — A Conversation with Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

178. Modesty from the Inside Out — A Conversation with Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

Before we get started, we just wanted to give you a quick note that this episode does contain frank discussion about sexuality, so you can determine if it’s appropriate for anyone listening in.For this conversation, we were really happy to bring on our good friend and one of our favorite people, Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, and we know many of you are fans of her of her work, too.For a long time, we’ve wanted to have a discussion with Jennifer about the concept of modesty—something that anyone wh...

177. Tackling the Teen Mental Health Crisis — A Conversation with Gov. Spencer J. Cox

177. Tackling the Teen Mental Health Crisis — A Conversation with Gov. Spencer J. Cox

In recent months, Governor Spencer J. Cox of Utah has been in the news for the passage of two new state laws: one that puts strict limits on access to social media for teens, and another that would prohibit social media companies from using designs that are addictive to teens. Governor Cox believes that social media and smartphones really are the culprit behind a teen mental health crisis that has manifested, for example, in a skyrocketing rate of depression among teen girls. That...

176. The Cherished Doctrine of Heavenly Mother — A Conversation with McArthur Krishna and Michal Thomas

176. The Cherished Doctrine of Heavenly Mother — A Conversation with McArthur Krishna and Michal Thomas

The Gospel Topics essay titled “Mother in Heaven,” on churchofjesuschrist.org states “The doctrine of a Heavenly Mother is a cherished and distinctive belief among Latter-day Saints.”It’s with this in mind that three Latter-day Saint women — McArthur Krishna, Ashli Carnicelli, and Trina Caudle, have curated a new collection of writing, poetry, and art called Cherish: The Joy of Our Mother in Heaven.We were lucky enough to bring McArthur on, along with another one of the book’s contributors, M...

175. The Story of You — A Conversation with Ian Morgan Cron

175. The Story of You — A Conversation with Ian Morgan Cron

This week we are covering the Enneagram, a fascinating topic and a tool that we’ve found to be very helpful and deeply meaningful over the past few years. For this conversation, we were lucky enough to bring on one of the world’s foremost proponents and teachers of the Enneagram — Ian Morgan Cron.Ian is a bestselling author, psychotherapist, Enneagram teacher, Episcopal priest, and the host of the podcast "Typology," which has over 20 million downloads. His books include the Enneagram p...

174. Faith Journey 101 — A Conversation with Jana Spangler

174. Faith Journey 101 — A Conversation with Jana Spangler

Over the years, much of the work that we’ve done at Faith Matters has tried to take into account much of the wisdom and research that’s been done in the field of faith and adult development. It’s also been important to us to share and discuss some of the existing models, including Brian McLaren’s four-stage framework, and the “creation, fall, atonement” framework that our amazing friend Jared Halverson has spoken about at Restore and on this podcast.All that said, we’ve never done a deep dive...

173. The $100 Billion Question — A Conversation with Aaron Miller

173. The $100 Billion Question — A Conversation with Aaron Miller

In May of this year, the news program 60 Minutes aired a segment exploring the finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. David Nielsen, a former portfolio manager at Ensign Peak, the investment arm of the Church, alleged that the Church had been operating improperly as a tax-exempt organization and called for that tax-exempt status to be revoked. 60 Minutes also interviewed W. Christopher Waddell, first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, who denied Nielsen’s claims. Near...

172. Exploring Atonement — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

172. Exploring Atonement — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

A few weeks ago, we released a conversation with Terryl Givens about the life of Eugene England. England’s work on atonement theology had felt like it necessitated another conversation, but it was too big to fit into the first one. So this week, we brought Terryl back to talk not just about England’s views, but about atonement generally.The conversation starts with the fascinating premise that our faith doesn’t actually have an official theology of Atonement. What is clear, doctrinally, is th...

171. My Lord, He Calls Me — A Conversation with Alice Faulkner Burch

171. My Lord, He Calls Me — A Conversation with Alice Faulkner Burch

For this week’s episode, we were honored to bring on Alice Faulkner Burch, General Editor of Deseret Book’s new collection of essays by Black American Latter-day Saints: My Lord, He Calls Me. The title of the book comes from an early Black American spiritual called “Steal Away to Jesus.” The book shares contemporary experiences of Black Americans in the Church, and stories from every era of the Restoration.The essays found in the book are extremely personal — the type of stories you’d only he...

170. Reckoning with Mountain Meadows — Richard Turley and Barbara Jones Brown

170. Reckoning with Mountain Meadows — Richard Turley and Barbara Jones Brown

In September of 1857, one of the greatest atrocities in the history of Mormonism was carried out. Now known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre, a group of Latter-day Saints led a siege in Southern Utah against a wagon train of emigrants on their way from Arkansas to California. After the siege had dragged on for several days, and under the guise of a truce, leaders of the Mormon party lured the emigrants out of their protective circle of wagons and marched them a short distance across the valle...

169. Audacious Hope — A Conversation with Tim Shriver

169. Audacious Hope — A Conversation with Tim Shriver

It isn’t easy to be born into a famous family with big expectations. And there’s few families more famous or with bigger expectations than the Kennedys. Tim Shriver’s immediate family includes not only a former US president, a US Attorney General, and a US Senator, but his parents, Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Sargent Shriver, founded global humanitarian organizations like the Special Olympics, The Peace Corp, and more. But Tim has risen to the challenge in every respect and is adding a new asp...

168. Parenting with Grace — A Conversation with Brooke Romney

168. Parenting with Grace — A Conversation with Brooke Romney

For this week's episode, we spoke with Brooke Romney, a guest that had been recommended to us over and over — and we were so happy we were able to connect with her.Brooke is a writer who began her career on Capitol Hill and whose work has appeared in many publications, including in the Washington Post. She now spends much of her time writing and speaking, particularly on the subject of parenting, but also on social media, connection, and faith. In 2021, she published 52 Modern Manners fo...

167. When Conscience and Authority Seem to Collide — The Life of Eugene England

167. When Conscience and Authority Seem to Collide — The Life of Eugene England

For today’s episode, we were honored as always to bring back one of our favorite people and conversation partners, and likely one of yours: Terryl Givens.We spoke with Terryl about a book he released in 2021, a biography called Stretching the Heavens: The Life of Eugene England and the Crisis of Modern Mormonism.Terryl’s work on this biography led to a fascinating portrait of a man many of us look up to, and someone we truly wish we could have met (England died in 2001 at the age of 68). His...

166. Finding Beauty in the Mundane — A Conversation with Darlene Young

166. Finding Beauty in the Mundane — A Conversation with Darlene Young

This week’s episode is with an incredible Latter-day Saint poet, Darlene Young. Darlene has just released a new book of poetry, called Here, and published by BCC Press. It’s an honest, vulnerable, relatable, and incredibly approachable book that we laughed and cried our way through.In our conversation with Darlene, she talked about the value of poetry itself — how it can be a “dance” to prose’s “walk,” and help us to see life as “more abundant,” and show the moments we might see as mund...

165. Love in the Trenches — A Conversation with Dr. Jason Whiting

165. Love in the Trenches — A Conversation with Dr. Jason Whiting

For this week’s episode, we’re bringing you a conversation with Jason Whiting, a Professor and Program Director in the Marriage and Family Therapy program at Brigham Young University. Jason received his PhD from Michigan State University, and is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. He’s also the author of Love Me True: Overcoming the Surprising Ways We Deceive in Relationships.Jason’s primary research centers around the love lives of couples, and it was fascinating, as a married couple...

164. The Call To Be in the World — A Conversation with Astrid Tuminez

164. The Call To Be in the World — A Conversation with Astrid Tuminez

We’ve been really excited to share this week's interview with you. Our guest was Astrid Tuminez, President of Utah Valley University. Astrid is an absolute delight to talk with and listen to. She’s full of stories, humor, and deep insights that made our time with her pass way too quickly.This interview actually came about because Astrid wrote an essay in Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook’s new book Every Needful Thing. We loved Astrid’s essay and knew we wanted to get to know her better.Astrid...

163. Why We Can't Cherry-Pick the Bible — A Conversation with Dan McClellan

163. Why We Can't Cherry-Pick the Bible — A Conversation with Dan McClellan

We’re super excited to share this week’s episode with you. Our interview was with Dan McClellan, a Bible scholar who began sharing his insights and scholarship on TikTok in 2021, and immediately began racking up millions of views and hundreds of thousands of followers.One of the reasons people seem to resonate with Dan’s content is that he makes traditionally difficult and obscure topics extremely accessible — if you watch any of his videos, you’ll see what we mean, but even those who are pre...

162. Rethinking Forgiveness — A Conversation with Matthew Potts

162. Rethinking Forgiveness — A Conversation with Matthew Potts

In June 2015, a white supremacist entered the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and murdered 9 members of the church during a Bible study. During the first court hearing, a number of family members of victims said that they forgave the murderer, Dylann Roof. This act of forgiveness shocked many people. Some people were shocked by witnessing such an act of Christian charity. Others were shocked because they thought expressing forgiveness for such an act, especially so quickly, was wro...

161. 15 Years to Redemption — A Conversation with Dave Durocher

161. 15 Years to Redemption — A Conversation with Dave Durocher

For today’s episode, we thought we’d bring you a really special story that we think we can all learn from, especially during this Easter season as we ponder concepts like redemption and new life.Our guest was Dave Durocher, the Executive Director of The Other Side Academy in Salt Lake City. If you’re an especially up-to-date listener, or you went to Restore last year, you’ve heard a little bit about The Other Side’s story from Joseph Grenny, Dave’s partner and the Academy’s Chairman.But with...

160. Reckoning with Marriage — A Conversation with Rachel Rueckert

160. Reckoning with Marriage — A Conversation with Rachel Rueckert

This week we’re bringing you a conversation with Rachel Rueckert, a really amazing young writer who recently published a memoir called East Winds: A Global Quest to Reckon with Marriage.Rachel’s story is a fascinating one. Perhaps due to a highly tumultuous home life as a child, she inherited her suspicions about marriage early. Growing up in the Church, there was a constant drumbeat about marriage and eternal families, but those lessons always seemed to raise more questions for her than they...

159. How to Celebrate Holy Week — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman

159. How to Celebrate Holy Week — A Conversation with Eric Huntsman

When BYU professor Eric Huntsman was growing up, he spent time among Catholics in Pittsburgh and Baptists in Alabama and came to love the different ways other Christian denominations worshiped Jesus. And one of his favorite ways that other Christians worshiped was during Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday. Over the years, Eric began incorporating many Holy Week traditions into his spiritual practice and found it helped him connect more deeply with the Savior and his atoning sacri...

158. The Other Side Academy: "Zion with F-Bombs" — Joseph Grenny at Restore

158. The Other Side Academy: "Zion with F-Bombs" — Joseph Grenny at Restore

This week we’re sharing with you one of the most popular presentations from our Restore gathering that happened last October — a talk by Joseph Grenny called “The Other Side.”As a young father, Joseph was determined to have the perfect family. All of kids would be active, go on missions, go to BYU and be stalwart. But that dream was shattered when two of his sons got involved in drugs and crime. Eventually, one son overdosed and almost lost his life. As a result of that grief and h...

157. Using Your Gifts for Good — A Conversation with Liz Shropshire

157. Using Your Gifts for Good — A Conversation with Liz Shropshire

For this week’s episode, we’re bringing you a story that we really think will uplift and inspire you. Our guest was Liz Shropshire, the founder of Peace Through Music.In our interview with her, Liz tells the story of how she got started teaching music to children in Kosovo who had been affected by the war and ethnic cleansing that took place there in the 1990s. She knew just two things: she could teach music, and she wanted to help: so she got on a plane and made her way to a refugee camp whe...

156. Friendship in Faith — A Conversation with Andrew Teal

156. Friendship in Faith — A Conversation with Andrew Teal

Several years ago, Matthew Holland, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s son, was on a sabbatical at Oxford University. One day, he passed by a door that said “Chaplain.” Intrigued, he decided to knock. Thus began a remarkable relationship with Andrew Teal, an Anglican priest and lecturer in theology at Pembroke College, Oxford. Since then, Andrew has developed a close friendship with Elder Holland, attended General Conference, given a BYU devotional address and is currently partnering with BYU to esta...

155. A Year of War and Miracles — Svitlana Miller and Nancy Cadjan

155. A Year of War and Miracles — Svitlana Miller and Nancy Cadjan

** To help, head to https://www.toukrainewithlove.org **It’s been exactly a year since the world received the shocking news that Russian troops had invaded Ukraine, and exactly a year since the lives of millions of Ukrainian people changed forever.As news of troop movements, cities under siege, refugee crises and all kinds of geopolitical saber-rattling has come to those of us outside Ukraine, many of us have gone through varying stages of shock, dismay, and fear. But what have been harder to...

154. Every Needful Thing — Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook

154. Every Needful Thing — Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook

Today, you’re going to hear a really special episode. It’s a conversation with Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook that took place last summer, not long before Kate’s passing in August 2022. We spoke with Kate and Melissa about an amazing new book that they co-edited called Every Needful Thing: Essays on the Life of the Mind and the Heart.In their book, Kate and Melissa gathered so many remarkable Latter-day Saint women who are true leaders in their fields, including academics, psychology, medic...

153. Developing Sexual Wholeness — Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

153. Developing Sexual Wholeness — Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

This week, we’re sharing another one of our favorite presentations from our Restore conference, given by Jennifer Finlayson-Fife and called Developing Sexual Wholeness.In her talk, Jennifer brilliantly laid out human sexuality in terms of development, in the same way we might talk about adult development or spiritual development. Jennifer teaches that in its earliest stages, our sexuality is egocentric and focused on ourselves; eventually, moves into a social stage with deeper awareness of ot...

152. The Richard Bushman Interview

152. The Richard Bushman Interview

This week's guest is Richard Bushman, who is simply one of the most important scholarly voices ever in the Latter-day Saint tradition.Of course, Richard has been interviewed many times over the years, and we wanted to make sure that we covered new ground while asking for his perspective on some of the questions that have propelled and perplexed us throughout our faith journey.So in this very wide-ranging conversation, Richard spoke about his own early journey from agnosticism to faith; why le...

151. When Faith is Hard — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

151. When Faith is Hard — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

For today’s episode, we were honored to bring back the inimitable Terryl Givens. Terryl and his son Nathaniel have recently released a new book, called Into the Headwinds: Why Belief Has Always Been Hard — And Still Is.This is a remarkable book and addresses some of life’s most profound questions, especially as they pertain to the modern world. Terryl and Nathaniel argue that though many of us see faith as “hard” in our scientific and rational age — but the reality is that for many year...

150. How Are We Like the Ancient Christians? — A Conversation with Kristian Heal

150. How Are We Like the Ancient Christians? — A Conversation with Kristian Heal

For today’s episode, we spoke with Kristian Heal. BYU’s Maxwell Institute has just released an amazing new volume of research called Ancient Christians, that offers remarkable insights into Christianity’s earliest centuries. It’s intended for Latter-day Saints, but based on the best scholarship available to give us a glimpse into what these ancient Christians believed, how they worshiped, and the ways in which they saw and experienced the world.Kristian Heal was one of the editors...

149. Don't Let a Good Faith Crisis Go to Waste — Jared Halverson

149. Don't Let a Good Faith Crisis Go to Waste — Jared Halverson

This week, we’re excited to share with you another presentation from our Restore conference, and one that we think was super memorable to everyone who attended. It was given by our friend Jared Halverson, and called “Don’t Let a Good Faith Crisis Go to Waste.”In it, Jared shares his experiences as a scholar, teacher, mentor, and person of faith who’s been through — and helped others work through — faith crises and faith journeys of all types. And what we loved about it was he completely remov...

148. Equal Partnership in Marriage — McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding

148. Equal Partnership in Marriage — McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding

This week, we’re bringing back a couple of our favorite guests and close friends, McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding. McArthur and Bethany have just released a new book titled: In the Image of Our Heavenly Parents: A Couples’ Guide to Creating a More Divine Marriage.Bethany and McArthur have done super interesting and important work with this book — it uses the model of “divine partnership,” based on the doctrine of Heavenly Parents, to inspire couples to create powerful and fulfilli...

147. Bittersweet - A Conversation with Susan Cain

147. Bittersweet - A Conversation with Susan Cain

This week, we were honored to bring on a guest we’ve hoped to have on for years — Susan Cain. In 2013, she released her book Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. But today, we brought Susan on to talk about her new book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, another masterwork that reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and has been praised by Brene Brown, Glennon Doyle, and Adam Grant. This book touched us deeply with its key truth:...

146. Savior of the World - A Conversation with Esther Candari

146. Savior of the World - A Conversation with Esther Candari

As we imagine many of you have, we’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus these last few weeks. From the nativity we set up in our living room to the movies we’re watching to the hymns we’re singing in Church, this is a time that in so many beautiful ways, makes him more prominent in our lives and minds.And one question naturally comes up from there: when we imagine Jesus, what do we see? For many of us, it’s probably heavily influenced by the art we grew up with. If you’re like us, you might eve...

145. Envisioning the Restoration's 3rd Century — Patrick Mason

145. Envisioning the Restoration's 3rd Century — Patrick Mason

Today we’re sharing with you one of our absolute favorite presentations from our Restore gathering that happened in October — a talk by Patrick Mason that he called “Envisioning the Restoration’s Third Century.”As we prepare for our Church to enter into this next era, it’s become increasingly clear that something fundamental has changed; people inside and outside the Church are seeing the world and their place in it in different ways. Patrick points out that the world itself is rapidly...

144. The Art of Transformation — A Conversation with Makoto Fujimura

144. The Art of Transformation — A Conversation with Makoto Fujimura

In Japanese culture there is a beautiful practice called Kintsugi, which translates roughly to “golden repair”. This is how it works: when a piece of ceramic breaks, like a teacup or plate, instead of gluing the broken pieces back together so that the cracks are hidden, a special gold or silver adhesive is used so that the fractures are emphasized and even celebrated. In this episode, Zach Davis spoke with Makoto Fujimura, an artist and writer who has reflected deeply on the meaning of k...

143. The Sin of Certainty — A Conversation with Peter Enns

143. The Sin of Certainty — A Conversation with Peter Enns

We couldn’t be more excited about today’s episode, and it’s with someone we’ve wanted to get on the podcast for years — Peter Enns. Pete is a well-known bible scholar and is the Abram S. Clemens professor of Bible Studies at Eastern University in Pennsylvania. In recent years, Pete has become well known for several highly popular books, including How the Bible Actually Works, The Bible Tells Me So, and the book we discussed with him today: The Sin of Certainty.In addition to his res...

142. The Truth Will Set You Free — A Conversation with Jason Portnoy

142. The Truth Will Set You Free — A Conversation with Jason Portnoy

Everything seemed to be going right for Jason Portnoy. While studying engineering at Stanford, his career took a sharp and unexpected turn upward when he met the CEO of a new startup — a company that became PayPal. He was soon offered a job, jumped on the rocketship and didn’t look back. The years that followed led him to success after success, and Jason became a prominent figure in the high-flying worlds of tech and venture capital. The money and opportunities were endless. In the meantime,...

141. The Song of the Heart — Brett Stewart and Brandon Stewart

141. The Song of the Heart — Brett Stewart and Brandon Stewart

A few years ago, we were invited by some good friends to see a Christmas concert their kids were participating in. We were happy to be invited, and of course, wanted to support our friends and their kids! So we headed to Salt Lake City expecting a fun evening.But when we walked into Abravanel Hall, we knew something was going on that we didn’t understand. The place was buzzing — it was packed full of people, with a tangible excitement in the air. We took our seats, and when the lights went do...

139. How the Helpline Actually Works — A Conversation with Kate Taylor Lauck

139. How the Helpline Actually Works — A Conversation with Kate Taylor Lauck

*This episode discusses the topic of sexual abuse, and in particular, the recent sexual abuse case in Arizona that was covered by the Associated Press and widely shared and discussed in mainstream/social media. Please use discretion in determining whether or not this is a suitable episode for you or for anyone listening in.* As most of you know, in August of this year, the AP released an article that chronicled a case of sexual abuse, perpetrated by a member of the Church and, in at least in one instance in 2011, disclosed by the perpetrator to a bishop. The abuse continued for many years, with legal authorities only finding out — through other channels — and arresting the perpetrator in 2017. When the article came out, we were, of course, disturbed and upset. We knew that we’d want to address the topic somehow, but didn’t want it to be a “hot take.” We decided to wait until we felt we had something truly valuable to add to the conversation, and when we were introduced to our guest, Kate Taylor Lauck, we knew that she would do just that. Kate is a remarkable person and an investigative attorney who specializes in child abuse. She holds a master’s degree in national security strategies from the U.S. Naval War College and graduated cum laude from Georgetown Law in 2017. She’s worked on the Church’s help line as an attorney at Kirton McConkie and is also, herself, a survivor of sexual abuse. In the conversation with Kate, we talked through some of the AP article itself, but spent quite a bit of time covering the help line and its processes. She shared with us what it was like to work there, and what she felt the driving motivation was on her team at Kirton McConkie, and at the Church broadly, when it comes to abuse. Kate also shared incredibly helpful information with us about what we can do, as Church and community members, to help prevent abuse. Though of course we’re unable to adjudicate the details of the Arizona case — and we do think that it’s a tragedy that abuse was allowed to go on for many years when it didn’t need to — we felt it was important to address article’s implicit claims: that the Church’s help line’s primary purpose is to protect the Church against liability, regardless of what happens to victims. It’s never been Faith Matters’ objective to participate in apologetics — we’ve always believed that the truth, regardless of how hard it may be to hear, is the key to finding healing and peace. That said, we believe few people could address this as well as Kate could. We’ve found her to be incredibly courageous and honest, and we’re proud to call her a friend. We know that as with any topic of this importance and difficulty, every word and sentence we say has the potential to hurt someone, and we’re sure that we didn’t do this perfectly. As we’ve done in the past, we’re asking for grace and the benefit of the doubt. More than anything, we hope that this effort can further good faith efforts of everyone — Church members, Church leaders, and other members of our communities, to help prevent the tragedy of child sexual abuse.

140. Understanding and Preventing Sexual Abuse — Sage Williams and Rebecca Bettilyon

140. Understanding and Preventing Sexual Abuse — Sage Williams and Rebecca Bettilyon

*This discusses the topic of sexual abuse and prevention of sexual abuse. Please use discretion in determining whether or not this is a suitable episode for you or for anyone listening in.*Sexual abuse and sexual violence are shockingly prevalent. In the United States, about 1 in 4 girls, and 1 in 13 boys experience child sexual abuse. In their lifetimes, over half of women and 1 in 3 men will experience sexual violence. And it’s remarkably common for child sexual abuse to go undisclosed for...

138. The Rediscovered Gospel — A Conversation with Elaine Pagels

138. The Rediscovered Gospel — A Conversation with Elaine Pagels

In 1945 fifty-two papyrus texts were found concealed in an earthenware jar buried in the Egyptian desert. They turned out to be early Christian writings, some dating all the way back to the first few centuries AD. Elaine Pagels, a historian of religion at Princeton university, has dedicated her life to studying and interpreting these texts and it turns out that there are some surprisingly powerful connections between some of the teachings in these ancient texts and the doctrines of the Restor...

137. Loving Your Enemy: Daryl Davis and the Ku Klux Klan

137. Loving Your Enemy: Daryl Davis and the Ku Klux Klan

This week, Faith Matters is bringing you a story that defies expectations so completely that you really have to hear it straight from the source. Our guest was Daryl Davis, who’s easily one of the most fascinating and inspiring people we’ve ever met.Daryl has spent his career as a professional musician, including decades playing alongside rock and roll legends Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. He’s a master of multiple instruments, but specializes on the piano, where he blends unbelievable tal...

136. Let Me Drown with Moses — A Conversation with James Goldberg

136. Let Me Drown with Moses — A Conversation with James Goldberg

For this episode, we were happy to bring on someone that’s been on our list for a long time — scholar and writer James Goldberg.James is a fascinating person and Latter-day Saint, and brings a truly unique perspective to our faith. In his words, his family is Jewish on one side, Sikh on the other, and Mormon in the middle. He works as a historian at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is also a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, documentary filmmaker, scholar, and tr...

135. Imagining a Four-Stage Church — A Conversation with Patrick Mason

135. Imagining a Four-Stage Church — A Conversation with Patrick Mason

We’ve been thinking and talking a lot recently about a phenomenon that sometimes happens and that we’ve occasionally felt ourselves — something you might call a “spiritual whiplash.” It can happen when we’re really uplifted by something: maybe a book we’ve read, an inspiring group of people we’ve been around, or even a transcendental experience in nature. We’re feeling fed, and our cup is full… but then, we come back down to earth. We’re faced with the realities of the mundane, and the imperf...

134. Do I Stay Christian? — A Conversation with Brian McLaren

134. Do I Stay Christian? — A Conversation with Brian McLaren

In this episode, we were honored to bring back our friend Brian McLaren to talk about his brand new book, Do I Stay Christian?In this new book, Brian addresses a real question which underlies a startling sociological truth: people are leaving Christianity at a rapid pace. In fact, Pew Research shows that today, about 64% people in the US identify as Christian, after falling rapidly from a high of 90% just a few decades back.Brian’s book takes an unflinching look at the reasons people might le...

133. The Love Map — A Conversation with Carol Lynn Pearson

133. The Love Map — A Conversation with Carol Lynn Pearson

In this episode, we got to speak with Carol Lynn Pearson about her new book, The Love Map: Saving Your Love Relationship and Incidentally Saving the World.Carol Lynn has been a powerful and well-known voice in the Latter-day Saint community for many years. She’s the author of several remarkable works, including the memoir Goodbye, I Love You, and the book of poetry Finding Mother God: Poems to Heal the World. Her full catalog of works is too impressive to list here, but one other highlight is...

132. History and Faith — A Conversation with David Holland

132. History and Faith — A Conversation with David Holland

The Restoration occurred in a fascinating and complex religious and historical moment in American history, and knowing more about that context can help us more deeply appreciate the blessings and beauty of the Restored Gospel.One person at the forefront of expanding our knowledge of early American religious history is David Holland, a professor at Harvard Divinity School and also the son of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. In today’s episode Zach Davis and Terryl Givens visited David in his Cam...

131. The Burning Book — A Conversation with Jason Olson

131. The Burning Book — A Conversation with Jason Olson

For today’s episode, we were really excited to bring on Jason Olson, who, along with James Goldberg, is the author of a new memoir called The Burning Book.Jason’s story is truly fascinating: he was born into a reform Jewish household with a Jewish mother and a Christian father. As a child and young person, he was always drawn to God and to religion, and found himself very involved in both study and practice in his faith. After his Bar Mitzvah at age 13, he eventually encountered some Latter-d...

130. Original Grace — A Conversation with Adam Miller

130. Original Grace — A Conversation with Adam Miller

For today’s episode, we were lucky enough to bring back Latter-day Saint philosopher and theologian Adam Miller to talk about his new book, Original Grace. Of the many incredible books we’ve read from Adam, this one, we think, might have the most potential to really change the way we engage God and the world.We’ll let Adam explain the major theses of the book, but we’ll just say that in many ways it entirely upends traditional understandings of concepts like justice, suffering, mercy, punishm...

129. The Early Christian World — A Conversation with Laura Nasralla

129. The Early Christian World — A Conversation with Laura Nasralla

In the past few decades, scholarship on the New Testament has opened up exciting new ways of understanding the context of the early followers of Jesus and has enabled new interpretations of the texts they wrote. One of the leading scholars advancing our knowledge of early Christianity is Laura Nasrallah, a professor at Yale who specializes in New Testament texts and archaeology. In this conversation, Zach Davis and Terryl Givens visited Laura in her New Haven office to discuss topics lik...

Remembering Kate Holbrook

Remembering Kate Holbrook

The Faith Matters family lost a dear friend this week. Kate Holbrook passed away after a long battle with cancer. Kate was a graceful light in our lives. Her strength, her courage, her wisdom, her intelligence and her gentle manner will be with us forever. Our thoughts, prayers and determined support go out to our good friend Sam Brown, Kate’s forever companion, and to their three daughters.In Kate’s memory and honor, we’re sharing this conversation that she had with Terryl Givens in 2018. Th...

128. Relentless Hope: The Chiou Family Story —Sam Chiou, Mindy Chiou, and Julia Chiou Knutson

128. Relentless Hope: The Chiou Family Story —Sam Chiou, Mindy Chiou, and Julia Chiou Knutson

Today, we’re bringing you a really amazing story that we can’t wait for you to hear. It’s the story of Sam Chiou — a remarkable young man who is nonspeaking and autistic, and who was totally unable to communicate for the first fifteen years of his life. His family was unaware that despite being nonspeaking, he was hearing and understanding everything they were saying — and had so much that he wanted to share.We don’t want to tell the whole story here, but after this long period of struggle —...

127. Mind, Matter, and Spirit — A Conversation with Michael Ferguson

127. Mind, Matter, and Spirit — A Conversation with Michael Ferguson

For decades, our understanding of how the brain works has advanced dramatically. Using new theories, methods and tools, like fMRI technology, scientists are beginning to reveal the mysteries of this truly remarkable and complex organ.One scientist on the cutting edge of this research is Michael Ferguson, a BYU grad who is now researching and teaching at Harvard. For Michael, the most exciting result of all this new knowledge of the brain is how it might transform our spiritual lives and...

126. Lift and Love — A Conversation with Allison Dayton

126. Lift and Love — A Conversation with Allison Dayton

In this episode, we spoke with Allison Dayton from Lift and Love, an organization that focuses on strengthening Latter-day Saint LGBTQ families.We met Allison not long ago and were so impressed by the spirit and love she brings to every interaction. She tells her story in the episode itself, but she’s been deeply involved with the LGBTQ community for many years, first through her older brother Preston, and later through her son. In those interactions she’s lived through the deepest of tragedi...

125. Proving Polarities — A Conversation with Jared Halverson

125. Proving Polarities — A Conversation with Jared Halverson

For today’s episode, we’re really excited to bring on Jared Halverson.Jared shares with us a really important concept he calls “proving contraries,” —something we’ve talked a little bit about on the podcast before using the term “polarities.” He spoke with us about how recognizing these polarities can help us understand our own strengths and weaknesses, how attributes that are positive, taken too far, almost always become problematic, and how wrestling with contraries is essential in a life f...

124. Getting Real About Missionary Work — A Conversation with Jeff Strong

124. Getting Real About Missionary Work — A Conversation with Jeff Strong

For this episode, we spoke with Jeff Strong about the experience of missionaries in today’s mission field, including the unique challenges and opportunities they face. This conversation was based largely on a document Jeff wrote, called “What One Mission President Would Tell His Own Grandchildren About Serving a Mission.” Jeff wrote this document after his experience as the mission president of the Bentonville, Arkansas Mission.We found Jeff’s reflections on missionary work to be refreshingly...

123. Behind the Scenes at Faith Matters — Bill Turnbull, Aubrey Chaves, Tim Chaves, and Zach Davis

123. Behind the Scenes at Faith Matters — Bill Turnbull, Aubrey Chaves, Tim Chaves, and Zach Davis

With all the exciting things happening at Faith Matters, we thought it would be a good time to step back, take stock of what we’ve done, and share more about where we’re going. So in this episode, Tim and Aubrey were joined by one of Faith Matters’ founders, Bill Turnbull, as well as Faith Matters’ new Executive Director, Zach Davis, to discuss how our organization began, answer common questions we get from listeners, and share more about our purpose and approach. This episode was a...

122. Under the Banner — A Conversation with McKay Coppins and Patrick Mason

122. Under the Banner — A Conversation with McKay Coppins and Patrick Mason

Under the Banner of Heaven is a recent 7-part dramatized series aired on Hulu by about the horrific 1984 murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty by brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty. Like the book it’s based on, the series paints a very grim portrait of Latter-day Saint faith and culture, and has been both praised and panned by critics. In this episode, McKay Coppins and Patrick Mason join Bill Turnbull to explore why the series has had such widely divergent receptions and discuss the validity...

121. Hope and Healing in a Time of Crisis: A Conversation with Anne Snyder

121. Hope and Healing in a Time of Crisis: A Conversation with Anne Snyder

The twin challenges of the pandemic and political polarization have caused widespread anxiety and even despair. And yet, as Christian disciples, we are called to plant seeds of hope in even the most seemingly barren soil. For this episode, Zach Davis invited Anne Snyder to discuss her experiences planting such seeds of hope in her capacity as a prominent Christian editor and writer. Their conversation touches on how to cultivate hope in times of fear and anxiety; how to reknit relations...

120. The Law of Love — A Conversation with Steve Young

120. The Law of Love — A Conversation with Steve Young

In so many domains of our lives, we are encouraged to think and act in a transactional, cost-benefit way. But Latter-day Saints are called to transcend this logic and follow the law of love, which Steve Young defines in his new book as “loving as God loves, seeking another’s healing, and expecting nothing in return.”Living the law of love can help us focus less on acquiring religious merit badges and more on becoming extensions of Christ’s healing hands to bind up the brokenhearted.Steve Youn...

119. Is God Alive in Cambridge? — A Conversation with Noah Feldman

119. Is God Alive in Cambridge? — A Conversation with Noah Feldman

Noah Feldman is one of the most fascinating and engaging public intellectuals in the world. He’s also had a long and rich relationship with the Latter-day Saint tradition. Terryl Givens and Zachary Davis recently stopped by Noah’s office in Cambridge for a wide-ranging conversation on faith and religion. Some of the topics discussed include: how young people are experiencing religion and spirituality today; why living a life of faith helps make sense and meaning of life; and Noah’s thoug...

118. The End of Roe v. Wade? — With Sherif Gergis, Jenet Erickson, and Justin Collings

118. The End of Roe v. Wade? — With Sherif Gergis, Jenet Erickson, and Justin Collings

As many of you know, at the beginning of May, the United States Supreme Court experienced an unprecedented leak of a draft opinion on the Dobbs v. Jackson case currently being adjudicated by the Supreme Court. The opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito Jr., and, if it ends up reflecting the Court’s decision due this month, would overturn nearly 50 years of abortion law under the landmark Roe v. Wade case, which ruled that many then-current restrictions on abortion were unconstituti...

117. Faith in Action — Fiona Givens and Britta Ellwanger

117. Faith in Action — Fiona Givens and Britta Ellwanger

Joseph Smith taught that faith is a “principle of action.” Although the world is full of crises and challenges, as Latter-day Saints, we are called to care for those in need with love and courage. In this week’s episode, Fiona Givens and Britta Ellwanger share stories from their recent efforts to put their faith into action. When Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, Fiona felt an inspired pull on her heart to help this situation however she could. That led her to catalyzing prayer and...

116. Turning Our Hearts — A Conversation with Richard and Linda Eyre

116. Turning Our Hearts — A Conversation with Richard and Linda Eyre

Memorial Day reminds us to turn our attention and our hearts back to those who have gone before us and who have made our lives possible. It’s a time to contemplate Malachi’s prophecy of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.How might this turning of hearts actually look in our personal lives. We invited two incredibly insightful and wise people, Linda and Richard Eyre, to our guide an exploration of this timely topic. As usual, Linda...

115. The Science of Spirituality — A Conversation with Dr. Lisa Miller

115. The Science of Spirituality — A Conversation with Dr. Lisa Miller

Are we at the leading edge of a resurgent interest in religion and spirituality in the academy? Quite possibly. And not just as a curiosity. This week, Faith Matters begins a series of conversations with prominent scholars from outside our faith. What are we learning about the nature of spiritual experience and the value of a religious life? In coming weeks, we’ll be traveling to some of America’s top universities—starting with Harvard, Yale and Princeton—to sit down with thinkers...

114. Are We Listening, Learning, and Loving? — A Conversation with Richard Ostler

114. Are We Listening, Learning, and Loving? — A Conversation with Richard Ostler

For this episode, Faith Matters is honored to bring on our good friend, Richard Ostler. Richard is a former YSA Bishop whose ministry has focused on all types of Latter-day Saint journeys, and especially on those of people who have felt marginalized in any way. In addition to his podcast, he’s now written two books, both under the title Listen, Learn, and Love: the first is subtitled Embracing LGBTQ Latter-day Saints, and the second Improving Latter-day Saint Culture. Both are available...

Celebrating Our Divine Mother — A Conversation with McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding

Celebrating Our Divine Mother — A Conversation with McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding

For today’s conversation, and on this Mother’s Day weekend, we’re releasing a classic episode that was done with McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding. They’re the authors of several incredible books, including The Girls’ Guide to Heavenly Mother, The Boys’ Guide to Heavenly Mother, and the Girls Who Choose God series.In this conversation, Bethany and McArthur addressed specifically where the longstanding myth comes from that we shouldn’t talk about Heavenly Mother, as well as pointing...

113. A New Approach to Church History — A Conversation with Dr. Lisa Olsen Tait

113. A New Approach to Church History — A Conversation with Dr. Lisa Olsen Tait

The third volume of Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, was published this week by the Church.The Saints project has gained widespread popularity because of its accessibility—it’s written in a narrative format—as well as its assiduous adherence to documented history. It is an enormous endeavor led by a very able group of scholars. We invited one of the leaders of this project, Dr. Lisa Olsen Tait, to come on our podcast to tell us what’s in this volume an...

112. The Mother Tree — A Conversation with Kathryn Knight Sonntag

112. The Mother Tree — A Conversation with Kathryn Knight Sonntag

*** Links to buy "The Mother Tree" ***Softcover version: https://faithmatters.org/themothertreeAudible and Kindle version: https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tree-Discovering-Wisdom-Divine/dp/B09YCDHTDZ/Today, we’re excited to announce the latest offering from Faith Matters Publishing, following our previous books All Things New by Terryl and Fiona Givens, Restoration by Patrick Mason, and Better Than Happy by Jody Moore.This book is called The Mother Tree: Discovering the Love and Wisdom of...

111. An Early Resurrection — A Conversation with Adam Miller

111. An Early Resurrection — A Conversation with Adam Miller

As Christians, we look forward to resurrection after death into a state of wholeness and joy. But understanding resurrection as occurring only in the next life can prevent us from experiencing the fullness of life that Christ offers us here and now. What if we looked at resurrection as a process that can begin now as we allow Christ to live in and through us?This week, we invited our friend Adam Miller to talk about his book An Early Resurrection: Life in Christ Before You Die. In...

110. The Silent Sufferers of OCD — A Conversation with Paul Peterson

110. The Silent Sufferers of OCD — A Conversation with Paul Peterson

There is almost certainly someone in your life who is struggling with OCD, and it could be much more severe than you might imagine. OCD is a serious mental illness, and it’s very common for OCD sufferers to experience severe depression and even suicidal thoughts. In a religious setting, it is quite common for OCD to manifest in extreme and very unhealthy scrupulosity. In a previous Faith Matters podcast episode, podcast host Tim Chaves shared some of his own very painful struggles with O...

109. 10 Signs of a Healthy Self — A Conversation with Dr. Julie Hanks

109. 10 Signs of a Healthy Self — A Conversation with Dr. Julie Hanks

We talk a lot about the “self” in our culture, and in our faith. We use terms like selfish, selfless, true self, false self, self care, authentic self, etc. Many social commentators observe that the modern era (and maybe particularly the post-modern era) has produced a pervasive secular “cult of the self.” The advent of social media in the past decade has only fanned the flames of a preoccupation with self, complete with the “selfie.”So we decided to host a conversation on what a healthy sens...

108. Embracing and Challenging Scripture — A Conversation with Brian McLaren

108. Embracing and Challenging Scripture — A Conversation with Brian McLaren

The perennial struggle to read and understand the Hebrew Bible--that strange and wonderful collection of books we call the Old Testament--has captured our collective attention this year as we dive back into its pages. The text presents profound challenges and questions to Christians and to people with modern sensibilities generally. Among those challenges are stories and accounts of what seem to be divinely sanctioned violence.To get some perspective on these challenges, and on how broader Ch...

107. Ukraine: Bearing Burdens, Bearing Witness

107. Ukraine: Bearing Burdens, Bearing Witness

Fundraiser details here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/281102717479491/We’ve been working hard to gather voices that could help us process the ongoing atrocities that the Russian government has inflicted upon the people of Ukraine. Like you, we’ve wondered what the reality is like on the ground in Ukraine right now, how we can help, and if our faith might have something to offer in terms of how we approach what’s going on, both in our hearts and with our hands.We were able to assemble...

106. Cultivating a Child's Inner Compass — A Conversation with Jon Ogden

106. Cultivating a Child's Inner Compass — A Conversation with Jon Ogden

As parents, how can we help our children find and cultivate their inner compass? We often do a pretty good job of giving our kids an idea of what God and others expect from them. But nurturing an enduring love of things like truth, beauty and goodness and helping them engage their world from a deep sense of their true identity is the great challenge of parenting. How can we help our children become a beautiful expression of their spiritual natures? This week, we invited to our podcast st...

105. The Many Doors of Faith — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

105. The Many Doors of Faith — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

Like you, we’ve been watching in horror as Ukraine has been faced with a brutal and unprovoked invasion. We’re in awe of the courage of the people of Ukraine and stand firmly with them as we pray that freedom and peace will prevail. We are working on bringing together some voices to help us think through these events in the very near future.In the meantime, we thought we would share a recent conversation we had with our good friend Terryl Givens about his new book, The Doors of Faith, w...

104. Green Flake, Brad Wilcox, and a Path to Zion — A Conversation with Mauli Bonner

104. Green Flake, Brad Wilcox, and a Path to Zion — A Conversation with Mauli Bonner

Many people were disturbed by the remarks of Brad Wilcox, a member of the Young Men General Presidency, given at a recent tri-stake fireside in Alpine, Utah. In addition to denigrating other religions, whom he characterized as “playing church,” his remarks on the history of denying the priesthood to Black members shocked many listeners. Brigham Young University quickly condemned his comments and Wilcox issued a public apology.While it is admirable to see church institutions and officials take...

103. Where Faith Meets Mental Health — A Conversation with Dr. Alan Hansen

103. Where Faith Meets Mental Health — A Conversation with Dr. Alan Hansen

In a perfect world, our faith and our church activity would lead quite naturally to better mental health. But we do not live in a perfect world, and the truth is our religious experience can sometimes create or exacerbate mental health problems. This week, we invited Dr. Alan Hansen to our podcast studio to talk with us about something that’s increasingly on many minds — the intersection of our faith and our mental health. Dr. Hansen is perhaps uniquely qualified to speak on this subject, as he is not only a professional therapist but has served twice as a Bishop and is currently the Stake President of a Young Single Adult stake in Utah county. He has a Masters Degree in Counseling and Guidance and a PhD in Counseling Psychology, both from BYU. We feel like the paradigm that informs both his professional and church-related counseling is incredibly relevant and foundational. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.

102. So Who Wrote the Bible? — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

102. So Who Wrote the Bible? — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

As we have collectively turned our attention to the study of the Hebrew Bible, what is known to most Christians as the Old Testament, we at Faith Matters turn our attention to a perennial question: Who actually wrote these books?We plan to have at least a few conversations in the coming year on how to engage the Hebrew Bible. To kick it off, we invited Terryl Givens to our studio to help us frame some of the big-picture issues, for example: Who wrote the Bible? How should we read i...

101. Does Book of Mormon Historicity Matter? — Terryl Givens with Joseph Spencer

101. Does Book of Mormon Historicity Matter? — Terryl Givens with Joseph Spencer

In this episode, we’re diving into one of the questions from our Big Questions series: Terryl Givens invited Joseph Spencer, a philosopher and professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, to talk about the question of Book of Mormon historicity. The claim that the Book of Mormon is a translation from ancient plates written by Hebrew people who immigrated to the American continent has been challenged from its first publication, and conclusive confirming evidence has been eq...

100. Mormons in the Metaverse — A Conversation with Carl Youngblood

100. Mormons in the Metaverse — A Conversation with Carl Youngblood

For this week's episode, we brought on Carl Youngblood for a truly enlightening conversation we’ve been wanting to have for a long time. Carl has spent most of his life helping to build and operate technology companies and has done a lot of deep thinking and writing about how technology is shaping our reality and our future—including how it will affect what it means to be human. Digital technology companies, including behemoths like Facebook, are staking their futures on pushing the boun...

99. Eve and Adam - A Conversation with Melinda Wheelwright Brown

99. Eve and Adam - A Conversation with Melinda Wheelwright Brown

This week, we were lucky enough to spend some time with Melinda Wheelwright Brown, to talk about her book Eve and Adam: Discovering the Beautiful Balance, which was published by Deseret Book.We thought it would be great to start the year diving right into the first pages of the Old Testament — the chapters that we usually refer to as the story of “Adam and Eve.” Of course, as you’ve probably already noticed, Mindy’s book re-titles that story, and you’ll hear why she did that right near the be...

Can Creation Heal Us? — Terryl Givens with George Handley

Can Creation Heal Us? — Terryl Givens with George Handley

For this week’s episode, we’re releasing a classic conversation between George Handley and Terryl Givens — one that was released very early in the life of this podcast, and that many of you may not have yet heard.The first chapter of Genesis says: “In the beginning, God said let there be light, and there was light.” God created this extraordinary world, the scriptures tell us, through the power of his Word.It makes all the more sense, then, that a Professor of comparative arts and letters, li...

98. The Happiness Paradox — A Conversation with Richard Eyre

98. The Happiness Paradox — A Conversation with Richard Eyre

For this conversation, we were lucky enough to bring back Richard Eyre for a second episode, this one focusing on his book, The Happiness Paradox. We loved the book and thought this discussion would be really timely for the new year, since many of us are hoping to find new paradigms that might help us live in a healthier, happier way. We believe that Richard’s book does just that. For those unfamiliar with Richard from our last episode with him, he’s had an extraordinary career as an aut...

97. Gospel Meets Dharma — A Conversation with Thomas McConkie

97. Gospel Meets Dharma — A Conversation with Thomas McConkie

Many of you are familiar with Thomas Wirthlin McConkie. For those of you who are not, here’s a very cursory thumbnail sketch of his story:Coming from a very prominent Latter-day Saint family (with apostles on both sides of the family), Thomas left the Latter-day Saint faith as a teenager, eventually moved to China and for two decades deeply immersed himself in Buddhism. Eventually, he found his way back to the his native Latter-day Saint faith, and today finds himself integrating ideas and pr...

The Real Story of the Priesthood-Temple Ban

The Real Story of the Priesthood-Temple Ban

As we approach the portion of the Come Follow Me curriculum that addresses Official Declaration 2, we thought we’d re-release a classic episode of the podcast that many of our newer listeners may not have heard — a conversation between Terryl Givens and Paul Reeve that explores the history of the Church’s priesthood-temple ban that concluded in 1978.In this episode, Paul and Terryl go both wide and deep on the priesthood-temple ban. Among other historical details, they discuss how the church...

96. Healing a Divided Country — A Conversation with Dan Vallone

96. Healing a Divided Country — A Conversation with Dan Vallone

This week, Faith Matters was delighted to welcome Dan Vallone, the US Director for More in Common, a nonprofit foundation whose mission is to build a more united and inclusive America that is resilient to the profound threats posed by our country’s polarization.Dan has a super impressive background, including serving six years active duty as a US Army infantry officer, with one tour in Afghanistan. He is a graduate of West Point and earned a Master’s degree from Nanyang Technological Universi...

95. Proclaim Peace — A Conversation with Patrick Mason and J. David Pulsipher

95. Proclaim Peace — A Conversation with Patrick Mason and J. David Pulsipher

For this episode, we spoke with Patrick Mason and David Pulsipher about their new book, "Proclaim Peace: The Restoration’s Answer to an Age of Conflict". The book was recently published by BYU’s Maxwell Institute."Proclaim Peace" begins with the premise that even though we live in a world that is plagued by violence, that peace really is possible. For Patrick and David, the Gospel of Jesus Christ lays out a unique theology which can help us become peacemakers in our communities and society at...

94. Be In the World — A Conversation with Richard Eyre

94. Be In the World — A Conversation with Richard Eyre

For this episode, we got to speak with Richard Eyre, a man whose career has spanned a number of roles, including that of an author, consultant, entrepreneur, and speaker. We got to speak with him about a variety of topics, focusing on how we can contribute to society as a faith with a lot to offer even while our members are relatively few in number. We also discussed how we can make difficult decisions which seem to have an outsized impact on our lives, as well as whether there’s room f...

93. Jody Moore Part 2 - Live Coaching Session

93. Jody Moore Part 2 - Live Coaching Session

For this episode, we’re doing a follow-up to our interview with Jody Moore about her new book published by Faith Matters, Better Than Happy. If you haven’t heard that episode yet, we’d recommend going back and listening first to that episode, which was released as #92.This episode is not in our standard interview style — instead, it’s a live coaching experience, where Jody works with Lindsay Broadbent and Andrea Weaver through real-life issues. We thought it was hugely helpful, because...

93. Jody Moore Part 2: Live Coaching Session

93. Jody Moore Part 2: Live Coaching Session

For this episode, we’re doing a follow-up to our interview with Jody Moore about her new book published by Faith Matters, Better Than Happy. If you haven’t heard that episode yet, we’d recommend going back and listening first to that episode, which was released as #92. This episode is not in our standard interview style — rather, it’s a live coaching experience, where Jody works with Lindsay Broadbent and Andrea Weaver through real-life issues. We thought it was hugely helpful, because we’re able to hear Jody put the principles of the book directly into action. We want to give Lindsay and Andrea a huge thanks for coming on and being so open. And to remind you a little bit about Jody, she has a BA in Communications and an MA in Adult Education, along with 15 years of experience as a Corporate Trainer and Leadership Coach, and is a Certified Life Coach. She’s also the host of the incredibly popular podcast Better Than Happy with Jody Moore.

92. Better Than Happy — A Conversation with Jody Moore

92. Better Than Happy — A Conversation with Jody Moore

For today’s episode, we’re announcing the next book published by Faith Matters Publishing called Better Than Happy by Jody Moore.Jody has become something of a phenomenon in recent years—especially among Latter-day Saint women—due to her fantastic insights about how we can better deal with difficult relationships, create and meet goals, and live more fulfilling and happy lives. She has a BA in Communications and an MA in Adult Education, along with 15 years of experience as a Corporate...

91. A Short Stay in Hell — A Conversation with Steven Peck and Terryl Givens

91. A Short Stay in Hell — A Conversation with Steven Peck and Terryl Givens

To give a little background on today’s episode, we recently read the book A Short Stay in Hell by Steven Peck, who is a professor of biology and bioethics at BYU and an award-winning fiction author. The book is a remarkable and frankly terrifying exploration of a concept of “hell” that calls into question the very natures of eternity, meaning, and relationship. As we talked with each other about this book, we realized that exploring the Latter-day Saint concept of “hell” in relationship...

90. 7 Ways to Lead Out Against Racism

90. 7 Ways to Lead Out Against Racism

This week, Tim and Aubrey Chaves of Faith Matters welcomed back Charles Inouye. When they first spoke with Charles a couple months ago, he mentioned that he had prepared some thoughts on living a life free of racism. Given President Nelson’s recent call for members of the Church to “lead out in abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice,” we wanted to get him back on as soon as we could so he could share his impressive insights.We knew that Charles would have a unique perspective to share...

89. Divine Trade-Offs and the Sacred Yes: A Conversation with Greg McKeown

89. Divine Trade-Offs and the Sacred Yes: A Conversation with Greg McKeown

For this conversation, we spoke with Greg McKeown, the New York Times-bestselling author of the books Essentialism and Effortless, the latter of which was just released earlier this year. When we read both Essentialism and Effortless, we knew we wanted to have Greg on the podcast. Everything he wrote in these books seemed immediately applicable; not just in our lives or careers, but even towards our membership in the Church.Greg is also a Latter-day Saint, and he was able to talk with us abou...

88. Considering the Cross — A Conversation with John Hilton III

88. Considering the Cross — A Conversation with John Hilton III

For this episode, we were excited to talk with John Hilton III. John is the author of the new book Considering the Cross, which was published by Deseret Book earlier this year. We loved this book and John’s really thoughtful approach to this topic, which helped us see how bringing Christ’s crucifixion, and even the symbol of the cross, more prominently into our discourse and culture could really enhance and broaden our faith.To give you a little bit more on John’s background, he’s an associat...

87. Evolutionary Love and Other Big Ideas — John Durham Peters with Terryl Givens

87. Evolutionary Love and Other Big Ideas — John Durham Peters with Terryl Givens

It can be delicious sometimes to just sit and listen to two great minds musing on some of the great questions of life. Even when their conversations feel a bit beyond our grasp, they point to deeper realms and invite us to journey with them into a richer intellectual life.That’s exactly what we have for you today. Two of the great intellectuals in the Latter-day Saint world, Terryl Givens and John Durham Peters, invite us to drop in on a conversation between good friends—a conversation that r...

86. God's Many Voices (Pt. 2) — A Conversation with Michael Wilcox

86. God's Many Voices (Pt. 2) — A Conversation with Michael Wilcox

This is part 2 of our discussion with Michael Wilcox that we’re calling God’s Many Voices. If you haven’t heard part 1 yet, we’d encourage you to go back and listen to that episode, which was released last week as episode #85. In it, Brother Wilcox shared with us why he’s spent so much time with the ideas and in the holy books of other religions.In this part, we actually got to dive into a few of these books, and he shared several of his favorite passages with us. Some of the books we got to...

85. God's Many Voices — A Conversation with Michael Wilcox

85. God's Many Voices — A Conversation with Michael Wilcox

This week, we were honored to bring back Michael Wilcox for one of the most interesting discussions we’ve ever had. We’ve discovered, as we’ve gotten to know him, just how well-versed he is in all world religions, not just in Latter-day Saint theology.We’re breaking this episode into two parts — in this first part, Brother Wilcox explains why it is that he’s spent so much time with the ideas and in the holy books of other religions. To give you a little preview, in his words: “God has been sp...

Announcement - Single Saints Virtual Conference

Announcement - Single Saints Virtual Conference

Faith Matters has teamed up with Leading Saints to produce a new "virtual summit" focused on the experience of single adult members of the Church. Though we would love for any single adult to attend, this isn't what you might think of as a "single adult conference" — the intended audience is anyone who loves someone in their life who is a single adult!Kurt Francom joins us briefly to explain what this summit is, and why you'll want to tune in.Register here: https://leadingsaints.org/sin...

84. Elusive Unity at BYU — A Conversation with Tom Christofferson and Patrick Mason

84. Elusive Unity at BYU — A Conversation with Tom Christofferson and Patrick Mason

Today’s episode was a tough one, to be honest. In the aftermath of a speech that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave recently to faculty and administration at BYU, we try to explore and understand why the message created such a firestorm. Among other things, the speech raised anew the Church's longstanding challenge in speaking to LGBTQ issues. If you aren’t familiar with the speech that we’re talking about, don’t worry — we give a little more context once the discussion starts. The full trans...

83. Zion Earth Zen Sky — A Conversation with Charles Inouye

83. Zion Earth Zen Sky — A Conversation with Charles Inouye

For today’s episode, we speak with Charles Inouye. Charles is a truly remarkable person—the son of Japanese parents who were held in the Heart Mountain, Wyoming camp during World War II. He grew up in the small town of Sigurd, Utah. He spent much of his youth working on his family’s farm in Sigurd, but eventually served a mission in Japan. He then went on to earn degrees from some of the world’s most prestigious universities, including a BA from Stanford and a PhD from Harvard. He’s...

82. The Future of Women at Church: A Conversation with Neylan McBaine

82. The Future of Women at Church: A Conversation with Neylan McBaine

Neylan McBaine’s book "Women at Church" started a lot of conversations and challenged many of our assumptions around how women can participate and lead in their wards and stakes. Seven years later, we thought it might be interesting to explore with Neylan how far we have come and where that future might lead.Neylan founded Better Days 2020, and has become a leader in speaking and writing about women's leadership and the U.S. suffrage movement, with a specific focus on Utah and the West's earl...

81. Are You a Steward or an Owner? — A Conversation with Ganel-Lyn Condie

81. Are You a Steward or an Owner? — A Conversation with Ganel-Lyn Condie

In this episode, we spoke with Ganel-Lyn Condie, a popular motivational speaker, author and podcast host. She’s written several books and currently hosts two podcasts: “Real Talk - Come Follow Me” and “The Middle”.We spoke with her about a couple of topics that she’s spoken and written about recently — first is her concept of “stewardship vs. ownership,” which is a really great insight into facing challenges without letting them become an identity. Secondly, we discussed the concept of...

80. Challenging Terryl Givens — A Conversation About "All Things New"

80. Challenging Terryl Givens — A Conversation About "All Things New"

Terryl and Fiona Givens most recent book, All Things New: Rethinking Sin, Salvation and Everything in Between has received a remarkable amount of positive attention since it was published by Faith Matters a few months ago. We’ve been delighted to see that it’s resonated with so many people. Because of its bold scope, it has also sparked some wonderful debate. In this week’s podcast episode, we collected some challenging questions from readers and posed them to Terryl. What followed was a...

79. Imaginative Discipleship — A Conversation with Robert Rees

79. Imaginative Discipleship — A Conversation with Robert Rees

For this episode, we talked to Dr. Robert Rees. Bob has fit enough into his life to fill several lifetimes, so we can’t talk about everything he’s done, but we’ll give you some highlights here. Bob has taught in humanities and Mormon Studies at UCLA, UC Berkeley, and several other institutions. He’s also been the editor of Dialogue, former Chair of the Sunstone Foundation, and has published a wide variety of scholarly articles, personal essays, editorials, and poetry. Bob is the ed...

78. Loving Without an Agenda — A Conversation with Ben Schilaty and Charlie Bird

78. Loving Without an Agenda — A Conversation with Ben Schilaty and Charlie Bird

For today’s episode as June and Pride month come to a close, we brought on two really special guests, Ben Schilaty and Charlie Bird. Charlie and Ben are both gay Latter-day Saints as well as authors published by Deseret Book. They host a podcast together called Questions from the Closet.In this conversation, Ben and Charlie share a little bit about their backgrounds and faith, what “pride” really represents and why it’s important to them, their thoughts on the process of coming out to f...

77. A Divided Church (Pt 2): Our Better Angels — Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury and Jeremy Spilsbury

77. A Divided Church (Pt 2): Our Better Angels — Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury and Jeremy Spilsbury

In this second episode about political tribalism and its effect on Latter-day Saint congregations, we invited Mesa, Arizona Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury and her husband Jeremy Spilsbury to talk specifically about their own challenging experiences in their local ward and community.Jeremy was serving as their ward’s bishop until his term expired a few weeks ago. Their story is fascinating and illustrates both the challenges and the opportunities we face in creating Zion.In this conversation, th...

76. Why Weepest Thou? — A Conversation with S. Michael Wilcox

76. Why Weepest Thou? — A Conversation with S. Michael Wilcox

We recently read a wonderful book by S. Michael Wilcox called What Seek Ye? How the Questions of Jesus Lead Us to Him. In each chapter of the book, Brother Wilcox explores a question Jesus asked in the scriptures. One in particular stood out to us; it was the question “Why weepest thou?” and in the corresponding chapter, Brother Wilcox explores the role that trials play in our lives. He sat down with us to talk about that chapter, and shared what he’s learned as he’s gone through his own adve...

52. The New Normal, Part 2 - Melissa Inouye

52. The New Normal, Part 2 - Melissa Inouye

This episode is part 2 of our mini-series we’re calling “The New Normal.”We spoke in Part 1 with Ashley Mae Hoiland a few weeks back. For this episode, we spoke with Melissa Inouye.Melissa’s been on our podcast before, and is one of our very favorite guests and people. After receiving her Ph.D. from Harvard in 2011, Melissa became a Senior Lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She’s now working for the Church History Department, and last year published a new...

50. Navigating the Church in an Interracial Marriage - Kimberly and Matt Teitter

50. Navigating the Church in an Interracial Marriage - Kimberly and Matt Teitter

In this episode, we speak with two amazing guests, Kimberly and Matt Teitter. Matt and Kimberly have been married for ten years. Kimberly is a clinical psychologist at the Utah Center for Evidence Based Treatment, and Matt is an assistant principal, and Bishop of their ward in Salt Lake City.In this episode, they discuss their experience as an interracial couple in the Church, their experience of privilege in the different roles they have, what it’s been like navigating local leadership...

37. Stories and Sin - Adam Miller

37. Stories and Sin - Adam Miller

In this episode, we speak with Adam Miller on the subject of sin. Adam has a really unique perspective on this — to quote his book, he says “God’s work in your life is bigger than the story you’d like that life to tell. His life is bigger than your plans, goals, or fears. To save your life, you’ll have to lay down your stories and, minute by minute, day by day, give your life back to him. Preferring your stories to his life is sin.” We dive deep on those ideas with Adam, one of our favor...

51. The Real Story of the Priesthood-Temple Ban - Terryl Givens with Paul Reeve

51. The Real Story of the Priesthood-Temple Ban - Terryl Givens with Paul Reeve

In this episode, Terryl Givens and Paul Reeve explore the history of the Church’s priesthood-temple ban that concluded in 1978.Paul is the Simmons Professor of Mormon Studies at the University of Utah. His award-winning book, Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness, is considered by many the best book written to date on the subject.Dr. Reeve has also written a fantastic essay that addresses how to make sense of our history of denying priesthood and temp...

38. Connection Through Prayer - Thomas McConkie

38. Connection Through Prayer - Thomas McConkie

In this episode, we speak with Thomas McConkie on the subject of prayer.Thomas brings a unique perspective, one that fuses a traditional idea of prayer with a more contemplative practice. He shares his insights on finding real connection to God through prayer, on the intersection of acceptance and seeking for specific outcomes, and perhaps most importantly, on how contemplative connection with God can help us rid ourselves of the "wrong ideas" that cause us pain. We hope you enjoy...

39. Remembering Clayton Christensen

39. Remembering Clayton Christensen

Harvard Business School Professor Clayton M. Christensen died on January 23, 2020, and he left a remarkable legacy. He was a monumental figure in both the business and academic worlds, as well as in the Latter-day Saint community. He was the father of five children and author of at least eleven books. But to those who knew him, Clay wasn’t just a thought leader or a world-renowned professor or an influential Church member — he was a mentor, confidant, and friend unlike any other.In this episo...

40. Living a life of action — and contemplation - Jana Spangler

40. Living a life of action — and contemplation - Jana Spangler

In this episode, we speak with Jana Spangler about how to live a contemplative life that's also full of compassionate action. As we've brought more contemplative practices into our own lives, we've found many benefits -- but have wanted to make sure we don't lose any of that drive for compassionate service that our faith has done such a good job teaching us.07:26 The contemplative tradition of Joseph Smith12:46 What is the ego?18:35 Working with those who question23:21 Moving beyond body and...

53. Depression and the Plan of Happiness - Jane Clayson Johnson

53. Depression and the Plan of Happiness - Jane Clayson Johnson

In this episode, we spoke with Jane Clayson Johnson about a really tough and important topic.Jane is an award-winning journalist widely known for her work at CBS News, ABC News, and on the nationally syndicated NPR program, On Point. At CBS News, Jane was co-anchor of The Early Show, a regular correspondent for 48 Hours, and an investigative reporter for “Eye on America” segments for the CBS Evening News.We spoke with Jane about her 2018 book Silent Souls Weeping, an incredibly important book...

45. In what way is our church the true church?

45. In what way is our church the true church?

This episode is part of our Big Questions project, and in it, we discuss our Big Question #12 - “In what way is our church the true church?”For this conversation, we asked Patrick Mason to come back on — Patrick is the Leonard Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University. Bill Turnbull, one of the founders of Faith Matters, also joined us for the conversation.We know that this is a really big question for many Latter-day Saints, ourselves included — and if you’d like...

46. Belonging: On the Edge of Inside - with Jeralee Renshaw

46. Belonging: On the Edge of Inside - with Jeralee Renshaw

In this episode, we have a conversation with our friend Jeralee Renshaw about what it means to be “on the edge of inside.”In Richard Rohr’s wonderful essay on the topic, he says that one who lives on the edge of inside is “not an outsider throwing rocks, not a comfortable insider who defends the status quo, but one who lives precariously with two perspectives held tightly together.” In referencing Martin Luther King, Jr., Dietrich Bonnhoeffer, Dorothy Day, and others, Rohr says: “they te...

49. Joanna Brooks - Understanding the Past to Create a Better Future

49. Joanna Brooks - Understanding the Past to Create a Better Future

In this episode, we speak with Joanna Brooks, author of a new book exploring the Church's problematic history on the issue of race. Joanna holds a Ph.D. in English from UCLA. She’s the Associate Vice President for Faculty Advancement at San Diego State University, and has written or edited ten books on race, religion, gender, social movements, and American culture.As we all continue to grapple with issues of race not just in America but in our own faith, we thought it was important to underst...

44. The Power of Stillness - Ty Mansfield

44. The Power of Stillness - Ty Mansfield

Deseret Book recently published a remarkable book titled “The Power of Stillness: Mindful Living for Latter-day Saints.” Mindfulness practices like meditation have become central to an emerging spirituality in the broader world. Latter-day Saints are busy people; we're doers. Our lives and our faith seem to keep us constantly in motion. But our souls yearn for stillness. This book explores how to infuse our daily lives and our spiritual and religious practices with a quality of mindfulness.We...

55. Transformations of Faith - Thomas McConkie

55. Transformations of Faith - Thomas McConkie

*** Find out more at transformationsoffaith.org ***In this episode, we spoke with Thomas McConkie about something really exciting that he’s been working on over the past year in partnership with Faith Matters.Thomas has created an online course called Transformations of Faith. Many of our listeners are familiar with Thomas’s unique story. He’s a mindfulness teacher and practitioner of over 20 years, a committed and thoughtful Latter-day Saint, and a researcher and teacher in the field of adul...

56. The Most American Religion - McKay Coppins with Terryl Givens

56. The Most American Religion - McKay Coppins with Terryl Givens

In this latest installment of Conversations with Terryl Givens, Terryl is joined by McKay Coppins, a highly respected young political commentator and writer, widely known for his back-and-forths with Donald Trump over the past several years. Coppins recently published a truly remarkable piece in The Atlantic titled “The Most American Religion” which is both a retrospective on the place of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in American consciousness and a look forward to the...

48. Lord, Is It I? LaShawn Williams and Yahosh Bonner

48. Lord, Is It I? LaShawn Williams and Yahosh Bonner

In this episode, we speak with two amazing guests, LaShawn Williams and Yahosh Bonner.In addition to the work they do in their communities, LaShawn is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Utah Valley University and Yahosh is the Athletic Director at American Heritage School and host of BYUtv’s Family Rules.LaShawn and Yahosh discussed with us what it’s like to be a Black person in America and in the Church today, how we can healthily engage in introspection to find our own biases and shor...

43. Consecrating a Crisis - Thomas McConkie

43. Consecrating a Crisis - Thomas McConkie

We know it’s been an eventful, and uncertain, and even scary couple of weeks for everybody. We’ve been grappling with our “new normal,” just like everyone else, and have been feeling the anxiety, uncertainty, and isolation that we know a lot of people are. We asked Thomas McConkie to come on the podcast and share the way he’s thinking about what’s been happening; Thomas always seems to have an ability to find the calm in the middle of a storm, and we think everyone that takes a moment to...

47. The New Normal, Part 1 - Ashley Mae Hoiland

47. The New Normal, Part 1 - Ashley Mae Hoiland

The global Covid-19 pandemic has caused a huge amount of suffering and death. It’s disproportionately afflicted vulnerable and minority populations, and its second-order effects have destroyed livelihoods and wreaked economic havoc on society.All of that remains true, and truly awful. But there has been an unexpected silver lining for many of us in which we’ve discovered new things about ourselves and our lives that only surfaced due to such an intense disruption.In this episode, and a short...

41. The King's Good Servant, but God's First - Terryl Givens with Thomas Griffith

41. The King's Good Servant, but God's First - Terryl Givens with Thomas Griffith

In this episode, Terryl sits down with his good friend, Judge Thomas Griffith. Thomas has had a fascinating career in the highest levels of power in Washington, D.C., but politics takes a back seat as Terryl and Tom explore what really matters most. Their conversation covers a lot of interesting ground, and we hope you enjoy it.01:01 - Tom Griffith’s Career and Conversion11:34 - How History is Invaded By God22:43 - How Tom’s Religious Background Informs His Faith26:03 - What Deficiencies May...

42. Memory and the First Vision: Steven C. Harper

42. Memory and the First Vision: Steven C. Harper

Steven C. Harper is a Professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, and author of the new book, First Vision: Memory and Mormon Origins. Steve has also served as the Managing Historian and General Editor of Saints, and as a Volume Editor of The Joseph Smith Papers. President Nelson declared 2020 a bicentennial year to commemorate Joseph Smith's first vision, and invited us to study the first vision in advance of General Conference. There's no one better to talk with ab...

4. A Disciple’s Plea for Openness and Inclusion - Terryl Givens with Elder Marlin K. Jensen

4. A Disciple’s Plea for Openness and Inclusion - Terryl Givens with Elder Marlin K. Jensen

During his 24 years as a beloved LDS General Authority and Official Church Historian, Elder Marlin K. Jensen presided over an historic shift toward greater openness in the LDS church’s approach to its history. In this Conversation with Terryl Givens, we get an intimate glimpse into Elder Jensen’s personal life and thoughts, including:How loving and serving his older brother instilled a determination to include “those who are different”The spiritual experiences that led him to consecrate his l...

3. The Christ Who Heals - Part 2

3. The Christ Who Heals - Part 2

Christ the Healer:Judgment as Prelude to Eternal Progress

1. Faith, Family, and Discipleship as a Gay Mormon - Terryl Givens with Tom Christofferson

1. Faith, Family, and Discipleship as a Gay Mormon - Terryl Givens with Tom Christofferson

Tom Christofferson’s journey through life has been anything but ordinary. On the surface, itbegan as a typical Mormon story. He grew up in a close gospel-centered LDS family and wenton to serve a faithful mission. But during these years, he was also trying to deal with aninconvenient truth: He was gay.Although his life and family had been firmly rooted in the church (his older brother Todd waseventually called as an LDS apostle), Tom came to a point at which he could no longer envisiona place...

54. Finding Mother God - Carol Lynn Pearson

54. Finding Mother God - Carol Lynn Pearson

In this episode, we got to speak with Carol Lynn Pearson about her new book, "Finding Mother God: Poems to Heal the World."Carol Lynn has been a powerful and well-known voice in the Latter-day Saint community for many years. She’s perhaps most well known for her memoir "Goodbye, I Love You," about her marriage to and care for her husband Gerald, a gay man who died of AIDS in 1984. Her full catalog of works is too impressive to list here, but one other highlight is that she wrote one of our ve...

5. The Genesis of Change - Terryl Givens with Darius Gray

5. The Genesis of Change - Terryl Givens with Darius Gray

Darius Gray is an author and historian who has had a wide and varied career in television broadcasting, publishing, business management and church leadership. Raised in a devout Christian home, Gray converted to the LDS faith during the time of the Priesthood ban for black members. His commitment to a church that for years denied him full participation is a story of testimony, hope, courage and perseverance. Working with other pioneering black Mormons and with LDS Apostles, Gray he...

8. The God Who Marvels - Terryl Givens with Steve Peck

8. The God Who Marvels - Terryl Givens with Steve Peck

The God Who Marvels | Steve Peck - Audio

34. A Faith Journey - Tim and Aubrey Chaves

34. A Faith Journey - Tim and Aubrey Chaves

Faith Matters has exciting plans for its podcast in 2020. In addition to more excellent Conversations with Terryl Givens, we'll be expanding our reach with episodes hosted by Faith Matters executive team members Tim and Aubrey Chaves, exploring our faith with some of its most compelling thinkers.We think you might enjoy getting to know our new hosts: in this episode, we share a podcast originally aired by Richard Ostler's excellent podcast, "Listen, Learn and Love." In it, Richard inter...

11. Swimming in Deep Waters – Terryl Givens with Margaret Blair Young

11. Swimming in Deep Waters – Terryl Givens with Margaret Blair Young

Margaret Blair Young is an American author and filmmaker. She also taught for thirty years at Brigham Young University. She’s written with Darius Grey about early black Latter-day Saints and her latest project is a film about more recent black converts in Africa. The film is called Heart of Africa.Young is also a swimmer. And swimming has become a powerful metaphor for her life.Fresh off the plane after her most recent stay in DR Congo, Blair sits down with Terryl Givens to talk about the Chu...

14. Can I Trust and Sustain Fallible Leaders? A Conversation with Patrick Mason

14. Can I Trust and Sustain Fallible Leaders? A Conversation with Patrick Mason

"Catholics teach that the Pope is infallible, but nobody believes it. Mormons teach that their prophet is fallible, but nobody believes it."In this conversation for the Faith Matters Big Questions series, we speak with Patrick Mason (Dean of the School of Arts & Humanities and Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University) about the role of prophets and church leaders as divinely called yet imperfect men and women.We cover topics like the priesthood-temple ban, Prop 8, the role m...

9. Risk-taking Discipleship - Terryl Givens with Thomas Rogers

9. Risk-taking Discipleship - Terryl Givens with Thomas Rogers

Risk-taking Discipleship | Thomas Rogers - Audio

7. Can Creation Heal Us? Terryl Givens with George Handley

7. Can Creation Heal Us? Terryl Givens with George Handley

For George Handley, both our physical and spiritual natures are inseparably connected with the natural world. An important aspect of the Restoration, according to Handley, is restoring our awareness of this connection, treasuring that connection in our hearts and minds and allowing it to heal us.In his memoir Home Waters, Dr. Handley writes of his passion for creation this way: “Earth is an odd place to find myself, and this oddness is precisely what makes it so intoxicating. This...

30. Can our faith embrace evolution? Terryl Givens with Dr. Heath Ogden | Part 2

30. Can our faith embrace evolution? Terryl Givens with Dr. Heath Ogden | Part 2

In Part 2 of their conversation on evolution and the gospel, Terryl Givens and Dr. Heath Ogden delve further into the question of why it matters. What’s really at stake in whether a person of faith accepts the science of evolution? How might it affect our views of God and how he acts in the world? How might it affect how we view ourselves, the world around us, and the universe?

10. Surprising Angels - Terryl Givens with Brian Kershisnik

10. Surprising Angels - Terryl Givens with Brian Kershisnik

In this episode, Terryl Givens sits down with LDS artist Brian Kershisnik.

27. Is patriarchy a problem for the modern church? Rosalynde Welch with Linda and Richard Eyre

27. Is patriarchy a problem for the modern church? Rosalynde Welch with Linda and Richard Eyre

In this fascinating conversation, Rosalynde Welch speaks with Linda and Richard Eyre about the issue of patriarchy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in the lives of its members.They cover the history and culture of patriarchy in the Church, the swinging pendulum of feminist progress, and one of the Church's most visible and controversial documents -- The Family: A Proclamation to the World.Rosalynde Welch holds a PhD in early modern English literature from the University...

20. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 6

20. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 6

Thomas and Bill explore the question “Is Mormonism a good place to grow?” How well does our faith community nurture individual growth across the whole spectrum of development? They discuss the value of staying grounded in concrete practices as we grow spiritually. Their conversation explores a developmentally-informed understanding of things like restoration, testimony and commandments.

35. The Priesthood Power of Women - Barbara Morgan Gardner

35. The Priesthood Power of Women - Barbara Morgan Gardner

Barbara Morgan Gardner, associate professor of church history and doctrine at BYU, has written a powerful and insightful book called The Priesthood Power of Women, published by Deseret Book. We highly recommend it as a stocking stuffer for the women (and men) in your life.In the book, Dr. Gardner points out how our lack of understanding of Priesthood has limited its power in our lives. She carefully lays out the difference between what she calls the “eternal familial priesthood”&nb...

18. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 4

18. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 4

In this episode, Thomas shares more about his life story, describing his experience as an outlier to his devout Mormon family. Sharing intimate encounters with his grandfather (and Apostle) Thomas B. Wirthlin, he illustrates how important it is to trust in each other’s goodness and give space for our own unique paths. Bill and Thomas explore how stagEs of development are reflected in the evolution of a religious community, particularly the LDS church and culture.

36. Women in the Church - Valerie Hudson

36. Women in the Church - Valerie Hudson

This week, we are sharing a conversation with Valerie Hudson Cassler. Valerie is a distinguished professor of International Affairs at Texas A&M. She formerly taught at BYU, and has been an influential thinker and writer on Latter-day Saint issues. Valerie was in Provo not long ago and sat down for a very intriguing conversation Aubrey Chaves, Cami Frost and Lindsay Broadbent of Faith Matters. We should note that since this conversation was recorded before the October 2019 Gener...

25. Why do people leave the Church? Jana Riess with Melissa Inouye

25. Why do people leave the Church? Jana Riess with Melissa Inouye

In this episode, Melissa Inouye and Jana Riess discuss what research and experience have taught them about why young Latter-day Saints become disaffected from the church, either temporarily or permanently, and how we might best respond to and support them during this process. Jana Riess is an independent researcher and author — her latest book, The Next Mormons, explores this big question. Melissa Inouye is a professor of Asian Studies at Auckland University in New Zealand.Melissa Wei-Tsing I...

12. A New Translation of The New Testament - Terryl Givens with Thom Wayment

12. A New Translation of The New Testament - Terryl Givens with Thom Wayment

Few scholars have the expertise, let alone the confidence, to embark on a new translation of the New Testament for Latter-day Saints. Fortunately, Thomas Wayment has enough of both. When Wayment sat down for this conversation with Terryl Givens, he was a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, but has recently moved to teaching classical studies at the university. His new translation was published by Deseret Book and the BYU Religious Studies Center—just in time for the ch...

23. Tom Christofferson and Patrick Mason on the reversal of the Church's policy on gay families

23. Tom Christofferson and Patrick Mason on the reversal of the Church's policy on gay families

In this conversation, Bill Turnbull from Faith Matters sits down with Tom Christofferson and Patrick Mason to discuss the Church’s reversal of its controversial November 2015 policy regarding LGBTQ couples and their children. They discuss what we know about the origins of the policy and its reversal, as well as the implications of those actions for both gay and straight Latter-day Saints, and for our understanding of how revelation occurs on important Church matters.Tom Christofferson is a de...

13. A New Story of Creation - A Conversation with Scholars George Handley and Jani Radebaugh

13. A New Story of Creation - A Conversation with Scholars George Handley and Jani Radebaugh

In this Faith Matters Big Questions conversation, Faith Matters team members Kate Hargadon and Bill Turnbull speak with BYU humanities professor George Handley and planetary scientist and BYU professor Jani Radebaugh.They discuss, among other things, the integration of faith and science as pertaining to the earth and its creation, as well as our relationship to the earth and the responsibilities that we have to it as its stewards and as God’s children. We hope you enjoy this conversation!

28. Confessions of an "Odd Intellectual" - Terryl Givens with Samuel Brown

28. Confessions of an "Odd Intellectual" - Terryl Givens with Samuel Brown

This episode is a front row seat to a conversation between two of the great intellectual figures in the Latter-day Saint community, Samuel Brown and Terryl Givens. Enjoy the feast and prepare to be challenged in all kinds of good ways. Often, the conversation takes unanticipated turns toward the realm of experience “beyond thought.” Brown and Givens touch on the conversion experience that compelled Brown to leave the atheism of his youth behind, on the nature of beauty and its place in o...

32. Gems of the Restoration - Fiona Givens

32. Gems of the Restoration - Fiona Givens

In this episode, we talk with Fiona Givens about the beauty inside the restored gospel tradition. Fiona is a convert to our faith, and in this conversation, she talks about what drew her to the Church, what has kept her here, and why she feels hopeful about the future. Fiona is the co-author of the Crucible of Doubt, the God Who Weeps, and The Christ Who Heals.Thanks for listening to the Faith Matters podcast — if you enjoyed this episode, we’d love for you to help out by subscribing or...

26. Anxiously Engaged in a Good Cause - Terryl Givens with Neylan McBaine

26. Anxiously Engaged in a Good Cause - Terryl Givens with Neylan McBaine

helping LDS women recognize and bring their gifts to the community. Neylan has founded or helped create the Mormon Women’s Project, Better Days 2020, and even the “I’m a Mormon” campaign. She has been instrumental in shaping today’s conversation about women in the church -- past, present and future.

15. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 1

15. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 1

Thomas shares significant experiences from adolescence which caused a fracture with his family and native faith and began his exploration beyond his family’s devout Mormon heritage. He gives an overview of his 18-year spiritual pilgrimage and his ultimate return to the faith of his youth, bearing gifts from his journey. Weaving what he had learned about eastern philosophy, mindfulness and adult developmental psychology into his LDS faith, Thomas explores ways to inhabit new perspe...

29. Can our faith embrace evolution? Terryl Givens with Dr. Heath Ogden | Part 1

29. Can our faith embrace evolution? Terryl Givens with Dr. Heath Ogden | Part 1

Is there a conflict between the science of evolution and the gospel? Can accepting and understanding evolution actually enhance our faith and our understanding of how God works in the world? In this two-part conversation, Terryl Givens sits down with Dr. Heath Ogden, professor of evolutionary biology at Utah Valley University, to explore this Big Question together.

31. Life on the Road to Emmaus - Terryl Givens with Rosalynde Welch

31. Life on the Road to Emmaus - Terryl Givens with Rosalynde Welch

Why would one be religious but not spiritual? What are some obstacles that stand in the way of faith? Terryl Givens and Rosalynde Welch have written and spoken on these questions, and each of them bring interesting perspectives to the discussion.Conversations with Terryl Givens are special podcast and videocast episodes of the Faith Matters Podcast, hosted by Terryl Givens and created in collaboration with the Maxwell Institute of Religious Studies.Rosalynde Frandsen Welch is an independent s...

24. What role do members have to play when loved ones leave? David Ostler with Melissa Inouye

24. What role do members have to play when loved ones leave? David Ostler with Melissa Inouye

In this episode, Melissa Inouye talks with David Ostler about why people leave the Church, and the role members have to play when loved ones leave.David Ostler has lived and served on four continents as a bishop, stake president, mission president, and as a director of a Church historical site and visitors’ center. He has served three full-time and two church service missions, most recently in his home stake working with ward and stake leadership to understand why people no longer believe or...

16. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 2

16. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 2

Bill and Thomas dive into the field of adult development, explaining the potential perspectives one might experience as a growing Latter-day Saint. Through the lens and insight of "adult developmental psychology," the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can take on new meaning and depth, supporting healthy progress while steering away from shame or division. To quote Thomas, "The world we will create will be informed by the perspectives we’re able to take, and the possibilities that come from tha...

65. OCD Isn't What You Think It Is — A Conversation with Bonnie Young

65. OCD Isn't What You Think It Is — A Conversation with Bonnie Young

In this episode, we talked about OCD and scrupulosity. OCD is a difficult subject because the term is often thrown around as an adjective to describe perfectionistic tendencies. But true obsessive compulsive disorder is so different than the stereotypes may lead people to believe, and it can be a really serious mental health issue — one that is undoubtedly affecting someone you know and love. It can also be especially hard on missionaries.So many people who have OCD—especially religious...

17. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 3

17. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 3

Thomas and Bill share a deeper discussion around mindfulness and meditation, and how this practice can help us connect with our true nature. This is a discussion about “waking up.” They explore how we can experience gospel principles such as obedience, service and charity in a mindful, integrated way. When we can move from “achievement” to “embodiment”; from checklists, to presence, we have the opportunity to bring our full selves. To this episode, Thomas lets us experience meditat...

62. An Urgent Invitation to Women - Claudia Bushman with Terryl Givens

62. An Urgent Invitation to Women - Claudia Bushman with Terryl Givens

In this episode, Terryl Givens speaks with Claudia Bushman. Claudia is truly an original. She’s fearlessly straightforward and has an incredible passion for discovering and passing on the stories of Latter-day Saint women. She’s been the animating force behind several landmark publications and projects in women’s history. In their conversation, Claudia urges women in the church to be similarly bold and creative in asserting their place and bringing their gifts to the faith. This is a del...

19. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 5

19. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 5

This conversation centers around the cultivation of creativity and imagination, and how this cultivation improves our ability to “transcend and include” as we grow. Thomas and Bill talk about our instinctive movement towards higher meaning as human beings, and what roadblocks might halt this instinct. Thomas shares his “return to Jesus” after distancing himself from Christianity for many years. Through his story, he teaches how practices within the LDS tradition can move from concrete to symb...

33. (More) Gems of the Restoration - Patrick Mason

33. (More) Gems of the Restoration - Patrick Mason

In this second episode of our mini-series we’re calling “Gems of the Restoration,” we talk with Patrick Mason, Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University. We got to talk with Patrick about his background, his testimony and conversion, the things that get him excited about where our faith and church are headed, and things we could still do better. We hope you enjoy this conversation!

73. Belonging and Boundaries — A Conversation with Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

73. Belonging and Boundaries — A Conversation with Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

Earlier this month, we reached out to our followers on social media to get their thoughts and questions about returning to a full church meeting-schedule after a year of home-centered worship and gospel study. We weren’t entirely surprised that there is a high level of interest in the subject. Many of the questions seemed to hinge on the tension between belonging and boundaries. It inspired us to reach out to Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife. What ensued was an incredibly insightful and refre...

21. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 7

21. Waking Up, Growing Up: A Conversation with Thomas McConkie Part 7

In Part 7, Bill’s final interview gives voice to how his native religion has “become new” for Thomas, and how it might become new for all of us. Thomas gives detailed examples of how his study in Buddhism and travels around the world offer a connection to greater wholeness, and magnifies simple practices in Mormon tradition. He shares his observation of specific gifts the Mormon tradition offers from an “outsiders” perspective, and how each one of us can reconnect to something we may have los...

22. The Spiritual Journey - Terryl Givens with Thomas McConkie

22. The Spiritual Journey - Terryl Givens with Thomas McConkie

Thomas Wirthlin McConkie was born into a prominent American Latter-day Saint family, but the faith didn't resonate with him as a teenager. He disconnected from the Church and began exploring the wider world's faith traditions. He followed a thread through eastern religion and philosophy, and was surprised when that thread guided him all the way back to the faith of his youth. As a specialist in meditation and adult psychological development, Thomas Wirthlin McConkie appreciates how connecting...

67. Faith’s Dance With Doubt — A Conversation with Brian McLaren

67. Faith’s Dance With Doubt — A Conversation with Brian McLaren

In this conversation, we spoke with Brian McLaren about his new book, Faith After Doubt. Brian is a former evangelical pastor, bestselling author, speaker, and podcast host, whose ideas we found to be extraordinarily resonant for our own faith tradition.In this most recent book and in the interview, Brian shares his own experience passing through periods of deep doubt and shares how those experiences have been key for him to unlocking a greater sense of simplicity, integration and harmony in...

66. Atonement: From Penal Substitution to Radical Healing — An Excerpt from "All Things New" by Terryl and Fiona Givens

66. Atonement: From Penal Substitution to Radical Healing — An Excerpt from "All Things New" by Terryl and Fiona Givens

For this Easter holiday, we wanted to do something a little different — so today, we’re sharing a chapter from the audiobook version of Fiona and Terryl Givens’ new book, All Things New, which was published by Faith Matters. The chapter is titled “Atonement: From Penal Substitution to Radical Healing.”It may be the most important chapter in the book. They walk us through the history of poorly translated texts and a medieval worldview that really emphasized a jealous, angry, and retributive Go...

61. Repentance as Transformation — Thomas McConkie and Adam Miller

61. Repentance as Transformation — Thomas McConkie and Adam Miller

Today we’re doing something a little different, and sharing a really fascinating conversation between Thomas McConkie and Adam Miller, a popular author and professor of philosophy. It’s taken from Thomas’s online course, Transformations of Faith. As a part of the course, Thomas and Adam recorded a series of conversations that take a deeper dive on several of the ideas and principles Thomas teaches in the course, and each of the conversations is really enlightening in its own way.In this...

60. Discipleship vs Partisanship — Former Congressman Ben McAdams with Terryl Givens

60. Discipleship vs Partisanship — Former Congressman Ben McAdams with Terryl Givens

Ben McAdams has had an unusual life in public service. Running as a moderate Democrat in a very conservative Republican state, he managed to be elected as a State Senator, then as Salt Lake County Mayor, and then as a Utah Congressman. Concern for the disadvantaged among us has been a driving force in his public life. Tasked as Mayor with helping to solve problems with Salt Lake City’s homeless population, he decided to spend a few days and nights living incognito with on them on the str...

70. A Better Heart — A Conversation with Tom Christofferson

70. A Better Heart — A Conversation with Tom Christofferson

Those fortunate to have come into the orbit of Tom Christofferson have found a wise, genuine and compassionate friend. His first book That We May Be One: A Gay Mormon’s Perspective on Faith and Family was instrumental in healing many hearts and building many bridges. In his new book A Better Heart, Tom dives deeper into his journey toward the kind of Christ-like love to which we aspire as disciples. Tom sat down with Aubrey and Tim Chaves this week to talk about the spiritual&...

63. Beliefs, Biomes, and CRISPR - Dr. Laura Bridgewater with Terryl Givens

63. Beliefs, Biomes, and CRISPR - Dr. Laura Bridgewater with Terryl Givens

In this episode, Terryl Givens speaks with Dr. Laura Bridgewater, a molecular biologist at Brigham Young University. In their conversation, they explore the cutting edge of genetic science, and how it can both challenge and transform our beliefs.One of the most interesting parts of their conversation centered on how an understanding of evolutionary biology might challenge our beliefs around agency — we’ll let Laura explain in the episode, but rather than being threatened by the scientific rea...

64. Women Creating Sacred Spaces — Carol Lynn Pearson, Jana Spangler, and Becky Edwards

64. Women Creating Sacred Spaces — Carol Lynn Pearson, Jana Spangler, and Becky Edwards

This is an episode we’re really excited about. When we heard Terryl’s conversation with Claudia Bushman a few weeks ago, it sparked some ideas that we thought really needed to be explored further, particularly around what Latter-day Saint women can do here and now to vitalize the feminine divine in their own lives and in the lives of their daughters.Aubrey took that idea and really ran with it. So for this episode, she brought on Carol Lynn Pearson, Jana Spangler, and Becky Edwards. They expl...

71. Celebrating Our Divine Mother: A Conversation with Bethany Brady Spalding and McArthur Krishna

71. Celebrating Our Divine Mother: A Conversation with Bethany Brady Spalding and McArthur Krishna

***UPDATE: McArthur and Bethany's books are now available at Deseret Book: https://deseretbook.com/t/author/mcarthur-krishna?ref=product-producer-list***This week, we’re excited to celebrate Mother’s Day in a way that’s a bit unique to our tradition by talking a bit more about our Heavenly Mother.We are grateful to McArthur Krishna and Bethany Brady Spalding for joining us in this timely conversation.Bethany and McArthur have written several books that we are sure you'll love as much as we do...

72. Is the Church as True as the Gospel? — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

72. Is the Church as True as the Gospel? — A Conversation with Terryl Givens

The disrupted church schedules we’ve experienced over the past year have taught us all a lot about our worship practices, our church relationships, and ourselves. Now that many of us are starting to get back to a more standardized, full-meeting schedule, there are as many different feelings as there are people: some are excited and can’t wait to go back, and others are more reluctant.We asked our community on social media what their thoughts, questions, or concerns about this are, and were fl...

68. Is the Constitution Hanging by a Thread? — A Conversation with Thomas B. Griffith

68. Is the Constitution Hanging by a Thread? — A Conversation with Thomas B. Griffith

President Dallin H. Oaks delivered a landmark address at our church’s most recent General Conference. He spoke passionately about the U.S. Constitution, and ended with an urgent admonition to end political tribalism and division, insisting that we address this in our wards and stakes.In this episode, Faith Matters co-founder Bill Turnbull reached out to his good friend, Thomas Griffith, an expert in constitutional law, to explore not just Pres. Oaks address, but what lies behind it—the rapid...

74. Restoring the People of God: An Excerpt of "Restoration" by Patrick Mason

74. Restoring the People of God: An Excerpt of "Restoration" by Patrick Mason

Today, we’re doing something a little different — we’re going to be sharing a chapter from Patrick Mason’s new book, Restoration. The chapter we’re sharing lays out Patrick’s thesis for what the word “restoration” meant in its original sense — and how that meaning is incredibly relevant for the many members of the Church who are longing to engage with the world and lift up its most marginalized and vulnerable. We’ll get right to it and turn it over to Patrick, but we wanted t...

57. All Things New - Fiona and Terryl Givens

57. All Things New - Fiona and Terryl Givens

In this episode, we spoke with Fiona and Terryl Givens about their new book, "All Things New: Rethinking Sin, Salvation, and Everything in Between."This book has the potential to really change lives. In it, Fiona and Terryl trace the roots of our religious vocabulary and show how many of these words have been unmoored from their original foundation — and how so many traditions that have been carried forward from hundreds, or thousands of years ago are still damaging us today. They then dive i...

59. Restoration: God's Call to the 21st-Century World - Patrick Mason

59. Restoration: God's Call to the 21st-Century World - Patrick Mason

***"Restoration" is available in every format, including Audiobook, from Amazon, Apple Books, and Deseret Book:https://deseretbook.com/p/restoration-gods-call-to-the-21st-century-world?ref=Grid%20%7C%20Search-10&variant_id=190930-paperbackhttps://www.amazon.com/Restoration-Gods-Call-Century-World-ebook/dp/B08PKKCVJ3/ref=sr_1_1?crid=15402VNGHO8W3&dchild=1&keywords=restoration+patrick+mason&qid=1612652298&sprefix=restoration+%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-1***In this episode, we got...

75. A Divided Church: What's Going on in Arizona? — Mesa Mayor John Giles and Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury

75. A Divided Church: What's Going on in Arizona? — Mesa Mayor John Giles and Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury

The political climate in Arizona has been unseasonably warm recently, frequently making national news. And it seems political tribalism has even caused division in some Latter-day Saint wards and stakes. It raises the question that many of us have started asking — could political identity begin to eclipse religious identity in some parts of the church? In part one of a two-part series on the church in Arizona, Bill from Faith Matters sat down with Mesa Arizona Mayor John Giles...

69. Constitution by a Thread (Part 2) — With Thomas B. Griffith, Kurt Francom, and Bill Turnbull

69. Constitution by a Thread (Part 2) — With Thomas B. Griffith, Kurt Francom, and Bill Turnbull

This is part 2 of our last episode on President Dallin Oaks’ recent conference address, in which spoke passionately about the U.S. Constitution, and ended with an urgent admonition to end political tribalism and division.We collaborate in this episode with Kurt Francom of Leading Saints, which is a really remarkable organization that helps Latter-day Saints be better prepared to lead. In this episode, Thomas Griffith, Kurt Francom and Bill Turnbull explore how we can have a convers...

58. Congressman John Curtis with Terryl Givens—Healing our Nation's Wounds

58. Congressman John Curtis with Terryl Givens—Healing our Nation's Wounds

One of John Curtis’s first votes after winning reelection as a U.S. Congressman in 2020 was one of the toughest decisions of his life—whether or not to impeach Donald Trump for instigating a mob attack on the US Senate during its vote to ratify Joe Biden’s election as the next U.S. President.In this conversation with his longtime friend, Terryl Givens, Curtis talks about that vote, the current political climate in America and how we might heal the divisions in our country. They also talk abou...

6. Extraordinary Women in Mormon History - Terryl Givens with Kate Holbrook

6. Extraordinary Women in Mormon History - Terryl Givens with Kate Holbrook

Kate Holbrook is known to friends, neighbors and family first as a wonderful cook and gentlefriend. In the intellectual world, she is know as an accomplished historian and author. Sheearned her master’s degree in world religions from Harvard Divinity School, and a PhD inreligion and society from Boston University. She was voted Harvard College’s Teaching Fellowof the Year for a course she designed on global values. She now serves as managing historianfor Women’s History for the LDS church.In...

222. Freedom from the Burden of Judging - A Conversation with Michael Wilcox (Part 1)

222. Freedom from the Burden of Judging - A Conversation with Michael Wilcox (Part 1)

This week, we're thrilled to welcome back Dr. Michael Wilcox to the podcast. Michael is an esteemed author and longtime Institute teacher, and his previous episodes, which we released in two parts as "God's Many Voices" in episodes 85 and 86, have been some of the most listened to in Faith Matters' history. It's been three years since we last had him on, and we're excited to dive into another meaningful conversation.In this episode, Michael shares his profound insights on the topic of the mar...

223. Freedom from the Burden of Judging - A Conversation with Michael Wilcox (Part 2)

223. Freedom from the Burden of Judging - A Conversation with Michael Wilcox (Part 2)

This is part two of our conversation with Michael Wilcox, and if you haven’t heard part one yet, it helps set up some important context for this episode. This is really not an interview so much as a story Michael tells: the story of his father, who navigated life in the mid-20th century as a gay man and a Latter-day Saint.This story delves into the messy and painful predicaments his family faced, when reality failed to fit the predictable ideal. It also offers a glimpse into the experience of...

224. Not Fearing Others' Faith Journeys - A Conversation with Valerie Hamaker

224. Not Fearing Others' Faith Journeys - A Conversation with Valerie Hamaker

Today, we’re thrilled to welcome therapist and podcaster Valerie Hamaker.In his book Falling Upward, Franciscan priest Richard Rohr uses the metaphor of a container to elaborate on what he calls “the two halves of life.” The first half of life, he says, is for building the structure of the container; the second is for filling it and sharing from it. This concept has been foundational for us in our faith journey over the last 10 years, and today with Valerie, we delved into how everyone’s fait...

225. The Call to be in the World - A Conversation with Astrid Tuminez

225. The Call to be in the World - A Conversation with Astrid Tuminez

Today, we're resharing an interview we loved with Astrid Tuminez, who we're excited to be hosting as a speaker at Restore this year. Astrid is the President of Utah Valley University and an absolute delight to talk with and listen to. She’s full of stories, humor, and deep insights that made our time with her pass way too quickly.This interview actually came about because Astrid wrote an essay in Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook’s new book Every Needful Thing. We loved Astrid’s essay and knew...

Life after Doom - A Conversation with Brian McLaren

Life after Doom - A Conversation with Brian McLaren

This week, we're bringing you a special episode with Brian Mclaren on his new book, Life after Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart. Though we recorded this conversation weeks ago, it feels especially timely now in light of the horrific violence we witnessed this last weekend in the attempt on former President Trump's life, the deadly heat waves and hurricanes happening across the world, and so much else. This book is an empowering call to action and an invitation to do th...

227. The Counter-culture of Commitment - A Conversation with Pete Davis

227. The Counter-culture of Commitment - A Conversation with Pete Davis

This week, we are re-releasing a conversation with Pete Davis. In 2018, Pete Davis was graduating from Harvard Law School and was chosen to give a commencement address that ended up going unexpectedly viral, having now been viewed over 30 million times.The thesis of Pete’s speech was that our culture has entered what he calls “infinite browsing mode”—with so many options to choose from, and devices that present those options to us literally endlessly—we can become paralyzed by choice and inad...

Fully Alive - A Conversation with Elizabeth Oldfield

Fully Alive - A Conversation with Elizabeth Oldfield

Today, we’re sharing a beautiful conversation between writer and thinker Elizabeth Oldfield and Zachary Davis. Elizabeth is the author of Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times and host of the podcast, “Sacred”. Elizabeth grew up in a faintly Christian home that rarely if ever spoke of God; But as a young teen she had a powerful and unmistakable answer to prayer that made her a believer. She then turned to the Bible to learn more about her newfound christian faith and was bl...

228. Duty vs. Desire in Marriage - A Conversation with Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

228. Duty vs. Desire in Marriage - A Conversation with Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

This week, we're thrilled to welcome back Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, a renowned therapist specializing in relationship and sexuality counseling within the Latter-day Saint community. We’re super excited that Jennifer has a new book coming out this year that Faith Matters is publishing, and she’ll also be joining us in person soon for Restore.In our conversation, we explore some of the early themes from Jennifer’s book, including the shift many couples experience from passion to duty in marr...

229. The Soloists - A Conversation with Mallory Everton & Diana Brown

229. The Soloists - A Conversation with Mallory Everton & Diana Brown

Today, we’re thrilled to welcome Mallory Everton–a comedian, actor, and writer–and Diana Brown–the new Associate Director for Faith Matters, to the podcast. We’re diving into a conversation that’s often overlooked but so important—being single in the church. Diana and Mallory are launching a new podcast on the Faith Matters Podcast Network called The Soloists, where they’ll be talking about singleness and relationships, and what it's like trying to form families in today’s cultural and techno...

230. Infinite Ways to God - A Conversation with David Butler

230. Infinite Ways to God - A Conversation with David Butler

This week, we’re thrilled to be joined by our friend, David Butler. You may know David from his incredible podcast, Don’t Miss This, where he and Grace Freeman dive deeply into the scriptures with an infectious joy and thoughtful insights. We’re so excited to have David here in the studio, and even more excited that he’ll be joining us at Restore in just a few weeks.In this conversation, David helps us explore one of the biggest faith questions: what is the nature of God? So many of us have e...

231. - The God of Friday - A Conversation with Patrick Mason

231. - The God of Friday - A Conversation with Patrick Mason

This week, we’re sitting down with our good friend Patrick Mason for a conversation that is as deeply challenging. Patrick recently returned from a transformative trip to Rwanda, where he was confronted with the enduring impact of the 1994 genocide. In our discussion, Patrick shares his reflections on witnessing both the unimaginable horrors of the past and the remarkable steps toward reconciliation and peace that are happening today.We also dive into the hard questions: Where is God in the m...

232. Why Restore? - A Conversation with Zach Davis, Peggy Fletcher Stack, and David Noyce

232. Why Restore? - A Conversation with Zach Davis, Peggy Fletcher Stack, and David Noyce

Today is the start of this year’s Restore! We look forward to seeing those of you who are attending! This week we’re departing from our normal format and sharing a recent conversation of the MormonLand podcast, between the Salt Lake Tribune’s Peggy Fletcher Stack and David Noyce and our executive director, Zach Davis. The conversation focused on the origin and vision of Faith Matters, the questions we are wrestling with, and what to expect at this year’s Restore. We think you’re really going...

233. The Honest Truth about Messy Families - A Conversation with Joseph Grenny

233. The Honest Truth about Messy Families - A Conversation with Joseph Grenny

This week, we’re going to share what we think was an “instant classic” from last week’s Restore Gathering; a deeply personal and thought-provoking message about family, faith, and the complexity of life from Joseph Grenny, author of Crucial Conversations and co-founder of many organizations, including The Other Side Academy, Drawing from his own experience with his own “messy” family, Joseph speaks openly about moments of despair, including the heartache of watching loved ones, including...

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233. The Honest Truth about Messy Families - A Conversation with Joseph Grenny

This week, we’re going to share what we think was an “instant classic” from last week’s Restore Gathering; a deeply personal and thought-provoking message about family, faith, and the complexity of life from Joseph Grenny, author of Crucial Conversations and co-founder of many organizations, including The Other Side Academy, Drawing from his own experience with his own “messy” family, Joseph speaks openly about moments of despair, including the heartache of watching loved ones, including...