Lindsay and Bryan are back in video form — and they’ve got a lot to talk about. The Church History Library just dropped a remarkable new digital resource: the Heber J. Grant journals, spanning more than sixty years of Mormon history and now available to casual readers and serious researchers alike. But the journals themselves …
E209: From Villains to Heroes: Mormons in Italy’s “Tex” Comics
Polygamists, Danites, and guns! The Italian cowboy hero Tex has met with them all over the course of more than 75 years of comic book stories. But the portrayal of Mormons in the series has changed significantly, as presented by Michael Homer in this episode.
Episode 159: Books of the Massacre
A long overdue Books of Mormons Report, and we’re making it an episode. Lindsay and Bryan trace how the Mountain Meadows Massacre got written about, argued over, buried, resurrected, and fought over again, from Judge John Cradlebaugh and Major James Carleton’s early investigations, to decades of institutional silence and PR cleanup, to Juanita Brooks’ landmark …
E208: Religion Is Dangerous. You Should Try It!
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat thinks that believing in the divine and joining a religion is not only a rational thing to do, it’s the best way to interact with reality. But what happens when you come out the other side of belief? Stephen Carter analyzes Douthat’s book “Believe: Why Everyone Should be Religious,” …
Sunstone 50-year Time Capsule: Part XII
And now I’ll show you the Sunstone artifact that means most to me. About ten years ago, Karin Peter, who was a Seventy for the Community of Christ, had become one of Sunstone’s board members. Her husband was a patriarch for the Community of Christ, and one day, she brought him over to the Sunstone …
Pose
Part XII of the Sunstone Classics series. Jana Bouck Remy was a frequent contributor to Sunstone’s magazine and symposia. This is excerpted from an article published in 2004. It starts on page 10 of issue 131. Pose of a child. Balasana. Sitting on knees, forehead to the floor, arms at my side. A child. Curled …
E207: Joseph Smith: Not Boring.
As a non-Mormon scholar, John G. Turner spent years researching Joseph Smith’s life as he wrote a biography of Smith. He found out that nothing about Joseph Smith’s life was boring; for better or for worse. In this episode, Turner compares the young Joseph Smith as he produced the golden plates with the older Joseph …
Salvator Mundi
On October 2017, I got a call from my son-in-law Paul Clark informing me that Salvator Mundi, a painting of Christ by Leonardo da Vinci, would have a rare three-day showing in San Francisco. I knew I had to be there. So the next day, my friend Mara Alverson and I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge …
Episode 158: Dan Neal on Polygamy, Murder and Mayhem in Idaho
When family secrets meet frontier justice: A murder that shattered a Mormon community Join Lindsay Hansen Park and journalist Daniel H. Neal for a conversation about his new book No Forgiveness—a true crime story that’s part family reckoning, part historical excavation. On a summer morning in 1911, two polygamous Mormon neighbors stood in an Idaho …
Restaurants in the Mormon “Good Place” Part 4
Looking for yet another binge-watch time sink? If you haven’t gotten to The Good Place yet, go there. Among the many joys of the afterlife-themed sitcom are the pause-or-you’ll-miss-’em restaurant names like “Ponzu Scheme” and “Biscotti Pippen” and “(Everything) on a Stick.” Which begs the question: What if Kristen Bell and Ted Danson were in …