“Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith” was a turning point in the telling of Mormon history. And it has a fascinating history of its own. Linda King Newell recounts how she and Valeen Avery Tippetts wrote this groundbreaking book. This episode was recorded at the 2009 Salt Lake Symposium.
Let’s Reverse “Love, Share, Invite”
I had been suckered into donating platelets, which meant I was going to be stuck in a chair with needles in my arms for two and a half hours. Fortunately, the Red Cross provides Netflix on a little screen for entertainment. But, since you can’t move your arms, whatever you pick, you’re stuck with it. …
E92: Getting Freaky on the Frontier: The Story of Mormon Renegade James Emmett
Join Lindsay and Bryan as they discuss the insane story of James Emmett, the Council of 50 member who started his own frontier break-off-get-back-together sect during the Mormon exodus. Show Notes: Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846; Volume 1, 10 March 1844–1 March 1845-
E140: Hallucinogens in Early Mormon History
How much of a role might hallucinogens have played in some of the visions of early Mormon history? Bryce Blakenagel, host of the Naked Mormonism podcast, explores the possibilities. This episode was recorded at the 2022 Salt Lake Summer Symposium.
What Latter-day Saints Can Learn from Tár
When I saw the list of the Academy Awards’ Best Picture nominees, I thought, “Which of these movies would be most useful to Mormons?” And the answer I came up with was Tár. Which seemed strange. After all, we have Avatar: The Way of Water, a movie about a family—and Mormons love families! We also …
E91: A Diamond in the Bluff
Today we are talking about Council Bluffs and how Mormons ended up there. The episode with Lindsay and Bryan discusses the controversial land trade Mormons made with the federal government to be able to settle “Winter Quarters” and the tragic consequences of the deal. SHOWNOTES: A typewritten copy of a manuscript titled “Camp of the …
E139: The Jungian Shadow and Mormon History
If the LDS Church has light, it also has a shadow. But what should it do with that shadow? Valerie Hamaker, host of the Latter Day Struggles podcast, shows how the Jungian shadow can either save or destroy a person—or a religion. This episode was recorded at the 2022 Sunstone Summer Symposium.
E90: Winter (Quarters) is Coming
We kick off a new season leaving Nauvoo and heading into the great unknown. Join Lindsay and Bryan for a fascinating look at the Mormon journey into Iowa, known as Winter Quarters.
E89: Year in Review
The Season of Nauvoo is (finally) in the books. Join Bryan and Lindsay as they discuss the year and the new season ahead.
E138: The Woman Who Brought Satanism to Utah
LDS Church member Beatrice Sparks published two wildly popular diaries of teen drug abuse and Satanism: “Go Ask Alice” and “Jay’s Journal.” But the diaries, and Beatrice herself, were much more complicated than they appeared. Using Rick Emerson’s book “Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries,” Stephen Carter …