In this episode, Lindsay and Bryan discuss the Mormons’ first venture heading west: Samuel Brannan’s expedition to the so-called, “Upper California.” Special thanks to Matt Riley for the cameo on this episode. Music mentioned and used in this episode: Mormon Symphony & Mormon Youth Chorus – The Upper California
Category: Sunstone
E136: From the Book of Mormon to a Box of Tissues: How Mormon Masculinity Is Changing
They’re embedded in a patriarchal church, so shouldn’t Mormon men be the very definition of toxic masculinity? In this episode, Stephen Carter explores the surprising ways Mormon masculinity has shifted over the past few years.
E135: How Artificial Intelligence Changes How We Think About the Plan of Salvation.
In the Book of Abraham, the gods create intelligences and put them into human bodies. Humans are now creating intelligences. But the intelligences we create could have the capacity to destroy us. Ross Richey shows how this could change the way we think about the Plan of Salvation. This episode was recorded at the 2018 …
E134: AIDS in 1980s Utah.
Utah’s first AIDS cases were confirmed in 1983. How did gay and lesbian people in Utah respond to this new disease? How did the LDS Church respond? J. Seth Anderson presents an overview of this tragic part of Utah’s history. This episode was recorded at the 2017 Sunstone Summer Symposium.
E85: The Quincy Convention
After the death of Joseph Smith, things got even wilder in Nauvoo. Bryan and Lindsay talk about the crazy chaos and sit down with historian Dr. Benjamin Park to unpack it all.
E84: BONUS EPISODE: Shadow Succession Crisis
Remember when Brigham Young disbanded the Relief Society shortly after Joseph Smith’s death? We do. Or do we…? In this long-awaited and teased BONUS episode, Bryan and Lindsay sit down with historian Katie Ludlow Rich to discuss her research and paper, The Shadow Succession Crisis: Challenging the Claim that Brigham Young Disbanded the Relief Society …
E83: BONUS EPISODE: Death of a Founder
In this special bonus episode, historian Christopher C. Smith interviews Joseph West about a paper he coauthored with Eric W. Schoon, titled, “From Prophecy to Practice: Mutual Selection Cycles in the Routinization of Charismatic Authority.” We dig into the “death of a founder syndrome” and how schismatic movements form. Shownotes: Link to the paper: From Prophecy …
E133: More Than One Way to Polyg.
What if we could free polygamy from patriarchy and inequality? In this episode, Brady Williams and Blaire Ostler talk about how we could greatly expand the definition of this odd Mormon concept to make room for more types of relationships.
E82: Succession Crisis Showdown
It’s finally here; the story of how Brigham Young took over the church after Joseph Smith’s death. We’ve shown you the candidates, and now it’s time for the Succession Crisis showdown.
E132: Don’t Forgive the Way God Forgives
Stephen Carter found a copy of “The Miracle of Forgiveness” at DI . . . and read it. How does the book that launched a million bishop confessions sound more than 50 years after publication? And how has the very idea of forgiveness changed along the way?