For more than 45 years, Sunstone has been exploring Mormonism in all its expressions through our publications and symposiums. The Sunstone Podcast gathers the best of these explorations, including compelling sessions from our worldwide symposiums as well as interviews, book reviews, and deep dives into all things Mormon. Hosted by Stephen Carter.
Listen to the Sunstone Podcast on iTunes or Spotify, or view and stream any of the episodes from this podcast on the Sunstone website.
E157: The Excommunication of Charles William Kingston.
How did the one of richest Mormon polygamous groups get its start? With one man, Charles William Kingston. In this episode, his great-grandson, Charles Elden Kingston, tells his story.
Read MoreE156: Should We Save the Provo Temple?
Yes, the mothership temple of Utah County has been the butt of many jokes. But what will we lose if the LDS Church goes ahead with its renovation of the …
Read MoreE155: Are There Jokes in Heaven? Are They Better than General Conference Jokes?
Our intuition tells us that there must be humor in heaven, but the D&C has specific injunctions against laughter. Using theories of humor and stories from the Bible, Stephen Carter …
Read MoreE154: Passive-aggression Among the Latter-day Saints
When Michael Stevens started teaching university courses in Utah, he noticed that passive-aggressive behavior was significantly higher there than at the midwestern universities he had taught at. His studies revealed …
Read MoreE153: Jesus Christ (Almost) Visits the Mormons.
Would Jesus pass muster to visit an LDS ward? Ryan Shoemaker doesn’t think so. But for reasons that have more to do with Whole Foods than the whole gospel. Episode …
Read MoreE152: Saving the Good Ship Zion by Leaving It.
The story goes that anyone who leaves the Good Ship Zion comes back all wet and half drowned. But in this episode, Stephen Carter argues that this is short-sighted, and …
Read MoreE151: Jesus, John Wayne, and Captain Moroni: How Mormonism Became Evangelical.
Mormonism used to pride itself on how different it was from other Christian sects. But it has since become part and parcel of the Evangelical movement. How did this happen? …
Read MoreE150: A Pride Month Sermon.
Walking into the forest means walking into the unknown. Reverend Patty Willis has done so many times in her life, and is about to do it again.
Read MoreE149: How the Proclamation on the Family Could Include Transgender People.
When the Proclamation on the Family says “gender,” what does it mean? Ted Lee makes a case that using the academic, rather than colloquial, definition of gender opens the way …
Read MoreE148: What Would Socrates Think of LGBTQ Issues if He Were Mormon?
In these two hilarious and compelling dialogues by Theric Jepson, Mormon Socrates explores the theology behind transgender people and reproductive rights.
Read MoreAbout the Host
Stephen Carter stumbled into the Mormon Studies community in 1998 when he became Eugene England's administrative assistant at Utah Valley University, helping him establish the world's first Mormon Studies program. After earning an MFA in creative writing and a Ph.D. in narrative studies, Stephen joined Sunstone as its director of publications in 2008. Since then, he has had a front-row seat to everything from Proposition 8 to the Ordain Women movement to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign to the effects of COVID-19 on the the LDS Church. From all this, Stephen has found that Mormonism is most interesting where its tensions are greatest.
Stephen's tension-marked life in Mormonism can be encapsulated in two experiences. The first was when he was fired from being an early-morning seminary teacher for "raising more questions than he answered," but on his last day, receiving a letter from a student saying that her time in his classes had reactivated her interest in the Church. The second was the year he spent attending a Unitarian Universalist congregation on Sunday mornings before rushing back to his ward to fulfill his calling as Sunday school president. (He still attends both congregations.)