Maxwell Institute Podcast

The deep red state of Utah is surprising pundits as the 2016 presidential election approaches. For the first time in over fifty years, the state is poised to vote for someone other than the Republican nominee. Mormons within the Republican party have been singled out as a significant reason Utah is looking elsewhere. It’s useful to ask, how did things get to this point? Throughout its existence, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have seen themselves as a “peculiar people.” At the same time, they’ve worked hard to fit in with their broader American culture. These goals require a lot of balancing. Political scientists J. Quin Monson and David E. Campbell write that being people set apart while also becoming socially accepted is like a “promised land” that Mormons have been seeking from the 1800s to the present. They join us in this episode to talk about their book, Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics.  Look for Molly Worthen’s book review of Seeking the Promised Land and other books on Mormons and politics in volume 4 of the Mormon Studies Review, out this November. About the Guests David E. Campbell (pictured left) is a professor of political science at the university of Notre Dame and co-author of the award-winning book American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. J. Quin Monson (right) is associate professor of political science at Brigham Young University whose research has appeared in places like the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and Political Research Quarterly. Together with John C. Green they wrote Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics.The post Mormons and American politics, with David E. Campbell and J. Quin Monson [MIPodcast #56] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

As the twentieth century dawned, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remained at odds with the United States, a country that had provided fertile soil for the growth of their faith, but also a country they felt alienated from. Some of the things Mormons did to keep themselves separate from the outside world ended up helping them reconcile with it. In their efforts to build a self-sustaining Great Basin Kingdom, they sent missionaries back to the eastern United States not to preach their restored gospel per se, but to learn at universities, to advance in fields like law and medicine. In his new book, Thomas W. Simpson argues that American universities played a key role in making Latter-day Saints feel at home in America again. In this episode of the MIPodcast, Simpson joins us to talk about his new book, American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism. It’s a story about the tensions that come along with being a people set apart, and a people trying to fit in. Show note: See Elder M. Russell Ballard’s recent address to LDS Church educators here.  About Thomas W. Simpson Thomas W. Simpson is a specialist in modern U.S. religious history. He received a PhD from the University of Virginia and a Master of Theological Studies from Emory University. He’s an instructor in religion and philosophy at Phillips Exeter Academy. His is the author of American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism, 1867–1940.The post American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism, with Thomas W. Simpson [MIPodcast #55] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Perhaps you’ve experienced moments of doubt about your religious faith. Or maybe you’re one of the people who find doubt to be a more frequent companion in your spiritual life. Either way, doubt can be unsettling and uncomfortable. Biblical scholar Peter Enns suggests that part of the problem is that many Christians have come to prize certainty as a hallmark of true faith in God. His new book is called The Sin of Certainty. Drawing on history, scripture, and personal experiences, Enns argues that believers can handle the most difficult questions if they stop needing to be right all the time and instead focus more on trusting God. “Doubt,” he writes, “is only the enemy of faith when we equate faith with certainty.” About Peter Enns Peter Enns is the Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University, St. Davids, Pennsylvania. His books include Inspiration and Incarnation, The Bible Tells Me So, and The Evolution of Adam. His most recent book is called The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our “Correct” Beliefs.The post The Sin of Certainty, with Peter Enns [MIPodcast #54] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

James L. Kugel is one of the foremost scholars of the Hebrew Bible of our time. Kugel recently visited BYU’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute to talk about his work and about the relationship between religious faith and scholarship about scripture. Kugel is an orthodox Jew and biblical scholar who became somewhat legendary for revisiting ancient paradigms. When he taught at Harvard, one of Kugel’s students said the professor began a course by offering a disclaimer to the class: “If you come from a religious tradition upholding the literal truth of the Bible, you could find this course disturbing.” Kugel tells the MIPodcast that isn’t exactly the case—there’s much more to the story. About James L. Kugel A specialist in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, James L. Kugel is the author of more than eighty research articles and fifteen books, including The Idea of Biblical Poetry and the best-selling book How to Read the Bible, which received the National Jewish Book Award for the best book of 2007. Kugel was the Starr Professor of Hebrew Literature at Harvard University for twenty-one years. He retired from Harvard to become Professor of Bible at Bar Ilan University in Israel, where he also served as chairman of the Department of Bible. His website is jameskugel.com. In August of 2016 Kugel presented a paper on religious and academic readings of the Bible at BYU. It will be printed in the 2016 issue of Studies in the Bible and Antiquity.The post James L. Kugel on how to read the Bible [MIPodcast #53] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

“Be fruitful and multiply.” According to the book of Genesis, these are the first words God speaks to humanity. People have understood these words over the centuries as a commandment to procreate, and the ability to bear and raise children has been understood as a divine blessing. But what about people who can’t bear children due to biology or circumstance? Biblical scholars Candida Moss and Joel Baden teamed up to write a book about the different views on infertility and families found in the Bible. From the apparently barren matriarchs of the Old Testament like Sarah and Rachel to Paul’s efforts to forge a new family in Christ, biblical views are more diverse than you might expect. Moss and Baden tell the story in their book Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness. Not only do they clarify ancient perspectives on infertility, they also provide ways to create a more supportive religious environment for women and men experiencing infertility today. About the Guests Candida R. Moss is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame. Joel S. Baden is professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale Divinity School. Together they wrote the book Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness (Princeton University Press, 2015).The post Reconceiving infertility in the Bible, with Candida Moss and Joel Baden [MIPodcast #52] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

What good is a dead body? How have humans cared for dead bodies through the ages and why do we do it? What do dead bodies tell us about the things we value most and about the things we’re afraid of? All of us will be dead bodies someday, so these questions are relevant for everyone. The answers constitute what cultural historian Thomas Laqueur calls “the work of the dead.” Laqueur dug into records both ancient and contemporary to craft his fascinating new book The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains. About the Guest Thomas W. Laqueur is the Helen Fawcett Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley. He’s written histories about the human body and gender. His latest book is The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains. The post The Work of the Dead, with Thomas W. Laqueur [MIPodcast #51] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

In some ways it’s been a lonelier than usual summer at the Maxwell Institute. Since it was founded in 2006 we’ve had the privilege of hosting the Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, a remarkable research opportunity that is somewhat legendary for the people that have passed through it, like Reid Neilson of the Church History Library, Patrick Mason and Kathleen Flake who hold chairs in Mormon Studies at universities on the east and west coast, and the Institute’s brand new executive director, Spencer Fluhman. Students, scholars, junior faculty—a variety of different people come together to study a particular aspect of Mormon culture or history and then write working papers to share some of the things they discovered and prompt further research. In lieu of the seminar this year the Institute hosted a scholars’ colloquium in honor of Richard Bushman, the Mormon historian who started the Summer Seminar back in 1997 when he was working on his acclaimed biography of Joseph Smith. Richard is still active in his studies, but he’ll be leaving the direction of summer seminars in the capable hands of Terryl Givens and possibly others going forward. This 50th episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast will give you a sense of what the Summer Seminar is all about. Last summer I sat down with some of the participants to talk about their experiences and the papers they were working on. Their papers are now available—along with most of the seminar papers going back to 2006 when the seminar came to the Maxwell Institute—at mi.byu.edu/summerseminar.The post The Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, 2015 [MIPodcast #50] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

When the Protestant Reformer John Calvin published his book Institutes of the Christian Religion in the 1500s, he couldn’t have anticipated the incredibly different purposes his book would come to serve long after he died and was buried somewhere in an unmarked grave by his own request. The Institutes was a blockbuster in Calvin’s day, but why, hundreds of years later, did it wind up playing a part in debates about apartheid in South Africa? How did the exact same book manage to help some people justify racial discrimination, but also help others powerfully oppose it? Bruce Gordon answers that and other questions in this episode about his new biography of John Calvin’s Institutes. Special Episodes: “Lives of Great Religious Books” This ongoing series of MIPodcast episodes features interviews with authors of volumes in Princeton University Press’s impressive “Lives of Great Religious Books” series. Leading experts examine the origins of books like the Book of Mormon, the Bhagavad Gita, Augustine’s Confessions, and C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. They trace shifts in the reception, influence, and interpretation of these landmark texts. By looking at other religious texts from a variety of perspectives—worthwhile in their own right—we come to understand other faiths better, as well as our own. About the Guest Bruce Gordon is the Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School. His books include Calvin, a biography of the reformer, and The Swiss Reformation. His latest book is a biography of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. It is part of Princeton University Press’s Lives of Great Religious Books series.The post #49—The unexpected life of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, with Bruce Gordon [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

What do you know about African American religious history? Julius H. Bailey joins us in this episode to talk about his new overview, Down in the Valley: An Introduction to African American History. Bailey’s book operates on a few different levels. The ground floor contains a general story beginning with African traditional religions. It moves through slavery and religion, the rise of Christian black churches and other religious movements like Islam, through the Civil Rights movement and up to the present time. Another level of the book focuses on how that historical story has been told in different ways. This episode is about the diverse history of African American religions and the diverse histories of that history. About the Guest Julius H. Bailey is professor of religious studies at the University of Redlands in California. His books include Around the Family Alter: Domesticity in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and Down In the Valley: An Introduction to African American Religious History.The post #48—(Almost) all about African American religious history, with Julius H. Bailey [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

If you surveyed Americans, asking them to identify themselves as: A) Catholic B) Muslim C) Evangelical D) Mormon …and so on, an increasing number will select the very last option—none of the above. Study after study has shown a steady decline in religious affiliation, with one in five Americans identifying as “None.” Traditional religious believers watch these numbers with a bit of uneasiness, wondering why fewer people are connecting with institutional religions. But many Nones continue to value religion and spirituality even though they don’t want to belong to an organized church. In this episode, Elizabeth Drescher joins us to talk about her new book on this subject, Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of America’s Nones (Oxford University Press, 2016). Drescher surveyed thousands of people and directly interviewed around a hundred Nones to learn about their backgrounds, hopes, morals, and spiritual sensibilities. Her work allows us to become more familiar with some Nones in this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast. About Elizabeth Drescher Elizabeth Drescher is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University in California. Her work on American spirituality has been published in periodicals like America, Salon, and The Washington Post. Her books include Tweet If You Jesus: Practicing Church in the Digital Reformation and Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of America’s Nones.The post #47—The spiritual lives of America’s “Nones,” with Elizabeth Drescher [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.