Maxwell Institute Podcast

The New York Times Review of Books says Marilynne Robinson “is not like any other writer. She has created a small, rich, and fearless body of work in which religion exists unashamedly, as does doubt, unashamedly.” Robinson is perhaps best known for her Pulitzer Prize winning novel Gilead (2004). This year she received the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. Her latest book is a non-fiction collection of essays on topics like science and religion, grace, and Christology. It’s called The Givenness of Things. In this episode we talk about writing, reading, faith, science, and theology. A complete transcript of this interview is available HERE. About Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Robinson is a critically acclaimed American novelist and essayist. She is currently completing her final year as Professor of English and Creative Writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her four novels are Housekeeping, Home, Lila, and Gilead, for which she received the Pulitzer Prize. She has published multiple collections of essays including When I Was a Child I Read Books and her latest, The Givenness of Things. (Photo courtesy of The Nation.)The post #46—Marilynne Robinson on The Givenness of Things [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1500 in our Western society, while in 2016 many people find it more difficult to believe than not? This is the question that Charles Taylor tackles in his massive book A Secular Age. In this episode, James K. A. Smith joins us to talk about Taylor’s work. What was it like to believe in God in the past and what is it like for many believers today—and how did we get from there to here? Whether you find it easy or difficult to believe in God today, you’ll find much food for thought in Smith’s book How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor. About James K. A. Smith James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin College and author of How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor. His latest book is called You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit. He recently visited Brigham Young University to deliver a guest lecture sponsored by the Wheatley Institution. The post #45— How (Not) to Be Secular, with James K. A. Smith [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Even if you’ve never heard of a Christian movement scholars call “the prosperity gospel,” chances are you know some of its most famous proponents, like Joel Osteen or Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. “The prosperity gospel” is not officially associated with any particular denomination. It’s more a style of Christianity, one that emphasizes God’s desire to bless people—particularly and literally when it comes to wealth and health. Through your faith, you can become healthy and rich. When historian Kate Bowler set out to write the book Blessed: A History of the Prosperity Gospel Movement she found herself being pulled into the book’s narrative in surprising ways. Bowler recently published a powerful follow-up column to Blessed in the New York Times called “Death, the Prosperity Gospel, and Me.” She’s here to help us understand the frequently lampooned and incredibly influential prosperity gospel movement. About Kate Bowler Kate Bowler is assistant professor of American Religion at Duke Divinity School. She is the author of Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel.The post #44—Kate Bowler’s history of the prosperity gospel movement [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

C. S. Lewis died in 1963 on the same day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Before the decade was over, few expected his works to last. “We think Lewis’s star has risen and is about to set,” said one Catholic publisher. “His day is over. No one will be reading C. S. Lewis twenty years from now.” Even Lewis believed his apologetic works would soon go out of style. He’d be surprised to learn that over 3.5 million copies of Mere Christianity have sold since 2001. It’s one of the most beloved Christian books of the twentieth century, and it wasn’t originally intended to be a book at all. In this episode, award-winning Christian historian George M. Marsden tells the story of Mere Christianity‘s birth and explains its tenacious popularity since its publication in 1952. Marsden recently wrote the biography of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity for Princeton University Press’s “Lives of Great Religious Books” series. 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, and Augustine’s Confessions. 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 George M. Marsden George M. Marsden is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus at The University of Notre Dame. He specializes in American religion and culture, evangelicalism, and the role of Christianity in higher education. His critically-acclaimed books include The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship (Oxford University Press, 1997), The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief (OUP, 1994), and the Bancroft award-winning biography of Jonathan Edwards. His new book is called C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity: A Biography.The post #43—The life of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, with George Marsden [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

In the land of Israel, rain falls during a single, crucial, season of the year beginning in October or November and continuing through the spring. Lives depended on successful harvests which depended on healthy rainfall. According to the Hebrew scriptures, weather proved God’s blessing or cursing the people of Israel: From the rain of the heavens, you will drink water— a land that the Lord your God seeks out perpetually; the eyes of the Lord your God are upon it from the year’s beginning to the year’s end.  If you heed My commands with which I charge you today to love the Lord your God and to worship Him with all your heart and with all your being I will give the rain of your land in its season, early rains and late, and you shall gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And I will give grass in the field to your herds, and you shall eat and be satisfied. (Deuteronomy 11.11–15, trans. Robert Alter) In this episode, Julia Watts Belser talks about how rain permeates some of the earliest rabbinic texts. Surprisingly, many rabbis challenged Deuteronomy’s depiction of rain as a sign of divine favor versus drought as a sign of divine displeasure. Her new book from Cambridge University Press is called Power, Ethics, and Ecology in Jewish Late Antiquity. About Julia Watts Belser Julia Watts Belser is Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University. She is also an ordained rabbi. Her articles have appeared in places like the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, and the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics. Her new book is called Power, Ethics, and Ecology in Jewish Late Antiquity: Rabbinic Responses to Drought and Disaster (Cambridge University Press).The post #42—The rabbis and the rain, with Julia Watts Belser [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

In the last episode we heard from three editors of a new book of Relief Society documents published by the LDS Church. Jill Mulvay Derr, Kate Holbrook, and Matt Grow talked about the origins of the Relief Society and why its activities were suspended in 1844. Today is the Relief Society’s 174th anniversary. In this episode we pick up where we left off as the Latter-day Saints begin to reestablish relief society in the Utah territory. You’ll hear about issues like polygamy and women’s suffrage. We also discuss the kind of impact the editors hope the book can have on how Mormons understand their history. We’re talking about The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Introductory matter and other material from the book is currently available at churchhistorianspress.org. About the Guests Jill Mulvay Derr is a retired senior research historian for the Church History Department. Kate Holbrook is a specialist in women’s history at the Church History Department. Matthew J. Grow is director of publications at the Church History Department. Together with Carol Cornwall Madsen they edited The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in LDS Women’s History. (Photos courtesy of Steve Griffin, Salt Lake Tribune.) The post #41—The First Fifty Years of Relief Society, with Jill Mulvay Derr, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew Grow (2 of 2) [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.