AuthorCast
AuthorCast #102: Interview with Charles Randall Paul July 25 2018
Episode 102: Interview with Charles Randall Paul
Hosted by Brian Whitney
In this episode, Charles Randall Paul discusses his forthcoming book, Converting the Saints: A Study of Religious Rivalry in America, as well as the interfaith organization he founded, the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, and offers a few suggestions for dealing with religious, political, and ideological conflict. Be sure to check out his recent article, "Contesting Truth through Mutual Openness."
Converting the Saints: A Study of Religious Rivalry in America
By Charles Randall Paul
Available August 7, 2018
Pre-order your copy
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AuthorCast #95: Interview with Newell G. Bringhurst April 03 2018
Interview with Newell G. Bringhurst
Hosted by Brian Whitney
In this episode, we interview Newell G. Bringhurst, author of Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism, 2nd ed. We discuss the history of the race-based priesthood and temple ban within Mormonism, the role that Mormon ethnic "whiteness" and "Ephraimite" identity played in Mormon racial views, and causes for the eventual policy shift within Mormonism that ended the priesthood and temple restriction to blacks.
Read Newell's article, "Five Times Mormons Changed Their Position on Slavery."
Newell Bringhurst will be signing books and speaking at Writ & Vision in Provo on Tuesday, April 24th at 7:00 PM, and at Benchmark Books in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 25th at 5:30 PM.
Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism, 2nd ed.
By Newell G. Bringhurst
Available April 10, 2018
Purchase your copy
AuthorCast #55: This Month in Mormon Studies June 16 2017
Join co-hosts Brian Whitney (Greg Kofford Books) and Brandt Malone (Mormon News Report) in this lively look at the latest happenings in the field of Mormon studies, including news, blogs, new book releases, and events from the past month.
Highlights from this month include: MHA 2017, barbecue, Book of Mormon as literature, Joseph Smith: Monogamist?, LGBT history in Utah, new history of the Church, and David Bokovoy's mustache.
In the News
Passing of Nathan Ulrich
Passing of Charles S. Peterson
Administrative changes at Maxwell Institute
On the Blogs
Ardis Parshall, "The Sailor and the Apostle: 'The Thinking Has Been Done'?"
Ben Park, "LDS Church Distances Itself from Boy Scouts: Some Thoughts"
Matt B, "Ted Chiang, 'Arrival,' Mormons, Science Fiction, Angels, Time Travel, Sex, Free Will, The Tower of Babel, and the Secular: A Roundtable"
Michael Austin, "The Chosen People are Always Wrong"
Michael Austin, "Scripture as Genre"
Steve Evans, "Book Review Roundup"
Blair Hodges, "Troubling the Old Stories with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich"
Juvenile Instructor Summer Book Club Update
Jeff Turner, "The End of the Gathering: Mormonism and Immigration Regulation"
Grant Shreeve, "The Book of Mormon Gets the Literary Treatment"
Digital Content
Joseph Smith Papers updates
Signature Books updates at Archive.org
Podcasts
LDS Perspectives: "A Heavenly Mother - Rachel Steenblik and Caitlin Connolly"
LDS Perspectives: "Joseph's Seer Stones - Michael Hubbard MacKay"
LDS Perspectives: "Tough Questions about Mormon Polygamy - Brian and Laura Hales"
Year of Polygamy: "The Succession Crisis"
Year of Polygamy: "Lorenzo Snow"
Faith Matters: "Conversations with Terryl Givens"
Recent Book Releases
Joseph Smith Papers: Documents, Vol 5 (Church Historian's Press)
Seth Anderson, LGBT Salt Lake (Arcadia)
Joseph M. Spencer and Jeremiah John, Embracing the Law: Reading Doctrine and Covenants 42 (Maxwell Institute)
Mark D. Ogletree, No Other Success: The Parenting Practices of David O. McKay (BYU RSC)
Papers/Articles
Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, "A New Voice from the Past: The Council of Fifty Minutes"
Brady Winslow, "Irregularities in the Work of the Nauvoo Lodge: Mormonism, Freemasonry, and Conflicting Interests on the Illinois Frontier"
Brian C. Hales, "Joseph Smith: Monogamist or Polygamist?"
Colby Townsend, "Behold Other Scriptures I Would That Ye Should Write: Malachi in the Book of Mormon"
Joseph Spencer, "Isaiah 52 in the Book of Mormon: Notes on Isaiah's Reception History"
Conferences and Events
Faith Matters: "New Perspectives on Joseph Smith and Translation"
Mormon Scholars in the Humanities
Mormon Transhumanist Association
JSP Documents, Vol 5 release event at Benchmark Books
Mormon History Association 2017 Conference
Sunstone 2017 SLC Symposium
FairMormon 2017 Conference
John Whitmer Historical Association 2017 Conference
Book of Mormon Studies Conference
Call for Papers/Applications
2018 Church History Symposium
2018 Mormon History Association Conference
AuthorCast #41—Live event for Dime Novel Mormons March 24 2017
Kofford Books AuthorCast, hosted by Brian Whitney. In this episode, we are featuring a recording from a round table press event for Dime Novel Mormons that took place on March 17 at the Greg Kofford Books office. Dime Novel Mormons is the latest volume in The Mormon Image in Literature series, edited by Michael Austin and Ardis E. Parshall.
About the book:
For this volume, four full-length dime novels have been chosen to represent different aspects of the Mormon image in dime novels: Eagle Plume, the White Avenger. A Tale of the Mormon Trail (1870); The Doomed Dozen; or, Dolores, the Danite’s Daughter (1881); Frank Merriwell Among the Mormons; or, The Lost Tribes of Israel (1897); and The Bradys Among the Mormons; or, Secret Work in Salt Lake City (1903). The often-lurid and scandalous portrayals of Mormons in these dime novels had consequences for the relationship between Mormons and the rest of the United States. They would represent reality for millions of people, and the basic portrayals found their way into more serious literature. Understanding how these stereotypes were created and first employed can help us understand many things about the way that Mormonism has always functioned in American culture.
Preview the volume here.
Read a Q&A with the editors here.
AuthorCast #40: This Month in Mormon Studies March 01 2017
Join co-hosts Brian Whitney (Greg Kofford Books) and Brandt Malone (Mormon News Report) in this lively look at the latest happenings in the field of Mormon studies, including news, blogs, new book releases, and events from the past month.
In the News
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich on NPR's Fresh Air
Neylan McBaine, “As potters at the wheel, let us shape Utah from inside and outside” in SL Trib
Henry J. Eyring named president of BYU-Idaho
Updates to Joseph Smith Papers website
On the Blogs
“More Thoughts on Mormons and Muslims” by Paul Reeve
“The Modern Mormon Athletic Image” by Ben Park
“The Complexities of History in The Ensign” by Ben Spackman
“The Dance of Discourse” by Hannah Jung
Profile on Greg Kofford Books at AML by Andrew Hall
“Canon as Context: Insights from the Bible Wars” by Mike Austin
Recent Book Releases
Scott Hales, The Garden of Enid: Adventures of a Weird Mormon Girl, Part Two (Greg Kofford Books)
Devery S. Anderson, Ed., Salt Lake School of the Prophets, 1867-1883 (Signature Books)
Reid L. Neilson and Nathan N. Waite, eds., Settling the Valley: Proclaiming the Gospel: The General Epistles of the Mormon First Presidency (Oxford University Press)
Jennifer Reeder and Kate Holbrook, eds., At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women (Church Historian's Press)
Book Reviews by Brandt
Ann Taves, Revelatory Events: Three Case Studies of the Emergence of New Spiritual Paths (Princeton University Press)
Events
Faith and Knowledge Conference
Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology
Kate Holbrook speaking at Tabernacle
Call for Papers/Applications
Joseph Smith Papers Conference
AuthorCast #38—Conversation with Russell Stevenson, author of For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830–2013 January 30 2017
In this episode, we are joined by Russell Stevenson, author of For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830–2013, published in 2014 and the winner of the Best Book Award from the Mormon History Association in 2015. We discuss the the academic field of an Africanist as well as how For the Cause of Righteousness fits in with both Mormon history as well as the comparative black history genres; and what For the Cause of Righteousness adds to the scholarly discussion on race within Mormonism.
About the book:
This book broaches one of the most sensitive topics in the history of Mormonism: the story of the LDS community’s turbulent relationship with the black population. For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830-2013 promises to tell a story of how an American religious community could wander through the rocky landscape of American racial politics, all while hoping to hold onto its institutional integrity in the face of attacks from both within and without. Drawing on a rich array of archival documents and oral testimonies, For the Cause of Righteousness suggests that understanding race and Mormonism requires far more than watching the movements of well-dressed men on North Temple; it calls for understanding the dynamics of global Mormon communities ranging from Mowbray to Accra, from Berkeley to Rio Di Janeiro.
But as any historian will say, primary sources matter. Thus, For the Cause of Righteousness offers up not only a narrative history of the global black Mormon community but also an anthology of primary source transcripts: letters, newspaper articles, and speech transcripts, all in hopes that readers might take one more step toward understanding a story that simultaneously inspires, troubles, and urges Latter-day Saints into understanding a provincial religion that has reached global proportions.
Preview the volume here.
AuthorCast #35—Conversation with Scott Hales, creator of The Garden of Enid December 13 2016
In this episode, we chat with Scott Hales, author and illustrator of The Garden of Enid: Adventures of a Weird Mormon Girl.
About the book:
Fifteen-year-old Enid Gardner is a self-proclaimed “weird Mormon girl.” When she isn’t chatting with Joseph Smith or the Book of Abraham mummy, she’s searching for herself between the spaces of doubt and belief. Along the way, she must grapple with her Mormon faith as it adapts to the twenty-first century. She also must confront the painful mysteries at the heart of her strained relationship with her ailing mother.
This edition of The Garden of Enid: Adventures of a Weird Mormon Girl recasts the award-winning webcomic as a two-part graphic novel. With revised and previously unpublished comics, it features the familiar story that captivated thousands online, yet offers new glimpses into Enid’s year-long odyssey.
Preview the volume here.
Authorcast #23 - Joseph M. Spencer May 27 2016
An interview with Joseph Spencer, author of For Zion: A Mormon Theology of Hope.
What is hope? What is Zion? And what does it mean to hope for Zion? In this insightful book, Joseph Spencer explores these questions through the scriptures of two continents separated by nearly two millennia. In the first half, Spencer engages in a rich study of Paul's letter to the Roman to better understand how the apostle understood hope and what it means to have it. In the second half of the book, Spencer jumps to the early years of the Restoration and the various revelations on consecration to understand how Latter-day Saints are expected to strive for Zion. Between these halves is an interlude examining the hoped-for Zion that both thrived in the Book of Mormon and was hoped to be established again.
Preview the volume here.
Authorcast #17 - Reading from Mark Lyman Staker January 07 2016
In our latest episode, author Mark Lyman Staker reads the prologue to Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith's Ohio Revelations.
Authorcast #10 - Interview with Kyle Walker November 04 2015
In our latest episode we interview Kyle Walker, author of William B. Smith: In the Shadow of a Prophet.
Preview William B. Smith
Read Kyle Walker's article in Meridian Magazine, "Joseph Smith's Challenging Brother."
Authorcast #07 - Reading of "For the Cause of Righteousness: A global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830-2013" October 13 2015
In our latest Authorcast we have author Russell W. Stevenson reading from the preface of his award-winning his book, For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830-2013.
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