AuthorCast
AuthorCast #78: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 30 November 21 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 30: Sin and the Uncircumcised Heart (Pt 1)- The Problems of Theism & The Love of God Ch 5
By Corey Ostler
Topics Discussed:
• LDS Light on Original Sin
• Epistemological Assumptions of Moral Obligation
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
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AuthorCast #77: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 29 November 07 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 29: The Implausibility of Original Sin - The Problems of Theism & The Love of God Ch 4
By Corey Ostler
Topics Discussed:
• The Traditional Paradigms of Original Sin
• Can We Be Guilty For the Acts of Another?
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #76: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 28 October 23 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 28: The Relation of Moral Obligation and God in LDS Thought (Pt 2) - Ch 3
By Corey Ostler
We discuss different ethical theories and evaluate if they fit with the LDS commitments and doctrine. We layout the positive and negative aspect of each theory and come up with a theory of ethics that is scriptural and consistent with the LDS world view and revelations.
Topics Discussed:
• The Possibilities of Ethics in LDS Thought
• An LDS Teleological Ethic?
• The Human Rights Objection
• The Distributive-Justice Objection
• The Genuine Friendship Objection
• A Duty-Based LDS Ethic?
• The Overbroad Rule Argument
• The Underinclusive Value Argument
• An LDS Agape Theory of Ethics in Alignment with the Gospel of Christ
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #75: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 27 October 16 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 27: 027-The Relation of Moral Obligation and God in LDS Thought (Pt 1) - Ch 3
By Corey Ostler
In his contribution to The New Mormon Challenge, Francis Beckwith argues that the LDS view of God(s) cannot explain the existence of objective moral obligation and that the “classical” view which he purports to defend can.
www.amazon.com/New-Mormon-Challe…ith/dp/0310231949
Topics Discussed:
• Beckwith's Argument
• Why Beckwith’s Argument Necessarily Unsound
• Are Moral Laws Logically Dependent On God’s Nature?
• Is God a Morally Perfect Being?
• Beckwith’s Equivocation in His Use of “God”
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #74: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 26 October 09 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 26: Providence & Prayer (Part 2) - The Problems of Theism & The Love of God Ch 2
By Corey Ostler
We discuss the problems with praying to a God who has All-Controlling power. We ask whether manipulation can ever be conducive to an authentic loving relationship. We overview the strengths of the Open Theism movement for relating to God through prayer. Finally, we discuss a Mormon view on the problem of prayer and what options are available and what unique solutions the LDS view of God can provide to this issue.
Topics Discussed:
• Prayer to an All-Controlling God
• Manipulative Love?
• Divine Openness and Petitionary Prayer
• Mormonism and the Problem of Prayer
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #73: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 25 October 03 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 25: Providence & Prayer (Part 1) - The Problems of Theism & The Love of God Ch 2
By Corey Ostler
We discuss the problem of prayer. I may speak to God, but how could I impart any information that He doesn’t already know? I may ask God, but how could I ask for anything that he isn’t already dedicated to offering for my greatest good? I may seek God, but how could I ever suppose that he hasn’t already sought me?
Topics Discussed:
• The Problem of Prayer
• A Relational Solution
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #72: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 24 September 25 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 24: Mormonism and the Nature of Divine Love - The Problems of Theism & The Love of God Ch 1
By Corey Ostler
Topics Discussed:
• Mormonism and God's Love
• The Logic of Love
• The I-Thou Relation
• Unconditional Love and Fellowship
Links: Elder Nelson Article- www.lds.org/ensign/2003/02/divine-love?lang=eng
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #71: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 23 September 18 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 23: The Book of Mormon as a Modern Expansion of an Ancient Source
By Corey Ostler
The Book of Mormon has both obvious 19th century influences and anachronisms as well as very strong evidence for having ancient origins. The Expansion theory, introduced in an article by my father in 1987, looks at all the evidence and tries to come up with a solution that preserves both. I wanted to find out the nuances of the view and see if it still held up. Enjoy!
Links:
Original Article: www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/up…V20N01_68.pdf
Update: www.timesandseasons.org/harchive/2005…nsion-theory/
Response to Criticism: blakeostler.com/docs/criticexpansionth.pdf
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #70: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 22 September 12 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 22: The Attributes of God - A Critique
By Corey Ostler
Back when the book was released in 2001 there was a Sunstone "Author Meets Critics" session for this book. The speakers took most of the time leaving my dad only a few minutes to reply to the critiques offered. Well obviously that isn't enough time so I thought we could go more in depth on answers to issues brought up as well as in some other sessions that are about the topics in the book.
Links:
God's Ultimacy:
sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL00375.mp3
Author Meets Critics:
sunstonemagazine.com/audio/SL01231.mp3
God's Relation to the Universe:
www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/2010…-or-with/1853/
Topics Discussed:
• God's Ultimacy
• God's Power
• God Knowing All Possibilities
• God and Time
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #69: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 21 September 05 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 21: The Attributes Of God Ch 14 - A Mormon Christology (Part 2)
By Corey Ostler
This is the last episode covering Vol 1: The Attributes of God. Last week we laid out the unique Mormon commitments of a Christology and this week we see if it can hold up to scrutiny. We discuss how the Mormon view dissolves many of the issues in conventional Christology, but has its own set of challenges. Enjoy!
Topics Discussed:
• God's Necessary Existence
• The Necessity of Condescension and Kenosis
• Are Divinity and Humanity Compossible in Christ?
• Time Indexed Properties of Divinity
• Was Jesus Truly Human
• The Problems of Identity
• Was It Possible for Jesus to Sin?
• Could Yahweh Be God If He Could Learn from Suffering?
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #68: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 20 August 22 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 20: The Attributes Of God Ch 14 - A Mormon Christology (Part 1)
By Corey Ostler
Topics Discussed:
• Distinctive Doctrines of Mormon Scripture
• A Modified Kenotic Theory of Christology
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #67: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 19 August 17 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 19: The Attributes Of God Ch 13 - The Problems of Conventional Christology
By Corey Ostler
This week's episode explores what it means that Christ is both man and God. We talk about the different views on this and some of the problems that arise with conflicts with actual New Testament writing and logical issues. We talk about various traditional attempts to solve these problems and discuss their strengths and shortcomings.
Topics Discussed:
• The Historical Problem
• The Logical Problem
• The Christological Controversy
* Traditional Responses
• The Kenotic Theory
• The Grace Theory
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #66: AuthorCast Round Table Discussion August 16 2017
Round table discussion on Perspective on Mormon Theology: Apologetics. Topics discussed: nature and utility of apologetics, particularly in academic discourse. "Good vs Bad" apologetics. Participants: Blair Van Dyke, Stephen Smoot, Joseph Spencer, Amanda Brown, Loyd Ericson. Moderated by Brian Whitney. Discussion took place at Writ & Vision in Provo, Utah, on Thursday, August 3, 2017.
Preview the volume here.
Read a Q&A with the editors here.
AuthorCast #65: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 18 August 14 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 18: The Attributes Of God Ch 12 - Immutability and Impassibility
By Corey Ostler
The scriptures state that God does not change. We examine what some possible interpretations of this are. There is one extreme of Classical Theism where God cannot change at all and therefore can't really be affected by prayer or humanity. We discuss the option that perhaps this refers to God's Character and his resoluteness to fulfill his promises. We then turn to God and his ability to be affected emotionally. Can God suffer? Well Jesus did and we examine the implications of that and much more. Enjoy!
Topics Discussed:
• Defining Changelessness
• Immutability in Nature
• Immutability in Will
• Immutability and Mutability in God’s Knowledge
• Divine Passibility in Feeling
1. The Argument of Divine Love
2. The Argument from Immanent Omniscience
3. The Argument from Worshipworthiness
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #64: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 17 July 25 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 17: The Attributes Of God Ch 11 - Time, Timelessness, and Omnitemporality
By Corey Ostler
We discuss various ideas on what time is what it means, starting with Aristotle's thought. We then turn our attention to physics and how time is relative depending on one's inertial frame of reference. We summarize the implications of the concept of time from the general and special theories of relativity. We then turn to what it could mean for God to be timeless and problems with that. We then discuss possible issues of God having a body and if God can still be immediately immanent to all existence and implications from the Contingent Omniscience that we discussed last week.
Topics Discussed:
• Everlasting Time
• Measured Time
• The Theory of Relational Time
• Temporality
• The Theory of Absolute Time
• Simultaneity
• Relative Space-Time
• Defining Timeless Eternity
• Implications of Divine Timelessness
• Problems with Divine Timelessness
• Reasons to Adopt Divine Timelessness
• God’s Omnitemporality
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #63: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 16 July 17 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 16: The Attributes Of God Ch 10 - God's Contingent Knowledge
By Corey Ostler
Topics Discussed:
• Is Contingent Omniscience Consistent with Scripture?
• Is Contingent Omniscience Compatible with a Spatio-Temporally Limited God?
• Does Contingent Knowledge Entail Imperfection?
• Must God Know Future Contingent Propositions?
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #62: MHA presentation by Michael Austin July 14 2017
In this episode, Michael Austin presents "The Dime Novel Hero in Salt Lake City: Popular Fiction and the Contested Mormon Embrace of Modernity, 1890–1903." This presentation was given at the 2017 Mormon History Association Conference held in St. Charles, MO on June 3, 2017.
Preview the volume here.
Read a Q&A with the editors here.
AuthorCast #61: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 15 July 12 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 15: The Attributes of God Ch 9 - Denying That God's Past Knowledge is Fixed
By Corey Ostler
We talk about arguments that try to attack God's past knowledge/beliefs as fixed. We talk about the idea that a timeless God is exempt from past necessity, and even go over universal possibilism and the multiverse theory.
Topics Discussed:
• Distinguishing Logical and Theological Fatalism
• Argument D
• Hard Facts As Intrinsic Properties of Past Events
• Does The Doctrine of Timelessness Resolve the Incompatibility?
• Multiple Past Compatibilists
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #60: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 14 July 05 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 14: The Attributes of God Ch 8 - Denying Entailment
By Corey Ostler
We discuss different attempts by various philosophers/theologian who try to deny that God's knowing something about a future event in the past entails that God's knowledge can't be changed and therefore destroys Libertarian free will.
Topics Discussed:
• Molina's Response
• Power Entailment
• Criticisms of Power Entailment Principles
• Power to Bring About the Past
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #58: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 13 June 27 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 13: The Attributes of God Ch 7 - Divine Foreknowledge and the Mormon Concept of Free Agency (Part 2)
By Corey Ostler
Part two of our discussion of the Mormon concept of free agency and foreknowledge. We look at different views of free will and what it means to have the ability to 'choose otherwise.' We give several variations of a hypothetical situation and ask if one would still be truly free given the scenario. We then discuss how free agency is the crux of Mormonism and a truly beautiful opportunity to create ourselves with God.
Topics Discussed:
• Objections to Power to Do Otherwise
• Semi-Compatibilism
• Intervention after an Effective Interaction Is Formed
• Intervention before an Effective Intention Is Formed
• Is Intervention Possible before an Intention Is Effective?
• Is Causal Determinism Essential to Free Acts?
• A Mormon Concept of Free Agency
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #57: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 12 June 27 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 12: The Attributes of God Ch 7 - Divine Foreknowledge and the Mormon Concept of Free Agency (Part 1)
By Corey Ostler
Topics Discussed:
• Hypothetical Free Will
• Libertarian Free Agency
www.exploringmormonthought.com/
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
AuthorCast #56: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 11 June 27 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 11: The Attributes of God Ch 6 - The Incompatibility of Free Will and Infallible Foreknowledge
By Corey Ostler
We discuss arguments for infallible foreknowledge being compatible or incompatible with libertarian free will. We come up with a logical argument for the incompatibility of free will and infallible foreknowledge and discuss the assumptions of each premise.
Topics Discussed:
• An unsound Argument for Incompatibility
• Argument A
• A Sound Argument for Incompatibilism from the Necessity of the Past
• Argument B
• Some Clearly Unsuccessful Attempts to Escape Incompatibility
www.facebook.com/ExploringMormonThought
www.exploringmormonthought.com/
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.
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 #54: Exploring Mormon Thought, episode 10 June 07 2017
Exploring Mormon Thought, Episode 10: The Attributes of God Ch 5 - Models of Divine Knowledge (Part 2)
By Corey Ostler
In this episode we go over the second part of Ch 5: Models of Divine Knowledge. We talk about Middle Knowledge and Joseph Smith's evolving view of God's knowledge. We discuss James E. Talmage's view of God knowing our character so well that he can know the future and problems with that.
Topics Discussed:
• Middle Knowledge
• Problems of Middle Knowledge
• No Grounds Objection
• Counterfactuals of Freedom Are Probable Only
• The "Agents Are Not Free" Objection
• Mormonism and Middle Knowledge
Learn more about Blake Ostler’s book series, Exploring Mormon Thought.