We all recognize that there is a significant distance between the "real" world we live in and the "ideal" one we’d love to see instantiated. Parker Palmer calls this space between real and ideal the "tragic gap." He uses "tragic" to denote the inevitability of this distance and to acknowledge that even the greatest person living the best kind of life will never live to see her or his ideals fully realized. "Tragic" implies those things that are inescapable conditions of life. In Mormon theology, even God lives in the tragic gap. God can call and urge and try to persuade each person and entity toward its richest life, but always that pesky thing called "agency" will thwart full realization. Given these facts of existence, however, how does God maintain focus and energy and a life of continual striving to try to bring about joy for all? And, closer to home, how can we? How can we hold the tension? How can we find renewal of our spirits? This episode features an extended reflection on these and related issues by Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon. Using a talk he gave in November 2014 at the Sunstone Northwest Symposium as a guide, he seeks to draw attention to deeper and richer forms of inclusion and belonging, culminating in our coming to peace and joy as people who are willing to courageously (but also not without its joys) live, breathe, and serve in this tragic gap. It is a life that offers no easy tasks, but it is a type of life and independence of spirit in which we might fully be at peace with ourselves and find renewal of our energies. And one in which we’ll find that we are also in great company!

This week’s excommunication from the LDS Church of John Dehlin, and its making fresher the memory of Kate Kelly’s excommunication last summer as well as other actions taken against persons of conscience who have found themselves in tension with the church, is taking a great emotional and spiritual toll on many of us. We are sad, angry, disappointed, frightened, thrown into turmoil with family members and friends who react differently than we do, and we can’t help but wonder if we have the fortitude to keep fighting on, to keep witnessing for truths we’ve come to feel deeply. Many may be feeling that this is the "last straw" or are otherwise despairing that Mormonism will likely never become better able to welcome open-hearted discussions of difficult historical, social, and doctrinal issues. How can we go forward? On the evening of the news that John Dehlin was excommunicated, Natasha Helfer Parker, Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, Joanna Brooks, Dan Wotherspoon, and Brian Dillman got together via Skype audio chat to discuss various ways they personally cope with the kinds of distress such things cause, perspectives that help heal them in times of difficulty. Their sharing is this podcast episode, which is being co-released by Mormon Matters, Rational Faiths podcast, and Mormon Mental Health podcast. How might we experience and understand our anger in healthy ways? How do we not let our emotions get the better of us and block out wider perspectives that likely would serve us better for the long haul? Can historical and sociological frameworks help us see these recent events in greater context, help us understand ways to more forward rather than repeat negative cycles? Are there larger spiritual or existential framings that can help us make peace with the tensions life and the many things we care about seem to constantly call upon us to bear?

In this Mormon Matters episode, Taylor Petrey and Eric Huntsman join host Dan Wotherspoon to help ground the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the political, geographic, linguistic, and religious contexts of their times. What do we know (and not know!) about the authors of these texts, when they wrote, and their intended audiences? How are their gospels organized? Which covers which parts of the story? How are they similar and dissimilar in their portrayals of the texts’ central character, Jesus, known most often now by the term Christ (messiah), as well as regarding various other story details? Finally, how has knowing what they know about the origins of the early church and these texts changed the panelists’ perspectives--even their faith?

In this Mormon Matters episode, Taylor Petrey and Eric Huntsman join host Dan Wotherspoon to help ground the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the political, geographic, linguistic, and religious contexts of their times. What do we know (and not know!) about the authors of these texts, when they wrote, and their intended audiences? How are their gospels organized? Which covers which parts of the story? How are they similar and dissimilar in their portrayals of the texts’ central character, Jesus, known most often now by the term Christ (messiah), as well as regarding various other story details? Finally, how has knowing what they know about the origins of the early church and these texts changed the panelists’ perspectives--even their faith?

Of course Mormonism is a religion. But do we always think about it through the lenses of such a big and diverse category? Among those who are born into and/or otherwise live and experience the world primarily through the lenses of Mormonism, most often their focus is on its "truth claims" as well as the pathway it lays out for "salvation—" And for them Mormonism and the LDS Church are mostly defined in terms of their community and the institution that sets forth its beliefs and practices, including administering its sacred ordinances. But like every other religion, Mormonism is more than just these things. It is a key element in identity formation; it articulates core spiritual and ethical values and suggests, either formally or through Mormon cultural influences, how its members should think and act about key matters of the day. In general, it is the primary contributor to the worldview that provides a sense of orientation and direction in what can often feel like an overwhelmingly chaotic world. In this two-part episode, religion scholars Laurie Maffly-Kipp and Doe Daughtrey, along with classics scholar Margaret Toscano, join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon in discussion of "religion" that opens our eyes to these larger categories and ways religions influence lives, and then discusses elements of Mormonism that these help illustrate. What can we learn and realize about Mormonism when seen through comparative lenses? How typical is Mormonism among other traditions in its historical and current-day wrestling with social and cultural issues such as gender, sexuality, race, scripture and sacred texts, women, and authority structures?

Of course Mormonism is a religion. But do we always think about it through the lenses of such a big and diverse category? Among those who are born into and/or otherwise live and experience the world primarily through the lenses of Mormonism, most often their focus is on its "truth claims" as well as the pathway it lays out for "salvation—" And for them Mormonism and the LDS Church are mostly defined in terms of their community and the institution that sets forth its beliefs and practices, including administering its sacred ordinances. But like every other religion, Mormonism is more than just these things. It is a key element in identity formation; it articulates core spiritual and ethical values and suggests, either formally or through Mormon cultural influences, how its members should think and act about key matters of the day. In general, it is the primary contributor to the worldview that provides a sense of orientation and direction in what can often feel like an overwhelmingly chaotic world. In this two-part episode, religion scholars Laurie Maffly-Kipp and Doe Daughtrey, along with classics scholar Margaret Toscano, join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon in discussion of "religion" that opens our eyes to these larger categories and ways religions influence lives, and then discusses elements of Mormonism that these help illustrate. What can we learn and realize about Mormonism when seen through comparative lenses? How typical is Mormonism among other traditions in its historical and current-day wrestling with social and cultural issues such as gender, sexuality, race, scripture and sacred texts, women, and authority structures?