Something wonderful with long-lasting effect on Mormonism began in 1966 with the publication of the inaugural issue of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Beginning as a dream brought into reality by five friends at Stanford University, Dialogue went on to become in the days before the Internet “the” go-to source for the best thinking on Mormonism, especially for LDS students and intellectuals who wanted so much to bring their scholarship into conversation with their faith. During its storied career, Dialogue has published many pivotal articles that have helped shape Mormonism, along with providing an early outlet for great writing and art of all sorts, including personal essays, sermons, fiction, poetry, drama, and celebrations of the visual arts.

In this episode, the first of two parts, one of Dialogue’s founders, Frances Lee Menlove, an early Dialogue editor, Robert Rees, and the author of an award-winning series of histories of the journal, Devery Anderson, join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon to explore Dialogue’s history and impact, its aspirations and how they have and have not been met, some of the key moments in its history and wrestles it faced, as well as assessments of its importance within the LDS community. Dialogue is, in many ways, the foundation upon which today’s podcasting and flourishing online discussions about Mormonism are built. It’s history is compelling, with many ups and downs involving the interplay between church leaders and the journal’s decision makers, as well as its finances and reputation. Ultimately, it is a triumphant story--one we are pleased to begin to share with you in this episode.

Following this episode, we will focus in Part 2 on Dialogue’s present and future.

LDS, Mormon, Scripture, Dialogue, Suffering, Faith and Doubt, Complaint, Atonement, women’s issues

 

A new book edited by Julie M. Smith, As Iron Sharpens Iron: Listening to the Various Voices of Scripture, does something wonderful. It takes something we all "kind of" know--that not every verse of scripture fits together in perfect harmony with others; that every writer whose words eventually became "scripture" agrees with every other writer--and in the interesting and entertaining format of imagined dialogues between scripture writers illustrates some of those divergent voices and viewpoints. Joining Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for this discussion are book contributors Julie M. Smith, Michael Austin, and Mark Decker.

In the book, you can hear, among others, Abraham and Job in dialogue about suffering and God's killing of children (Austin's piece), Jacob from the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith debating polygamy and God's laws and their exceptions (Decker's), and Gospel writers Mark and Luke in conversation about women's values and roles and the best way to honor them in Christ's kingdom (Smith's contribution). These stand alongside others such as John the Evangelist and John the Revelator (treating these as different individuals) on the Divinity of Jesus by Nicholas J. Frederick, Job and John on The Satans by Ronan James Head, Tamar and David on Personal Morality by Jason A. Kerr, Abraham and Thomas on Doubt by Steven L. Peck, Amulek and Alma on the Atonement by Joseph M. Spencer, Hannah and Sariah on Complaint, plus eight other fascinating dialogues. As Michael Austin notes within the conversation in this episode, we as Latter-day Saints too often think of and focus on scripture at the "verse" level versus the chapter and/or "book" level, and in so doing miss so much richness. This book and this discussion begins to show the new and complex and robust worlds that can open when we step back and view what has ended up in our scriptures as the writings of good people wrestling with God and life's big questions, and who are sharing about their experiences and/or the events that shaped their peoples and giving their best takes on these subjects. It's then up to us to give their words our consideration and make them springboards into our own spiritual explorations.

The Summer 2016 edition of the online journal SquareTwo features the results and a discussion of a recent poll of Mormon women about the ways that LDS women’s organizations are referred to, and about the names and titles of women’s groups, as well as women who are referred to primarily through their relationship to their husband's titled calling: the “bishop’s wife,” the “mission president’s wife.” It also asked for reactions to a proposal to change the wording of the Young Women’s Theme plus the name of the "Young Womanhood" Award (currently the name of the recognition that is the equivalent to young men's "Duty to God" award. Respondents who thought that discussions of these things or changes were in order were then given a chance to make suggestions for those new names and titles. Following a Salt Lake Tribune blog post about the survey, discussion really took off, netting an large number of comments both supportive of and quite dismissive of the survey and issues it raises.

This Mormon Matters episode, featuring SquareTwo board member and one of the writers of the article analyzing the survey’s results, Neylan McBaine, and Mormon therapist and writer about women’s issues and group dynamics, Julie de Azevedo Hanks, examines the survey and its findings, but also the interesting feedback it has received. What do these responses say about today’s Mormonism, especially in relation to non-correlated, non-official efforts to open up discussions about and propose potential solutions to issues that negatively affect many LDS women?

As the LDS Sunday School Gospel Doctrine curriculum turns in coming weeks to the later chapters of the book of Alma and the stories there about Captain Moroni, the Stripling Warriors, along with various wars and war strategies, assassinations, and other accounts of events that unfolded between the Nephites and Lamanites, we are pleased to host this discussion that aims to assist with in-class experiences. Joining Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon are wonderful scholars and thinkers, and also current Gospel Doctrine teachers, Patrick Mason and David Pulsipher as they examine various ways to better understand some the messages about war within the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. How can we separate what is merely “descriptive” of events that took place within the history of the Book of Mormon peoples from that which are “prescriptive” attitudes and actions that God endorses? How might understanding Mormon as the primary narrator of these sections give us a better sense of why certain things are present? In what ways might Mormon's accounting for the events that take place (including accounts of the way the Anti-Nephi-Lehies approached those who sought to destroy them) also be evidence of his own journey that led by the time of his death to different attitudes toward war? How should we as Latter-day Saints engage teachings about war and when violence is justified against one’s enemies found in D&C 98 in concert with the messages found within these sections of the Book of Mormon? And there's so much more!

This is a fantastic discussion with great richness and wisdom for approaching these scriptures and setting up conditions for possibly very rich discussions within our upcoming Sunday School classes! 

This episode (in two parts) is a continuation of an earlier discussion of Mercy (episode 332, March 2016) but also very different, focusing this time on “mercy” as it functions for so many as a theological concept rather than the way it should: as something transformative in our spiritual lives. The conversation starts out a bit nerdy, with host Dan Wotherspoon laying out some framings about mercy that he senses are very much in play within Mormonism, but it soon turns into a very approachable and insightful discussion of far more powerful understandings of God and the plan of salvation, and especially the concept of “sin,” than one typically encounters. Joining us again are wonderful scholars, authors, and conversationalists Mat Schmalz, Fiona Givens, and Alonzo Gaskill.

This episode represents very well the wideness of views possible within Mormonism and wider Christianity, in this case Catholicism, as well as their power. If in the past you’ve been turned off by “thin” discussions of religion and the way it is presented, I think this is an episode that could help you reconsider the richness that is present but that only needs a bit of prodding to burst forth.

This episode (in two parts) is a continuation of an earlier discussion of Mercy (episode 332, March 2016) but also very different, focusing this time on “mercy” as it functions for so many as a theological concept rather than the way it should: as something transformative in our spiritual lives. The conversation starts out a bit nerdy, with host Dan Wotherspoon laying out some framings about mercy that he senses are very much in play within Mormonism, but it soon turns into a very approachable and insightful discussion of far more powerful understandings of God and the plan of salvation, and especially the concept of “sin,” than one typically encounters. Joining us again are wonderful scholars, authors, and conversationalists Mat Schmalz, Fiona Givens, and Alonzo Gaskill.

This episode represents very well the wideness of views possible within Mormonism and wider Christianity, in this case Catholicism, as well as their power. If in the past you’ve been turned off by “thin” discussions of religion and the way it is presented, I think this is an episode that could help you reconsider the richness that is present but that only needs a bit of prodding to burst forth.

Mormon Matters is hosting a 2.5-day retreat, 26 - 28 August. What will it be like? Who are we hoping will join in? How does this retreat differ from other one hosted under the auspices of the Open Stories Foundation? Will this retreat not only be informative, restorative, connective--but also FUN?

Even if you cannot make it to this Mormon Matters retreat, "Navigating a Healthy Mormon Journey," in August, perhaps you will want to learn about them in general in anticipation of joining in the experience another time. (Plans will be announced soon for quarterly Mormon Matters and other OSF retreats or events.) Perhaps you know of friends or family members who are really struggling right now with relationships in their lives that have been strained by their entrances into faith journeys that are leading them to territory that is scary for them and those who love them--and you sense they might benefit from this retreat. Perhaps you know that you or they might be strengthened from making friends who are on similar journeys, who are also struggling with communication, who could benefit from new and enriching ways to understand what they are going through, and who want tips for interacting with others as their authentic selves, including on Sundays and in other church settings. There are lots of reasons to listen to this short conversation between Mormon Matters host and convener of this retreat, Dan Wotherspoon, Ph.D., and the retreat leader, Natasha Helfer Parker, LCMFT, CST.

See links on the website for details about how and where to register and who to contact with questions. We hope to hear from you and then see you beginning on the 26th!

Are Mormons funny? Do we Mormons have a good sense of humor—in general, or more importantly, when it focuses on ourselves? In introducing Mormonism to those who are outside the faith and attempting to share how the gospel and Mormon life make sense to or motivate its adherents, can a light-hearted, humorous approach be more effective than “earnestness”? In this episode, we bring together three people for whom the answer to this last question is a resounding “yes”! Yet each also recognizes that there are lines—sometimes fuzzy, sometimes very clear—that one must not cross. Often it is informed by fear of losing the good will and respect of the Mormon audience who, let’s face it, will be among the majority of readers even for books about Mormons geared toward outsiders. This audience may be comfortable with finding humor in Mormon culture and its quirks, but possibly will balk as one seeks to examine via humor (and its gifts at providing at times very stark mirrors for things under its gaze) certain practices or teachings. When writing for outsiders (and it’s a good reminder when the Mormon audience will be reading, as well), a humorous approach must watch out for pitfalls such as stereotyping, caricaturing, or not recognizing that a particular view of theirs that might feel like “safe” territory to you doesn’t feel so for them.

A wonderful panel consisting of Latter-day Saints who have written or illustrated wonderful books examining Mormonism through fun approaches—Stephen Carter and Jett Atwood (author and illustrator of the new book, Mormonism for Beginners, as well as two volumes of a Book of Mormon comic book/graphic novel called iPlates) and Jana Riess (co-author of Mormonism for Dummies, and author of The Twible)—examine these and many other questions. How does humor function more effectively than taking a serious, dead-eyed laser approach as an aid in our examining things we sometimes miss because of familiarity, or because we are living within certain patterns of thought, or shells, or structures that we forget are not themselves actually the “real” thing? How important is a humorist’s own feelings toward its subject—affectionate, antagonistic, dismissive—in her or his ability to reach their desired audience—and not just to entertain them but possibly also aid in their shifting certain perspectives? It’s a wonderful conversation that also features their recommendations, along with those of Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon, of favorite examples of Mormon humor done well.

Standout Mormon author, scholar, and commentator Jana Riess is working on her next book, which will focus on Mormonism's "Millennial" generation (those now between ages 18 and 35) and their spirituality, religiosity, views and attitudes toward aligning with institutions, and much, much more. It will be titled The Next Mormons. In service of that project, she is actively interviewing many, many people, and has just this week launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a massive, representative national survey of four generations of Mormons, seeking to find key areas of difference that can help illuminate what is occurring among the generation of Latter-day Saints just entering serious adulthood. This episode shares Jana's vision for the importance of these interviews and studies and the information they will yield, but Jana and co-panelists David Campbell and Derrick Clements, along with Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon, talk about several themes and trends we are now beginning to see come forward among Millennials. The discussions are fascinating, ranging from Millennial "seeking" to attitudes towards marriage and family, as well as experiences in church settings such as temples, sacrament and other meetings, singles and mid-singles wards, etc. It is enough to definitely wet our whistle and become even more thirsty for more information to come forth, especially through Jana's capable, enjoyable, wonderful head, heart, and hands.

Please listen to the conversation, visit the Kickstarter (it only runs through Friday, July 29th), and join in the dialogue at the Mormon Matters website.

The Next Mormons Kickstarter Campaign

In this episode, author Carol Lynn Pearson joins Mormon Matters host, Dan Wotherspoon, for a one-on-one conversation about her new and extremely powerful book, The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men. In it, Carol Lynn embraces two roles: the first, a position that many have ascribed to her of “wise-woman elder”; the second, “storyteller,” which role no one has ever filled better. From the gifts associated with these titles and her own huge heart and great power drawn from her love of her Mormon people, including its founder who instigated the practice and doctrine of plural marriage, she presents the most compelling portrait to date of the dramatic, heartbreaking, confusing, and emotionally devastating effects of polygamy’s continued haunting presence in today’s Mormonism, a Mormonism that ostensibly ended the practice of plural marriage more than a century ago. Through wonderful confluences of her own stories, the stories of women and men in early Mormonism, as well as stories drawn from thousands of responses she received from people who participated in a survey asking about their understandings of polygamy in past-, present-, and future-day Mormonism, along with terrific research and gathering of wonderful insights from Mormon and non-Mormon teachers and scholars, a compelling picture emerges that strongly suggests it is time to admit the practice is, and has always been, a terrible mistake—one that produces pain and heartache and leads to distancing from God and our highest selves. It is certainly not God’s own form of marriage, nor the Divine’s desires for us. In beautiful and loving ways, Carol Lynn shares reasons for seeing this conclusion about polygamy’s origins in Joseph Smith’s mind and actions as the most forgiving and healing stance toward it we can take, and one that she believes Joseph himself would agree with and encourage us to work to bring it to an end.

Even amidst the many difficult topics and stories the book engages, Carol Lynn retains a positive outlook and reasons for imagining a hopeful, post-polygamous future. She does not leave us with a full de-construction without offering a new vision: moving from “Patriarchy to Partnership,” which, itself, is already a reality she and leaders she works alongside have already begun to know and embody. It is nearly impossible by book’s end for us to not want to join together with great energy in a wonderful (even worldwide, beyond Mormonism) healing adventure.

Please listen to this conversation, which includes Carol Lynn reading many incredible passages from the book, and then add your thoughts, questions, and experiences in the comments section below!

In commenting about Hope, Patrick Mason writes: “The three great Christian virtues are faith, hope, and charity. The first and the third receive significant attention, but hope—like many middle children—sometimes gets lost in the shuffle” (Planted, 123). Mason is right. How often do we examine this important virtue/quality/gift/fruit? In this episode, Patrick Mason, Brian Hauglid, Bridget Jack Jeffries, and Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon try to remedy this neglect, diving into various facets of Hope: what it is, how it is gained and allowed to flourish, and its various guises within religious as well as secular systems of thought. The panel also examines specifics of Christian Hope—including its sense that for believers, in the end they know Christ and justice and mercy and all virtues will emerge triumphant—and in what ways this sensibility can serve both wonderful motivations to action and, at times, personal complacency. Jeffries also helps Latter-day Saints come to better understand differences and complements between Mormonism and Evangelical Christianity on this as well as a few other theological subjects. Each panelist also shares about personal trials in their lives and where their sense of hope finds its firmest footing.

Once someone has begun to explore ideas and have experiences that are not outlined explicitly within the typical Mormon curriculum, it is often very difficult to find footing again within our own spirits, as well as among LDS family, friends, and communities. If one chooses to push through these difficult transition periods, however, many have found that wide and expansive aspects of Mormonism begin to unfold again, and that Mormonism can be a wonderful home once more for continued spiritual development. They find perspectives or learn from various experiences new ways to engage fully with nearly everyone they have always loved and lived their lives in orbit with, even if these others no longer are following similar adventurous paths, nor anymore really understand them and all they have and are going through.

This episode is a recording (with video also available) of a live event that took place on June 15th, 2016, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hosted by Mormon Stories podcast as part of its live events series, this evening’s program was a conversation with several members of the church who have once more found peace within their Mormon journeys and who are engaging it and living their lives with energy and hopefulness within the tradition even while still fully aware of its many difficulties and challenges. The panelists were: Gina Colvin (Host of the A Thoughtful Faith podcast), Thomas Wirthlin McConkie (Author of Navigating Mormon Faith Crisis), and me, Dan Wotherspoon (Host of the Mormon Matters podcast). The convener and host for the evening was John Dehlin (Host of the Mormon Stories podcast). John’s guidance for the conversations was terrific and led to some wonderful discussions, sharing of insights, fun (and perhaps slightly “blue”) moments of genuine humor, and an overall fantastic evening. The close of the session also featured powerful and heartfelt emotions and questions from audience members.

Please listen (or watch!) and share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below!

 

In a wonderful new book, Future Mormon: Essays in Mormon Theology, Adam Miller sets his spirit and intellect loose on the important task of helping clear away debris and suggesting some possible new framings for Mormonism that might appeal to coming generations. As he writes in the Introduction, “Every generation must live its own lives and think its own thoughts and receive its own revelations. And, if Mormonism continues to matter, it will because they, rather than leaving, were willing to be Mormon all over again. Like our grandparents, like our parents, and like us, they will have to rethink the whole tradition, from top to bottom, right from the beginning, and make it their own in order to embody Christ anew in this passing world. To the degree that we can help, our job is to model that work in love and then offer them the tools, the raw materials, and the room to do it themselves.”

In this episode, Adam Miller, Rosalynde Welch, and Jim McLachlan join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for a discussion of Future Mormon and various themes in Adam’s thinking. What question that we hear quite often in Mormonism seems too thin to lead us to “load-bearing” answers that can serve us in the midst of “white knuckle” prayers? Is “truth” static, sitting in God’s mind or heart like a vault waiting to be opened and shared, or is the ideal approach to truth something more dynamic, something that calls on us each, in our lives, to “make” true, to see how far a truth can carry us? Are there more powerful ways to think of “grace” beyond its role in the Atonement and questions of our salvation? Have we in Mormonism skipped over some elements that the apostle Paul might claim are essential, Christianity 101 kind of things—and how can these animate our lives in fresh and powerful ways? The discussion moves fast, and at times perhaps might seem a bit too “insider baseball-ish” (as the four panelists talk about things in a book most listeners will not have read), but those moments pass and this is an immensely enjoyable conversation.

Please help continue the conversation at the Mormon Matters website!

Mercy is a fundamental tenet of the Christian gospel and its descriptions of the attributes of God, and it certainly is a topic familiar to Latter-day Saints. But how often do we actually reflect upon it? Do we imagine it as simply a quality and an characteristic of God that we, too, should strive to attain and embody? Do we mostly think of it only in relationship to the Atonement and God’s grace? In a wonderful book, Mercy Matters: Opening Yourself to the Life-Changing Gift, Mathew N. Schmalz, a Catholic theologian and teacher, as well as a frequent conversation partner with Mormons (including here on Mormon Matters), speaks of these things but also explores mercy in many other deep and compelling ways. What is mercy’s relationship to reconciliation with others, with "letting go" of ego and our desires to be right, with compassion? How might mercy interact in revealing ways with freedom, dignity, kindness, and truth? In the realm of our relationship with God, how does mercy mesh with forgiveness, suffering, death, and life? Mercy Matters explores all of these topics, but for a theological book, it does it in a very unusual way: it is not at all abstract! Instead, it is completely immersed in Schmalz’s own life, featuring reflections on incidents (many very difficult and not the sort of things one typically expects an author to reveal about himself) as well as on various moments of mercy he has experienced. It is personal, and vulnerable, and all the more powerful for it. I highly recommend this book--as do Fiona Givens and Alonzo Gaskill, my conversation partners, along with Mathew Schmalz, in this episode.

Excerpts from two talks by prominent General Authorities (one by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, and the other by Elder Richard J. Maynes) have in the past two weeks generated a lot of buzz in certain online forums that many listeners to this program would be familiar with, most of it negative or sarcastic. The reactions came mostly to a few sentences from the talks, presented online largely without wider framing, and sometimes placed as part of online memes designed to heighten the impact of the quotations being read in a particular way. The memes and presentations themselves suggest how a viewer or reader should react to the words being quoted. But is this a fair--"virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy"--way of presenting ideas, especially those with which we have an issue? Is it fair to the speaker? To the readers? Is it deliberate dissembling? Those who write or pass these along generally know that what they are doing is presenting to some degree a caricature of a speaker and her or his presentation, something deliberately distorting, and they also know that many who encounter the meme or quotations will most likely react the way the intend and very seldom will themselves chase down the fuller context. In this episode, Kristine Haglund and Jon Grimes join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon to talk about the two talks in question and what unfolded online. They each certainly take exception to things said in each talk, the way they were said, or in some other way wish various ideas had been presented differently, but they also attempt to give much fuller context to the speeches, their settings, and other factors that mitigate against much of the full-on negative or exasperated reactions that occurred. The conversation also takes important turns in other directions, for instance on the way Latter-day Saints (and others) read or use scripture, as well as about the nature of religious experience and how humans tell of them. After closing the conversation with the two panelists, Dan Wotherspoon then speaks for a few minutes about another recent talk, the BYU commencement address by Elder L. Whitney Clayton, that he felt also suffers from distortions in certain online conversation about parts of it.

John G. Turner’s recent book, The Mormon Jesus: A Biography (Harvard University Press, 2016) presents a wonderful overview of the various ways Mormon scripture, leaders, and lay members understand Jesus Christ--and how these views developed over time, and why. As a non-Mormon historian and scholar of religions, Turner approaches this subject in a way not easily imitated by LDS scholars, seeing things about the teachings about Christ in the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible, and other texts through lenses and thought frameworks that are unencumbered by decades of Mormon interpretation or assumptions that they will all be consistent with each other. Tackling not only LDS scripture, but also messages about personal religious experiences, the role of prophets as mouthpieces for Christ, changing views about the Second Coming, understandings of Jesus as our "elder brother" and the "son of God," as Jehovah of the Hebrew Bible, whether or not Jesus was married and the place of Second Anointings in LDS theology, and also Mormon depictions of Jesus Christ through various artistic media, Turner presents a rich and interesting array of ideas, controversies, and official (as well as folk) beliefs and their development. Mormonism, for Turner, is thoroughly Christian, with many of its ideas about Christ congruent with (or with roots in) at least some lines of thought in wider Christianity, but with others quite striking or unique. In this episode, John Turner joins a podcast favorite, historian of LDS doctrine Charles Harrell, and Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon in an engaging discussion of several of the books’ subjects and arguments. As always, we discover that Mormon doctrine is not straightforward, nor did it evolve to its current positions via a clear revelatory path--which is just one reason it is always so fascinating!

This episode, the fourth in the Mormon Matters series on Addiction and Recovery features the stories and insights of two wonderful people, James Cottrell and Bill Casper, whose journeys of addiction and recovery intersect in nearly every moment with their Mormonism. All guests in this series have been LDS, and what was just said above about the intersection between their addictions and their religion applies in many ways to all of them, but in this episode we make it far more a focus than in the previous three. And it yields interesting results, especially on the topic of "confession" and "getting right" with one’s church--something the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous suggests but that often does not receive much emphasis in contemporary AA circles. In this case, James and Bill speak openly about how important this step was for them in their recovery and confidence that it will continue--recoveries that saw previous re-lapses (in James’s case, largely, he feels, because he had skipped this step). Raising this question here led to a conversation about confession to ecclesiastical leaders in general that went places that we don’t often talk about in the Mormon Matters community of listeners and similar circles. More than in the previous episodes in the series, James and Bill also go into the spiritual transformations they have undergone in the process of their recovery, the power of the various steps in facing addiction, the importance of meeting with others going through similar things, and much more. Warning: This episode features "tire meets the road" Christianity.

Philip McLemore is a former CES instructor who then served for twenty-one years as an LDS chaplain in the Air Force and then another eight years as a hospice chaplain. During these times he underwent a dramatic spiritual transformation that was instigated and nurtured by a his beginning a serious meditation practice. Ultimately he was ordained within the Kriya Yoga tradition, which was brought to the U.S. and the west by Paramhansa Yogananda, and Phil now teaches meditation (in person as well as online) that is quite typically eastern in the form of his practices, but with the teachings centered primarily on the mystical and yogic path and the resources for it that abound within Christianity and Mormonism. In today’s conversations, Phil and Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon explore in depth insights from two sources that Dan refers to quite often in Mormon Matters episodes as matches between these and that week’s topic come up. Dan’s interest in both things come from Phil--one is his reading of the Prodigal Son parable, which is better named the Parable of the Two Lost Sons--and the other is a five-stage model of spiritual growth and changing/deepening one’s relationship with God that Phil developed and that draws upon scriptural labels and metaphors for each stage. Part 1 (Episode 327) overviews Phil’s journey from Mormon convert at age 19 to where his present interests, spirituality, and practices are today, and then does a deep dive on the Parable of the Two Lost Sons. Part 2 (Episode 328) begins with an exploration of patterns and models found in great religions (including Mormonism) that ultimate culminate in ceremonies and then (hopefully/ideally) transformed lives that find a perfect balance of femaleness and maleness and the energies associated with them. This is preparatory work for the introduction of Phil’s five stage model, which culminates in what he names the "Beloved" stage, a mystical union with God. As Phil states in the podcast, friends share, but lovers unite. These are powerful conversations with insights that might very well be pointers to "the" ultimate task of life, the kinds of transformations through which we find the divine nature unfolding within us.

Philip McLemore is a former CES instructor who then served for twenty-one years as an LDS chaplain in the Air Force and then another eight years as a hospice chaplain. During these times he underwent a dramatic spiritual transformation that was instigated and nurtured by a his beginning a serious meditation practice. Ultimately he was ordained within the Kriya Yoga tradition, which was brought to the U.S. and the west by Paramhansa Yogananda, and Phil now teaches meditation (in person as well as online) that is quite typically eastern in the form of his practices, but with the teachings centered primarily on the mystical and yogic path and the resources for it that abound within Christianity and Mormonism. In today’s conversations, Phil and Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon explore in depth insights from two sources that Dan refers to quite often in Mormon Matters episodes as matches between these and that week’s topic come up. Dan’s interest in both things come from Phil--one is his reading of the Prodigal Son parable, which is better named the Parable of the Two Lost Sons--and the other is a five-stage model of spiritual growth and changing/deepening one’s relationship with God that Phil developed and that draws upon scriptural labels and metaphors for each stage. Part 1 (Episode 327) overviews Phil’s journey from Mormon convert at age 19 to where his present interests, spirituality, and practices are today, and then does a deep dive on the Parable of the Two Lost Sons. Part 2 (Episode 328) begins with an exploration of patterns and models found in great religions (including Mormonism) that ultimate culminate in ceremonies and then (hopefully/ideally) transformed lives that find a perfect balance of femaleness and maleness and the energies associated with them. This is preparatory work for the introduction of Phil’s five stage model, which culminates in what he names the "Beloved" stage, a mystical union with God. As Phil states in the podcast, friends share, but lovers unite. These are powerful conversations with insights that might very well be pointers to "the" ultimate task of life, the kinds of transformations through which we find the divine nature unfolding within us.

This episode features another hopeful story, though it takes us through some very dark times before focusing on the light and healing ultimately found. This story, told by Coby and Ashlynn Mitchell, and aided by series co-host Bill Turnbull, takes us through Coby’s twenty-plus year addiction to pornography (which had its roots when, at age seven, he was first introduced to a friend’s stepdad’s pornography collection), its effects on and following his mission, its pervasive influence in the first fourteen years of his and Ashlynn’s marriage and the ways it interfered with their ever really experiencing true intimacy, its role in his engaging in two inappropriate and sexually tinged emotional affairs, as well as Ashlynn’s suffering the devastating effects of betrayal trauma. It also gives an account of their recovery processes, healing aided by terrific specialized therapy, the establishment of good, new habits for relieving physical and emotional stresses, as well as aid that came in interesting ways from Coby’s mother who had been dead for several years. It also addresses spiritual growth and new discoveries about the Atonement and its effects in our lives as we seek to forgive ourselves and others, and when we finally choose to surrender to it, to actually "experience" it firsthand (something far different than how we normally think we "understand" it). Finally, Coby and Ashlynn share their story of ridding themselves of shame, so much so that much of their lives now are dedicated to being open about their experiences and assisting others going through similar struggles.

This episode contains a hopeful story, though one difficult to hear in all of its details. Ultimately the marriage of Christian and Kelle Smith has survived the horrible ordeal of Christian’s addictions to pain medication, and eventually other drugs and methods he used to escape paralyzing anxieties. And, in many ways, their marriage is much stronger and far healthier than it was before things got really bad. But it is still, six years-plus into his sobriety, very much a work in progress. It is a privilege to listen in as they share their stories and wrestlings, and we wish them continued healing and trust. We can all learn so much from them about addiction, about ways to watch that we are not enabling the addicts in our lives to continue in their self-defeating behaviors, about discovering self-worth, about what makes genuine relationships (with spouse, children, extended family, and more), and most especially about the spirituality and strength that can come from fearless honesty and finding and accepting God’s and others’ love. I am grateful to be joined again by my co-host in this multi-episode series on addiction and recovery, Bill Turnbull.

Charles Shiro Inouye has just written a fantastic book, _The End of the World, Plan B: A Guide for the Future_ (Greg Kofford Books, 2016). In it, he demonstrates how the most popular ways of framing Apocalyptic narratives--as a violent and cataclysmic event that makes clear the triumph of justice in which the wicked are punished and the righteous rewarded--does not actually match the fullest view on this subject as taught by the great world religions. Justice as the supreme virtue reigning over the end of all things has never been the main point, nor is it the best understanding of that virtue. Certainly it is important, but justice is intended to ultimately lead us toward compassion and a viewing of the world and its inhabitants, human as well as other forms of life, as God does, or as Dharma or the Tao attempt to call us toward. Apocalyptic teachings--with the word "apocalypse" referring to the great "revelation"--whether applied to the final end of the world and human inhabitants, or to our own end of the world that comes with our death, are instead designed to lead us into self-examinations of the world’s conditions, what justice would demand, including its implications for our lives, our own complicity in suffering or unfairness that comes from our communal lives, as well as the sobering realizations that agency will always make it impossible for us to ensure that our children will choose our same values as theirs. The teachings are not to make us feel smug that we’ll the "saved" remnant when the final bell might toll for the earth. Instead, what justice is designed to do, ultimately, is to lead us through sorrow to a state of coming to recognize as our own state of being what it is that God sees, and to then turn in compassion toward those not yet understanding the true nature of reality and the highest forms of fulfillment. It is to call us to be "saviors on Mount Zion," to the path of the Bodhisattva who postpones her or his own entrance into Nirvana in order to be with and teach and model compassion to all forms of life, to the "hero’s journey" described by Joseph Campbell and others that is and embodied in so many stories the world over and in every generation of the one who passes through trials and sorrows, learning from each challenge how she or he has falsely identified with various aspects of life that have prevented their true nature from fully shining forth, only to then come to grasp the life of the Gods and then return to her or his community as a teacher/savior. "Plan B" encompasses learning and turning of these sorts. It is a powerful way of understanding so much that is compelling at the heart of the great world religions, so much that is on the path of a genuine spiritual adventurer. In this two-part episode, author Charles Shiro Inouye, joins Charles Randall Paul, James McLachlan, and Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for a discussion of these elements present in the great traditions, and which serve--whether distant or immediate--as a call to us all, as something we recognize in our deepest core as the common denominator of our spiritual heroes. Toward the end, the panelists also speak of connections and differences between eastern ideas about "non-attachment" and "nothingness" and LDS (and other western) notions of "eternal" families/relationships. Are there also connections between these concepts and the call of Zion for its members to be of "one heart and mind"?

Charles Shiro Inouye has just written a fantastic book, _The End of the World, Plan B: A Guide for the Future_ (Greg Kofford Books, 2016). In it, he demonstrates how the most popular ways of framing Apocalyptic narratives--as a violent and cataclysmic event that makes clear the triumph of justice in which the wicked are punished and the righteous rewarded--does not actually match the fullest view on this subject as taught by the great world religions. Justice as the supreme virtue reigning over the end of all things has never been the main point, nor is it the best understanding of that virtue. Certainly it is important, but justice is intended to ultimately lead us toward compassion and a viewing of the world and its inhabitants, human as well as other forms of life, as God does, or as Dharma or the Tao attempt to call us toward. Apocalyptic teachings--with the word "apocalypse" referring to the great "revelation"--whether applied to the final end of the world and human inhabitants, or to our own end of the world that comes with our death, are instead designed to lead us into self-examinations of the world’s conditions, what justice would demand, including its implications for our lives, our own complicity in suffering or unfairness that comes from our communal lives, as well as the sobering realizations that agency will always make it impossible for us to ensure that our children will choose our same values as theirs. The teachings are not to make us feel smug that we’ll the "saved" remnant when the final bell might toll for the earth. Instead, what justice is designed to do, ultimately, is to lead us through sorrow to a state of coming to recognize as our own state of being what it is that God sees, and to then turn in compassion toward those not yet understanding the true nature of reality and the highest forms of fulfillment. It is to call us to be "saviors on Mount Zion," to the path of the Bodhisattva who postpones her or his own entrance into Nirvana in order to be with and teach and model compassion to all forms of life, to the "hero’s journey" described by Joseph Campbell and others that is and embodied in so many stories the world over and in every generation of the one who passes through trials and sorrows, learning from each challenge how she or he has falsely identified with various aspects of life that have prevented their true nature from fully shining forth, only to then come to grasp the life of the Gods and then return to her or his community as a teacher/savior. "Plan B" encompasses learning and turning of these sorts. It is a powerful way of understanding so much that is compelling at the heart of the great world religions, so much that is on the path of a genuine spiritual adventurer. In this two-part episode, author Charles Shiro Inouye, joins Charles Randall Paul, James McLachlan, and Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for a discussion of these elements present in the great traditions, and which serve--whether distant or immediate--as a call to us all, as something we recognize in our deepest core as the common denominator of our spiritual heroes. Toward the end, the panelists also speak of connections and differences between eastern ideas about "non-attachment" and "nothingness" and LDS (and other western) notions of "eternal" families/relationships. Are there also connections between these concepts and the call of Zion for its members to be of "one heart and mind"?

In the three months since the Church announced its new policy regarding LGBT persons and their children, we seem to increasingly encounter talk among LDS leaders and members that seems integrally tied to aspects of Christian and Mormon thinking about the Apocalyse: the end times prophesized to be proceeded by great calamities as well as the choosing of sides, a separation of the sheep from the goats, a time when even the very elect can be deceived, a time of judgment against the wicked and triumph for the for the good. Does the continued (or increased) presence of rhetoric associated with the "end times" help explain how the new policy might have found such a clear path into LDS policy, as well as how easily it has been accepted by many within the fold who don’t understand the need for it themselves but choose not to speak up about it as much as they might otherwise? How is the notion of a looming Apocalypse affecting the way certain messaging around LGBT (and other) controversial issues are framed? Is it aiding in the creation of a stronger notion of in- and out-groups, LDS "identity," and other forms of boundary maintenance? Is this a new phenomenon, or simply a continuation of ways other controversial and seemingly challenging issues have been talked about in the past? If we so desire, how might we counter the effects of such thinking in today’s Mormonism? In this episode, all these issues (and more!) are discussed in lively ways by Mark Crego, Jason Nelson Seawright, and Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon.

In this two-part episode, the first in a series on the many dynamics of addiction and the processes of recovery, often including positive spiritual growth, Bill Turnbull, a missionary in the LDS Addiction Recovery Program, co-hosts with Dan Wotherspoon a discussion with Preston and Tyson Dixon, two recovering addicts with LDS backgrounds and who now work full-time assisting others in their recovery. In the conversation, the brothers share their own stories of both their addiction and recovery processes, as well as teach about the physiological effects of addiction that can really us understand why stopping the behavior isn’t simply a matter of will power. A very interesting and powerful aspect of their story is how it is also a story that involves their entire family learning to examine its own dynamics, not only as these contributed to a shaming environment from which Preston and Tyson sought to escape through drugs, but also ways they could assist in their recovery--to staggeringly positive results. The conversation focuses a great deal upon the spiritual power that can come into one’s life as a person fearlessly faces his or her own struggles and where her or his own life, unaided by the Spirit, has led them. It also introduces listeners to 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, along with the LDS Addiction Recovery Program.