FAIR

Podcast

Mormon Fair-cast 244: FairMormon Conference 2014

by

Podcast: Download (18.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

33480_1612609000660_2667876_nDanPetersonMartin Tanner who is the host of “Religion Today” on KSL FM 102.7 and AM 1160 interviews Steve Densley who is the executive vice-president of FairMormon and Daniel Peterson, Ph.D. who is a prominent Mormon apologist and professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University about the upcoming FairMormon conference that will be held in Provo Utah on the 7th and 8th of August this year. Tickets can be purchased here.

This broadcast originally aired on the 6th of July 2014.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast may not represent those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or that of FairMormon.

 

Mormon Fair-Cast 243: Barry R. Bickmore, “Restoring the Ancient Church”

by

Podcast: Download (17.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Barry R. BickmoreBarry R. Bickmore Restoring the Ancient Church 2nd EditionMartin Tanner who is the host of “Religion Today” on KSL FM 102.7 and AM 1160 interviews  Barry R. Bickmore  about his book “Restoring the Ancient Church: Joseph Smith and Early Christianity.”  In this interview brother Bickmore relates how the teachings of the early Church are reflected in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Professor Bickmore will be appearing at this year’s FairMormon Conference on August 7 & 8 at the Utah Valley Convention Center in Provo, Utah. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

In the second half of his show Martin Tanner interviews Craig Foster about his second book on Mormon polygamy.  “The Persistence of Polygamy: From Joseph Smith Martyrdom to the First Manifesto, 1844 – 1890.

Both book are available from the FairMormon Bookstore:

Restoring the Ancient Church: Joseph Smith and Early Christianity.

The Persistence of Polygamy From Joseph Smith Martyrdom to the First Manifesto 1844 – 1890

This broadcast originally aired on the 2nd of March 2014.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast may not represent those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or that of FairMormon.

Fair Issues 59: To Arabs, valleys, not mountains, the symbol of permanence

by

Podcast: Download (7.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS

MAAs we discussed in the last installment of this series the Lehites’ first semi permanent encampment was called the river of “Laman” and the valley of “Lemuel.”  In this podcast Michael Ash explains how the terms used to describe these locations are in keeping with tradition at the time they took place.

The full text of this article can be found at Deseret News online.

Brother Ash is author of the book Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt, as well as the book, of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith. Both books are available for purchase online through the FairMormon Bookstore. Tell your friends about the Mormon Fair-Cast. Share a link on your Facebook page and help increase the popularity of the Mormon Fair-Cast by subscribing to this podcast in iTunes, and by rating it and writing a review.

The views and opinions expressed in the podcast may not reflect those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or that of FairMormo

 

Faith and Reason 10: Evidence That The Book of Mormon Was Dictated

by

Podcast: Download (15.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS

 

From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

By Michael Ash

Although the method Joseph Smith used to translate the The Book of Mormon has been described in church history and literature, some members seem taken aback when they find that their perceptions about the translation mechanics employed by Joseph don’t conform to what they previously envisioned. Some members are surprised because they had been taught that Joseph Smith translated the plates by way of the Urim and Thummim. This is true. What most members don’t realize however, is that Urim and Thummim was the name given both to the Nephite Interpreters that were included in the stone box with the plates, as well as the seer stone that Joseph owned and later used to received revelations.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt. He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Articles of Faith 8: LDS Church Disciplinary Councils

by

Podcast: Download (53.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

This is a special episode of Articles of Faith. It is special because, our normal focus with the show is on articles written in scholarly journals such as The Interpreter, Square Two, and we have some being lined up to include BYU Studies as well. In this episode we are featuring two articles written on blogs, chosen because of their firsthand experience with church disciplinary councils; one article from the perspective of a person who went through one such council, and the other from the perspective of one who was in a variety of callings that involved being a part of disciplinary councils.

This episode will feature two interviews, one with Barbie Berg, who wrote the article The Truth about an LDS Disciplinary Council. The other is by Allen Wyatt, with his article simply entitled Excommunication. This episode is, in some ways, a response to the events and discourse surrounding the very public church discipline hearing for Kate Kelly.

At the time of these interviews, Kate Kelly has been formally excommunicated for “conduct contrary to the laws and order of the church” and that she “persisted in an aggressive effort to persuade other Church members to your point of view and that your course of action has threatened to erode the faith of others.” Kate Kelly has since declared that she intends to appeal her excommunication. John Dehlin has not yet attended a formal council regarding his possible excommunication.

While an overwhelming majority of church disciplinary councils are not made public, because of the attention that these two have received, largely due to the efforts of Kate Kelly and John Dehlin themselves, we find many asking questions and seeking answers, while others make incorrect, incomplete, or un-Christlike declarations about what disciplinary hearings are, what they mean, how they come to be and how they are to be conducted.

Both of these articles and authors were chosen because, over the course of the weeks surrounding the public announcement of Kelly’s forthcoming church disciplinary council and Dehlin’s possible council, there has been a lot of commentary regarding their circumstances. It is my opinion that much of what was said fell short of the true nature, spirit, and purpose of church disciplinary councils, and I felt it was important to re-align the discourse. It also my opinion that these two articles share a valuable perspective that should be taken into consideration when absorbing and discussing all church disciplinary councils, not just the Kate Kelly scenario.

Barbie Berg: Article – The Truth about an LDS Disciplinary Council

http://barbieannlove.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-truth-about-lds-disciplinary-council.html?m=1

Based on her personal experience with going through a disciplinary council as a younger female as well as her testimony of the spirit that accompanies these councils.

Allen Wyatt: Article – Excommunication

http://www.allenwyatt.com/blog/excommunication

Allen served as a bishop from February 2006 until October 2012. He also served as a branch president, as a counselor in at least three different bishoprics, as a stake executive secretary, and on a high council. In all those positions Allen had the opportunity to sit in on disciplinary councils.

He wrote his article because he was seeing so much vitriol directed against the bishops and stake presidents involved in these matters that he felt someone needed to stand up and say, “no, this is the way it really is.” His article describes just one of the councils that happened to involve the excommunication of a sister.

Fair Issues 57: Lehi’s ancient Arabic poetry

by

Podcast: Download (6.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

MAIn this podcast brother Ash discusses how in Lehi’s world it was customary among Arabs to rename any new territory they encountered with their own names.  It was therefore appropriate for Lehi to name a river and a valley after his two eldest sons.  This form of culture was unknown during the days of Jacksonian-era Americans like Joseph Smith.

The full text of this article can be found at Deseret News online.

Brother Ash is author of the book Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt, as well as the book, of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith. Both books are available for purchase online through the FairMormon Bookstore. Tell your friends about the Mormon Fair-Cast. Share a link on your Facebook page and help increase the popularity of the Mormon Fair-Cast by subscribing to this podcast in iTunes, and by rating it and writing a review.

The views and opinions expressed in the podcast may not reflect those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or that of FairMormo

 

Articles of Faith 7: Rick Anderson on Mormonism and Intellectual Freedom

by

Podcast: Download (63.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Rick Anderson - Mormon InterpreterRick Anderson is Associate Dean for Scholarly Resources & Collections in the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah.  He earned his Bachelors and Masters in .Library Information Systems degrees at Brigham Young University. He serves on numerous editorial and advisory boards and is a regular contributor to the Scholarly Kitchen blog and to Library Journal’s Academic Newswire.

In 2005, Rick was identified by Library Journal as a “Mover and Shaker”—one of the “50 people shaping the future of libraries.” In 2008 he was elected president of the North American Serials Interest Group, and was named an ARL Research Library Leadership Fellow for 2009-10. In 2013 Rick received the HARRASSOWITZ Leadership in Library Acquisitions Award and was invited to give the Gould Distinguished Lecture on Technology and the Quality of Life at the University of Utah. Welcome the man who makes being a librarian cool, Rick Anderson. Rick Anderson is the author of the article in the Interpreter entitled Mormonism and Intellectual Freedom.

Questions Rick Anderson addresses in the episode:

I would assume, especially considering your many accolades and accomplishments professionally, that you spend a great deal of time around some of the brightest minds in your field, and to a certain extent, other fields as well. As a library management professional, you have to know a good bit of information about a lot of subjects. I have heard these individuals referred to as intellectual polygamists. With that being said, the genesis of your article, Mormonism and Intellectual Freedom, comes from a friend making what appears to be an ironic assumption. Could you flesh out that story a little?

 

Right now there is a great deal of discourse online regarding the quest for dovetailing intellectual pursuits in a spiritual or religious context. Lines are being drawn in the sand. What then is the role of scholarship in religious endeavors?

 

We hear people use two terms almost synonymously and I think that is the cause of some confusion in the discourse to which I am referring. Questioning, and doubting. How are these two terms different when considering this pursuit of knowledge?

 

Rick Anderson is the author of the Article Mormonsim and Intellectual Freedom found in the Interpreter: Journal of Mormon Scripture found at MormonInterpreter.com

Fair Issues 56: Nephi, Joseph Smith and biblical motifs

by

Podcast: Download (7.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

MAIn this podcast Michael R. Ash discusses the parallels between the wilderness accounts in the Bible and those found in the Book of Mormon.  LDS researcher Ben McGuire offers a perspective from his article “Nephi and Goliath: A Case Study of Literary Allusion in the Book of Mormon.”  Blake Ostler also contributes a case study in what is called “The Throne-Theophany and Prophetic Commission in 1 Nephi: A Form-Critical Analysis.”

The full text of this article can be found at Deseret News online.

Brother Ash is author of the book Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt, as well as the book, of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith. Both books are available for purchase online through the FairMormon Bookstore. Tell your friends about the Mormon Fair-Cast. Share a link on your Facebook page and help increase the popularity of the Mormon Fair-Cast by subscribing to this podcast in iTunes, and by rating it and writing a review.

The views and opinions expressed in the podcast may not reflect those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or that of FairMormo

Articles of Faith 6: Jane Birch on the Word of Wisdom – Errant Comma Theory

by

Podcast: Download (51.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

 

Jane Birch

Jane Birch is the author of Discovering the Word of Wisdom: Surprising Insights from a Whole Food, Plant-based Perspective (2013). She graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelors in History and a PhD in Instructional Science. She currently serves as Assistant Director for Faculty Development at the BYU Faculty Center. Her accomplishments include creating BYU’s premiere faculty development program for new faculty, which she directed for 15 years. Her current work includes assisting BYU faculty in combining religious faith with academic discipline. Her academic publications and presentations cover a variety of topics, primarily related to faculty development. She is the author of an article in The Interpreter entitled: Questioning the Comma in Verse 13 of the Word of Wisdom.

Questions asked in the podcast interview:

Your current work at BYU is on combining religious faith with academic discipline and research. It seems that this effort is one of the challenges that many people face in this internet world, and a world where secular institutions have been given the highest praise for their work in many fields. Teaching faithful academics is an almost lost art. What are some of the hurdles that hinder developing faith and academic knowledge at the same time?

 

You spend time writing on instructional sciences, personal and professional development, especially within institutions of higher learning, what prompted you to say, I need to write about the word of wisdom?

 

Before we begin a discussion on the topic of your article, we should probably set down the text of Verse 13 in doctrine and Covenants section 89 otherwise referred to as the Word of Wisdom. So, let me take a moment to read that verse for reference, for the people driving in their cars who can’t open to the verse. “And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.” You have ventured to discuss what might seem like the most petty thing to quibble about in grammar, a comma. In this verse, what is the great comma at the heart of the controversy?

 

There are other comma’s in this section, why is this comma different?

 

English language has its limitations in conveying a message perfectly. Have you looked to the interpretations given in other languages to see if there is any additional light that is shed on this verse?

 

Throughout the article you refer to the “errant comma theory.” Will you explain what that is for those that are unfamiliar.

 

You give several quotes from leaders in the early church, observations that might have been a simple description of what was happening, but have become a way for us to interpret, at least initial implications of this verse to the people in the first 100 years of Church operation. Perhaps you could give a few of those quotes as an example of their application to your article?

 

From the early era’s of recorded mortality, we have stories of ritual animal sacrifice. Mosaic law indicated that these sacrifices included ritual consumption of the meat. Kosher tradition includes certain meats that are considered clean. Jesus Christ has been recorded as feeding 5000 people with fish. Following his resurrection, Jesus Christ fed the apostles some fish. In fact, there are few indications that Jesus Christ ever spoke out against the consumption of animal products, perhaps the only instance is to end the life of an animal where there is no need, or if there is food that would go wasted as a result. However, I also recognize that there is equally no evidence condemning vegetarianism, only perhaps the advocacy of vegetarianism by way of commandment as found in D&C 49 18-21 which reads:

18 And whoso forbiddeth to abstain from meats, that man should not eat the same, is not ordained of God;

19 For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance.

20 But it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin.

21 And wo be unto man that sheddeth blood or that wasteth flesh and hath no need.

 

Some will argue that church operation can serve as an interpretation of scripture. The church has extensive operations in beef farming, as well as other meats. In light of all these sources, and with your interest and study of the word of wisdom, I am interested in hearing you reconcile all this information with your efforts in light of your vegetarianism.

 

Herein lies the challenges of the Word of Wisdom. While some may see this section as pretty clear, you come along and say, a simple interpretation of a comma can give space for multiple interpretations that can find a place within its text.

 

Jane Birch is the author of Discovering the Word of Wisdom: Surprising Insights from a Whole Food, Plant-based Perspective (2013) and an article in The Interpreter entitled: Questioning the Comma in Verse 13 of the Word of Wisdom.

Mormon Fair-Cast 233: Should the stories in Genesis be taken literally?

by

Podcast: Download (8.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

MartinTannerIn this episode of Religion Today, Martin Tanner discusses such issues as whether Eve was created from the rib of Adam and whether the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah existed. This episode originally aired on KSL Radio on January 26, 2013 and appears here by permission of KSL Radio. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or of FairMormon.

Listeners will note that the first part of this episode is missing. We apologize for this inconvenience.