All conference presentations are listed below by year. Click to go to the main FairMormon Conference page.
2016
Climbing a tree to find a fish: Insurgency in the Book of Mormon
Morgan Deane
Quorum Lost and Found: Eliza R. Snow and the 1868 Restoration of Relief Society
Jill Derr
“We, the People of the Kingdom of God”: Insights into the Minutes of the Council of Fifty, 1844-1846
Matt Grow
“Love Wins,” and Charity Loses
Ralph Hancock
More Effective Apologetics
Grant Hardy
Faith-Centered Dialectics: Talking About Differences Transforms
Ally Isom
The Courage of Our Convictions: Embracing Mormonism in a Secular Age
Patrick Mason
The Book of Mormon as a Communicative Act: Translation in Context
Ben McGuire
The Logic-Tree of Life, or, Why I Can’t Manage to Disbelieve
Dan Peterson
“To Inflict the Wounds of Death”: Mesoamerican Swords and Cimeters in the Book of Mormon
Matt Roper
“Daughters of Christ”: Finding Language to Talk about Women and Priesthood
Kathryn Shirts
Finishing up the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project: An Introduction to The History of the Text of the Book of Mormon
Royal Skousen and Stan Carmack
Changes in Languages from Nephi to Now
Brian Stubbs
What I hope we will teach our daughters (and sons) about the priesthood
Wendy Ulrich
2015
The Mother in Heaven and Her Children
Margaret Barker
Captain Dan Jones: Defender of the Faith in Wales
Ron Dennis
History and Historicity in the Book of Mormon
Brant Gardner
Faith and Scholarship
James D. Gordon III
Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding
Laura Harris Hales
A house of order, a house of God: Recycled challenges to the legitimacy of the church
Cassandra Hedelius
The Order of the House of God: Ancient Practices and Modern Experiences
David J. Larsen
An Act of Religious Conviction: Mormon Women and Nineteenth-Century Polygamy
Brittany Chapman Nash
On the Record
Michael R. Otterson
The Reasonable Leap into Light: A Barebones Secular Argument for the Gospel
Dan Peterson
From Not White Enough, to Too White: Rethinking the Mormon Racial Story
Paul Reeve
Why Mormon Materialism Matters
Stephen H. Webb
Christ’s Emancipation of Women in the New Testament
Lynne Wilson
2014
The Book of Abraham and Unnoticed Assumptions
Kerry Muehlstein
Blacks in the Scriptures
Marvin Perkins
Joseph Smith Among the Early Christians
Barry Bickmore
Earl Wunderli’s Imperfect Book
Bob Rees
Scriptural Style in Early Nineteenth Century American Literature
Matt Roper & Paul Fields
“Mormons can BE gay, they just can’t DO gay”?: Deconstructing Sexuality and Identity From an LDS Perspective
Ty Mansfield
Why, Yes! I am a Mormon, Thank You Very Much!
Ann Cannon
Shouldering the Cross, or How to Condemn Racism and Still Call Brigham Young a Prophet
Russell Stevenson
The Preposterous Book of Mormon: A Singular Advantage (PDF)
Robert F. Smith
“This Is a Woman’s Church”
Sharon Eubank
The Story Behind the Revelations: Using the Joseph Smith Papers to Better Understand the Doctrine and Covenants
Matt Grow & Matt Godfrey
Panel Discussion: Family Members Who Left
Religious Liberty: What Latter-day Saints Need to Know to Preserve Our First Freedom
Hannah Smith
Some Reflections on That Letter to a CES Director
Dan Peterson
2013
Shaken Faith Syndrome, Part Deux
Michael R. Ash
Joseph Smith’s Visions: His Style and his Record
Ron Barney
Panel Discussion: Charity Never Faileth: Seeking Sisterhood Amid Different Perspectives on Mormon Feminism
Neylan McBaine
Valerie Hudson
Wendy Ulrich
Kristine Frederickson
Maxine Hanks
Mormonism and the New Liberalism: the Inescapability of Political Apologetics
Ralph Hancock
“Kidnapping” at Palestine Grove: Missouri’s Final Attempt to Extradite Joseph Smith
Morris Thurston
Why Mormonism Matters: Pastoral Apologetics and the LDS Doubter
Seth Payne
Why It is Important to Laugh at Ourselves
Robert Kirby
Was Joseph a Product of the Second Great Awakening
Lynne Wilson
Disenchanted Mormonism
Rosalynde Welch
The Original Context of the First Vision Narrative: 1820s or 1830s
Don Bradley
Heartland as Hinterland: The Mesoamerican Core and North American Periphery of Book of Mormon Geography
Mark Alan Wright
Working With the Church: Another Narrative
Maxine Hanks
Panel Discussion: The Loss and Rekindling of Faith
Don Bradley
Janet L. Eyring
Maxine Hanks
Toward a More Effective Apologetics
Dan Peterson
2012
Navigating the Labyrinth Surrounding Homosexual Desire
Joshua Johanson
Reading Mormon’s Codex
John Sorenson
To Do the Business of the Church: A Cooperative Paradigm for Examining Gendered Participation Within Church Organizational Structure
Neylan McBaine
Do We Need to Make Changes to the Book of Mormon Text?
Royal Skousen
No Johnny-Come-Lately: The 182-Year-Long BLACK Mormon Moment
Darius Gray
Joseph Smith’s Sexual Polyandry and the Emperor’s New Clothes: On Closer Inspection, What Do We Find?
Brian C. Hales
Book of Mormon Genetics: A Reappraisal
Ugo Perego
Forty-five Years of Chiasmus Conversations, Criteria, and Creativity: What Chiasmus Proves and Does Not Prove
Jack Welch
From the East to the West: The Problem of Directions in the Book of Mormon
Brant Gardner
Book of Abraham, I Presume
John Gee
Seeing the Light: Parallels in Mormon Conversion and De-conversion Stories
Rosemary Avance
Piercing the Veil: Temple Worship in the Lost 116 Pages
Don Bradley
Perception and Reality: Then and Now
Hartt Wixam
Of ‘Mormon Studies’ and Apologetics
Dan Peterson
2011
Seerhood, Pure Language, and Sacred Translation
Samuel Brown
A Reconciliation of Polygamy
Valerie Hudson
Dead Men Tell No Tales: The Blood Atonement Balance Sheet
McKay V. Jones
The Sacred Embrace in Ancient Egyptian Religion and Art
Stephen Ricks
The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon
Brant Gardner
Four Accounts and Three Critiques of Joseph Smith’s First Vision
Steven C. Harper
W. Mitt Romney & Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.’s Dueling Quest for the Presidency: A Mormon Moment…Or the Mormon Question, Revisited?
Newell Bringhurst
Borders & Boundaries: The Immigration Fervor that Threatens to Divide Us
Cynthia J. Lange
Something Wiki This Way Comes: How Collaborative Editing is Changing the Face of Online LDS Apologetics
Roger Nicholson
‘President Joseph Has Translated a Portion’: Solving the Mystery of the Kinderhook Plates (PDF)
Don Bradley
Book of Mormon ‘Wordprint’ Analysis: How to do it wrong…and how to do it right
Paul Fields
Joseph Smith, the Question of Polygamous Offspring, and DNA Analysis
Ugo Perego
Mormonism, Islam, and the Question of Other Religions
Dan Peterson
2010
Joseph Smith and the Biblical Council of the Gods (PDF)
David Bokovoy
The Apocalypse of Abraham: An Ancient Witness for the Book of Moses (PDF)
Jeffrey Bradshaw
Same-sex Marriage and the Role of Religion (PDF)
William Duncan
Like Two Crazy Aunts in the Attic: Latter-day Saints and Popular Polygamy Stereotypes (PDF)
Craig Foster
Marginal Characters in the Book of Abraham Manuscripts (PDF)
John Gee
The Two Trees (PowerPoint)
Valerie Hudson
The Obligation to Do Apologetics (PDF)
Daniel Peterson
Origin of Book of Mormon Names (PDF)
Stephen Ricks
Editing Hugh Nibley: From Manuscript to Book (PDF)
Shirley Ricks
Joseph Smith and the Question of Book of Mormon Geography (PDF)
Matthew Roper
The Meaning of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers Video Part 1 Video Part 2
Will Schryver
Restoring the Original Text of the Book of Mormon
Royal Skousen
A Mormon in the White House (PDF)
Peter Watkins
2009
The Reliability of Mormon History Produced by the LDS Church
Ron Barney
Brigham Young’s Teachings On Adam (PDF)
Matthew Brown
Joseph the Seer—or Why Did He Translate With a Rock in His Hat?
Brant Gardner
Joseph Smith and Modern Cosmology (PDF)
Ron Hellings
“Uh oh!” to “Ah ha!” in Apologetics: 20/20 Foresight for a Faithful Future in Defending the Church
John Lynch
Science and the Book of Mormon
Wade Miller
The Temple as a Place of Ascent to God
Daniel C. Peterson
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Plural Marriage* (*but were afraid to ask)
Gregory Smith
The Sariah Dilemma: Finding Increased Faith When Our Children Misplace Their Own
Vickey Taylor
The Kirtland Safety Society
R. McKay White
On Being an Apologist: Imperatives, Predicaments, Perils and Blessings (PDF)
Robert White
2008
Shaken Faith Syndrome (PDF)
Michael Ash
The Message of the Joseph Smith Translation: A Walk in the Garden (PDF)
Jeffrey Bradshaw
The Israelite Temple and the Early Christians
Matthew B. Brown
The Joseph Smith Papers (PDF)
Ronald Esplin
Mormon’s Editorial Method and Meta-Message
Brant A. Gardner
Joseph Smith DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophet’s Genes
Ugo Perego
Humble Apologetics
Daniel C. Peterson
Book of Mormon Geography (PDF)
Larry Poulsen
Deification: Divine Inheritance and the Glorious Afterlife in the Book of Mormon and Ancient Mesoamerica (PDF)
Mark Wright
2007
Some Puzzles from the Joseph Smith Papyri (PDF)
John Gee
When Souls Had Wings: What the Western Tradition Has to teach Us About Pre-Existence
Terryl Givens
As Far as it is Translated Correctly: The Problem of Tampering with the Word of God in the Transmission and Translation of the New Testament
John Hall
Solomon’s Temple: Myth and History (PDF)
William Hamblin and David Seely
The Cowdery Controversies (PDF)
Larry Morris
Is the Church Archives Closed?
Steven Olsen
Spiritual Experiences as the Basis for Belief and Commitment
Blake Ostler
God and Mr. Hitchens (PDF)
Daniel Peterson
The Trajectory of Book of Mormon Studies (PDF)
John Sorenson
Reflections on Mountain Meadows
Richard Turley
Seeing Our Blindness: The Impact of Personal History on Our Understanding of God (PDF)
Wendy Ulrich
A Change of Venue: Joseph Smith’s Escape from Liberty Jail (PDF)
Jeffrey Walker
2006
Book of Abraham 201: Papyri, Revelation and Modern Egyptology
Mike Ash
Legal Trials of the Prophet: Joseph Smith’s Life in Court
Joseph Bentley
Revised or Unaltered? Joseph Smith’s Foundational Stories
Matthew Brown
The Lives of Mormon Women
Claudia Bushman
Defenders of the Book: Surveying the New World Evidence for Book of Mormon Historicity (PDF)
Brant Gardner
Investigating the Kirtland Egyptian Papers (PDF)
Brian Hauglid
A Black Man in Zion: Reflections on Race in the Restored Gospel
Marcus Martins
Salamander Letters (PDF)
Steve Mayfield and George Throckmorton
An International Perspective: Opposition to Mormonism in Finland1845-2006
Kim Ostman
Tangible Restoration: The Witnesses and What They Experienced (PDF)
Daniel Peterson
Adam in Ancient Texts and the Restoration
Matthew Roper
DNA and the Book of Mormon
David Stewart
A Few Hundred Hints of Egyptian and Northwest Semitic in Uto-Aztecan (PDF)
Brian Stubbs
Zina and Her Men: An Examination of the Changing Marital State of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young
Allen Wyatt
2005
George Q. Cannon and the Apostates
Davis Bitton
A Joseph Smith Miscellany
Richard Bushman
Debating the Foundations of Mormonism: The Book of Mormon and Archaeology
John E. Clark, Wade Ardern and Matthew Roper
Blacks in the Bible
Darius Gray
The Message and the Messenger: Latter-day Saints and Freemasonry
Greg Kearney
The Fallacy of Fundamentalist Assumptions
Blake Ostler
DNA and the Book of Mormon
Ryan Parr
How to Reach African-Americans (PDF)
Marvin Perkins
What I Learned about Life, the Church and the Cosmos from Hugh Nibley
Boyd Petersen
Reflections on Secular Anti-Mormonism
Dan Peterson
Authentic Ancient Names and Words in the Book of Abraham and Related Kirtland Egyptian Papers (PDF)
John Tvedtnes
“Believest thou…?”: Faith, Cognitive Dissonance and the Psychology of Religious Experience
Wendy Ulrich
2004
Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses
Richard Lloyd Anderson
ABCs of the Book of Abraham (PDF Format)
Michael Ash & Kevin Barney
I Don’t Have a Testimony of the History of the Church
Davis Bitton
International Perspectives of a Black Member in a “White” Church
Alex Boyé
Historical or Hysterical? Anti-Mormons and Documentary Sources
Matthew Brown
Born That Way? Facts and Fiction about Homosexuality
A. Dean Byrd
The Case for Historicity: Discerning the Book of Mormon’s Production Culture
Brant A. Gardner
Empathetic Imagination: Reading Between the Lines in Standing on the Promises
Darius Gray and Margaret Blair Young
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph Smith: Defending the Faith
David Paulsen
Autobiographical Notes on My Testimony
Daniel Peterson
The Place of Mormon Women: Perceptions, Prozac, Polygamy, Priesthood, Patriarchy, and Peace
Andrea G. Radke
The King Follett Discourse in the Light of Ancient and Medieval Jewish and Christian Beliefs
John Tvedtnes
2003
Defending Zion (PDF)
Roger Ekins
Old Themes and Stereotypes Never Die: The Unchanging Ways of Anti-Mormons
Craig L. Foster
Monotheism, Messiah, and Mormon’s Book
Brant Gardner
The Grace of Apologetics
Roger Keller
The LDS Church and the Race Issue: A Study in Misplaced Apologetics
Armand L. Mauss
The Children of Lehi: DNA and the Book of Mormon
D. Jeffrey Meldrum
Random Reflections on the Passing Scene
Dan Peterson
The Book of Abraham: Dealing with the Critics (PDF)
Michael Rhodes
Nephi’s Neighbors: Book of Mormon Peoples and Pre-Columbian Populations
Matthew Roper
Shining New Light on the Mountain Meadows Massacre
Gene Sessions
Evolution and Latter-day Saint Theology: The Tree of Life and DNA
Trent Stephens
The Charge of “Racism” in the Book of Mormon
John Tvedtnes
Black Latter-day Saints: A Faith-FULL History
Margaret Blair Young
2002
The 1826 Trial of Joseph Smith
Russell Anderson
The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship
Michael R. Ash
Christ, the Firstfruits of Theosis PDF Format
Roger Cook
The Gadianton Robbers in Mormon’s Theological History: Their Structural Role and Plausible Identification
Brant Gardner
Dealing with Demographics
Tim Heaton
Dispelling the Black Myth
Renee Olson
The Protean Joseph Smith
Dan Peterson
Changes in the Book of Mormon
Royal Skousen
The Mistakes of Men: Can the Scriptures be Error-Free?
John Tvedtnes
2001
Feeding the Multitudes: Being Fishers of Men
Ross Baron
Arabia and the Book of Mormon
S. Kent Brown
A Social History of the Early Nephites
Brant Gardner
Egyptian Influence in Ancient Israel (PDF)
John Gee
Nephi and Goliath: A Reappraisal of the Use of the Old Testament in First Nephi
Ben McGuire
Naturalistic Terms: Some Reflections on a Motto and Type of Historical Explanation
Louis Midgley
Benjamin or Mosiah: Resolving an Anomaly in Mosiah 21:28
L. Ara Norwood
The Divine Source of the Book of Mormon in the Face of Alternative Theories Advocated by LDS Critics
Daniel C. Peterson
Right on Target: Boomerang Hits and the Book of Mormon
Matt Roper
Scholarship in Mormonism and Mormonism in Scholarship
John Tvedtnes
DNA and the Book of Mormon (Audio/Video Format)
Scott Woodward
2000
Up In Smoke: A Response To the Tanners’ Criticism of the Word of Wisdom
Mike Ash
Mormonism—Shadow or Reality?: History or Propaganda? Joseph Smith as a Case Study
Danel Bachman
Cherry Picking in the Orchard of God’s Word: John 4:24
Darryl Barksdale
A Real People, Time, and Place: Contextualizing the Book of Mormon
Brant Gardner
Breaking Down Barriers with Wrecking Balls of Fallacy
Kevin Hill
Nehors in the Land: A Latter-day Variation on an Ancient Theme
L. Ara Norwood
Easier than Research, More Inflammatory than Truth
Daniel C. Peterson
An Incident Concerning Page 81 of “Mormonism—Shadow or Reality?”
Robert Vukich
1999
A Tale of Two Restorations
Kevin Barney
Mormonism in the Early Jewish Christian Milieu
Barry Bickmore
The Corruption of Scripture in the Second Century
John Gee
What Has Athens to do with Jerusalem?: Apostasy and Restoration in the Big Picture
Daniel C. Peterson
I Have Said, ‘Ye are Gods’
D. Charles Pyle
Salvation for the Dead: A Response to Luke Wilson
Matt Roper
Early Christian and Jewish Rituals Related to Temple Practices
John Tvedtnes
