Faith Matters

<p>Faith Matters offers an expansive view of the Restored Gospel, thoughtful exploration of big and sometimes thorny questions, and a platform that encourages deeper engagement with our faith and our world. We focus on the Latter-day Saint (Mormon) tradition, but believe we have much to learn from other traditions and fully embrace those of other beliefs.</p>

Unpacking Polygamy: Our Evolving Sealing Practices, with Nate Oman

Today, we’re honored to welcome Nate Oman—law professor, scholar, and co-founder of the pioneering Latter-day Saint blog, Times and Seasons. Our conversation begins with a bold idea: that experiencing a stupor of thought, or being troubled, is very often a prelude to revelation. For Nate, facing discomfort head-on—naming it and wrestling with it—has become a sacred part of his discipleship and a path to deeper faith. And so in that spirit, today we’re taking a hard and honest look at the doct...

11-05
01:16:59

Unpacking Polygamy: Joseph Smith's Polygamy, with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich & Patrick Mason

Today’s episode kicks off our five-part series Unpacking Polygamy—a deep dive into one of the most complex and sensitive topics in our church’s history. We hope you’ll listen to the full series, where you’ll hear from a variety of voices and perspectives that help illuminate this part of our shared story. To start us off, we’re honored to bring together two remarkable thinkers. Patrick Mason is a historian, author, and Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State Uni...

11-04
59:43

Beyond Thoughts and Prayers: A Conversation with Sharon Eubank

Today, we’re sharing a conversation that feels especially urgent. In fact, we’d planned to release this episode later in the month—but this week, as a major hurricane moves through the Caribbean and the U.S. government shutdown is causing massively disruptive ripples in the daily life of countless families, we know so many are asking, What can I do? We hope this conversation offers real practical guidance and clarity for getting to work today. We’re joined by Sharon Eubank, author...

10-29
56:16

Faith on the Frontier of AI: A Conversation with Medlir Mema

Today, we’re bringing you what we think is one of the most important conversations we could be having right now. We’re talking with our friend and scholar Medlir Mema about artificial intelligence—and what it means for people of faith. Now whether you’re already fascinated by AI, cautious, or ready to turn this episode off, this episode is for everyone. Medlir makes the case that AI is a human issue. A spiritual issue. And that it’s urgent for people of faith to be asking how we can create an...

10-26
01:03:49

The Spiritual Practice of Speaking Up: A Conversation with Cynthia Winward & Susan M. Hinckley

We sometimes reduce “faith-promoting” stories to those tidy endings—where miracles show up just in time, doubts vanish, and testimony replaces tension. But sometimes growth begins when the script falls apart. For Susan Meredith Hinckley and Cynthia Winward, these stories are nourishing a faith that looks like trust and transformation. Susan and Cynthia are co-hosts of the At Last She Said It podcast and authors of a new book with the same title. They came to this work from different pa...

10-19
01:01:30

The Last Book Written By a Human — a conversation with Jeff Burningham

Today, we’re sharing a conversation with Jeff Burningham—entrepreneur, former candidate for governor, and now author of a new book called The Last Book Written by a Human. This conversation begins with an unforgettable scene Jeff witnessed in India on the banks of the Ganges—a place where death, life, and the mundane all unfolded side by side. That image becomes a frame for everything we discussed: the reality of constant transformation and the deep human need for presence in the middle of i...

10-12
53:51

How to Love Your Enemy: Arthur Brooks at Restore 2025

Today we’re sharing Arthur Brooks’ keynote from Restore this last weekend. This message was so powerful—it will stop you in your tracks, and feels so essential for this exact moment. We believe it needs to be heard everywhere—in our homes, our communities, and across the country—so we’re sharing it with you now. This year we gathered at Utah Valley University for Restore, where just two weeks earlier Charlie Kirk was assassinated while addressing a large crowd. So soon after such horrific vio...

10-05
38:27

Peacemaking and Discipleship: A Live Conversation from Proclaim Peace with Jennifer Thomas and Chad Ford

This week, we’re sharing a special live episode of Proclaim Peace recorded in person at the Compass Gallery on Peacemaking and Discipleship with Jennifer Thomas and Chad Ford. We’re also excited to announce the first-ever Waymakers conference, REPAIR, is taking place October 23–25 in Provo, Utah. This is such an incredible opportunity to learn from world-class peacemakers leading intensive workshops to help us navigate the most challenging situations in our lives. If you feel frustrated or ho...

09-28
59:09

Loving Your Neighbor: Jared Halverson at Restore 2024

This week, we're bringing you a special episode recorded live from the Restore gathering in 2024, where we were joined by Jared Halverson. This one one of my very favorite topics to hear Jared talk about. His session was on what he calls “contraries” or paradoxes that are inherent in a life of faith. His message feels especially timely this week. He offers the powerful image of the cross as a symbol of wholeness in our discipleship. One axis, reaching vertically, represents our connecti...

09-21
35:30

Article 13 - A Church Where We Belong

Before we jump in, we wanted to acknowledge that so many in our community and across the world have been stunned and horrified by the murder of Charlie Kirk at UVU. It feels to us like a particularly difficult moment in this country, and we find ourselves grasping both for hope, and for the message to share in a moment like this. It’s in that spirit that we wanted to share this week’s episode — a conversation about belonging from the Faith Matters podcast Article 13. At their best, faith and ...

09-14
28:08

The Honest Truth About Our Messy Families: Joseph Grenny at Restore 2024

This week, we’re re-sharing what we thought was an “instant classic” from last year’s Restore Gathering; a deeply personal and thought-provoking message about family, faith, and the complexity of life from Joseph Grenny, author of Crucial Conversations and co-founder of The Other Side Academy. Drawing from his own experience with his own “messy” family, Joseph speaks openly about moments of despair, like the heartache of watching loved ones—including his own children—struggle with addiction, ...

09-07
44:40

Why We Love Conspiracy Theories: A Conversation with Sharon McMahon

You’ve probably heard the old joke—we caught it again recently on Ezra Klein’s show. A conspiracy theorist dies and goes to heaven. At the pearly gates, God tells him he can ask one question—anything at all. The conspiracy theorist says, “Who really killed JFK?” God replies, “Lee Harvey Oswald and he acted alone.” The conspiracy theorist pauses, nods, and says, “Wow. This goes higher than I thought.” The joke captures just how impenetrable conspiracy thinking can be. That’s part of what we’re...

08-31
01:03:15

Holiness to the Lord: A Conversation with Jonathan Stapley

We’re excited today to talk about the temple. It’s a topic we love—one that sits at the heart of our faith—but because of its sacred nature, it can sometimes be difficult to explore openly. Our guest today is historian Jonathan Stapley, who has spent the past two decades studying the temple and its role in Latter-day Saint life. His new book, Holiness to the Lord, is coming out this fall, and it incorporates a remarkable collection of never-before-seen archival records. The book explores th...

08-24
01:07:23

That We Might Have Joy: Desire, Divinity, and Intimate Love, a conversation with Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife

We’re so happy to welcome back Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife—someone whose voice and work have shaped our thinking in really lasting ways. Today we’re talking with Jennifer about her brand-new book, published by Faith Matters: That We Might Have Joy: Desire, Divinity, and Intimate Love. The book offers an honest look at how sexual intimacy can reveal the truth of a relationship—and how, for those willing to confront that truth, it can serve as the starting point for deep joy, spiritual ...

08-17
58:28

A Fresh Look at the Word of Wisdom—a conversation with Ali Essig and Bill Turnbull

Nearly 200 years ago, Joseph Smith gave us a holistic code of health called the Word of Wisdom. But over the next century, we largely reduced that revelation to a list of don’ts—one that came to define us as a church and serve as a kind of status marker within the Church. As we look ahead to the next hundred years, we’re asking: is it time to rethink how we see this revelation? Today, we face an overwhelming number of choices about what we put into our bodies—some deeply harmful, others...

08-10
01:07:22

Joy is Our Birthright—Astrid Tuminez at Restore

Today, we’re so excited to share a powerful session from last year’s Restore gathering, given by Astrid Tuminez, president of Utah Valley University. Astrid’s story is truly extraordinary. She was born in a small village in the Philippines and raised in the slums of Iloilo City. Her journey has taken her from Catholic convent schools to Harvard and Wall Street to leading a major public university—and throughout, she’s wrestled with what it means to belong and to find joy. Drawing from the B...

08-03
31:02

The Last Voyage—A conversation with Brian McLaren

Today we’re so happy to share a conversation with our friend Brian McLaren about his brand-new novel, The Last Voyage. The book is set in the future, as Earth nears collapse and a final crew is sent to Mars in a last-ditch effort to begin again. It’s a compelling story on its own, but it also opens up space for deeper questions—about what happens when we try to leave everything behind, only to discover we’ve brought all our baggage with us. So in this conversation, we got to explore som...

07-27
01:03:23

Leap of Faith: Mauli Bonner at Restore 2024

Today we’re sharing another fun session from last year’s Restore gathering—one of the most unforgettable moments from the whole weekend—featuring Mauli Bonner. Mauli has spent the past two decades in the entertainment industry, developing and writing for Grammy-winning artists and directing music for film and TV, and he also co-founded the nonprofit Lift Up Voices to empower young voices through creativity and community. In this session, Mauli shares a wild, personal story that starts with a ...

07-20
18:24

A Candid Portrait of Joseph Smith - A Conversation with John Turner

Today, we’re really grateful to share a conversation with historian John Turner about the brand new biography he’s just published: Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet. John is a professor of Religious Studies and History at George Mason University. While not a member of the the Latter-day Saint faith, he has had a particular fascination with the early history of Mormonism, and wrote an earlier biography of Brigham Young. Some of the interpretations and conclusions Joh...

07-13
01:05:40

Holy Envy - David Butler at Restore

Today, we’re excited to bring you a special episode—a replay of one of our favorite sessions from last year’s Restore Gathering, featuring Dave Butler. We’re also thrilled to let you know that Restore 2025 is happening this September 25–27 in Orem, Utah, and this episode is a great preview of the kind of experience you can expect—thoughtful, joyful, expansive, and rooted in a deep desire to love and understand more fully. In this session, Dave explores the idea of Holy Envy—a concept that inv...

07-07
33:19

Joshua Rollins

oh my gosh, this is so good! Loved it!

08-07 Reply

Amelia Brady

As far as addressing the fear of not being together in the next life... I really do feel it is a matter of Faith. Yes, God is bound by laws, but I've come to believe that we don't really know how everything will be in the next life. Good will keep His promises. things will be wonderful. We will feel comfortable and happy in whatever degree of glory where we land. It will be what is right for us and our loved ones for them. God is loving, just, and merciful. It will be good. It's not a race.

07-30 Reply

Melinda Campbell

I could listen to Josh's voice all day.

06-01 Reply

mail@eversoles.org

Love you Kate, an inspiration to us all

09-02 Reply

Gabrielle Woolwine

The audio on this episode is TERRIBLE, unless Terryl Givens has taken up beatboxing as a hobby. Save your ears and maybe watch this episode on YouTube instead... Also, don't expect to hear much from the author highlighted... it's a one man show and the invited author is not allowed the space to speak much. :/

11-02 Reply

09-22

09-22

06-16

11-25

Recommend Channels