In this episode, host Katherine Pollock sits down with Stephen O. Smoot and Brian C. Passantino, editors of Joseph Smith's Uncanonized Revelations, published by BYU Religious Studies Center.About the book:https://rsc.byu.edu/book/joseph-smiths-uncanonized-revelationsPatreon:https://www.patreon.com/c/JohnWhitmerHistoricalAssociation/posts
In this episode, we bring you a recording of a recent author meets critics session from the 2025 JWHA annual meeting in Independence, Missouri. In this session, John G. Turner, author of Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet, is joined by David J. Howlett and Stephen C. Harper to discuss the book. The session was moderated by Matthew L. Harris.
In this episode, host Katherine Pollock talks with Rebecca Williamson of the Nauvoo Historical Society.https://nauvoohistoricalsociety.com/
In this episode, host Jason R. Smith talks with Matthew Bowman, author of Joseph Fielding Smith: A Mormon Theologian - published by University of Illinois Press. The book focuses on the thought and writings of long-serving LDS Apostle, Church Historian, and Church President, Joseph Fielding Smith.About the Book:https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p088056
In this episode, we bring you an interview with Taylor Petrey, author of the recent book, Queering Kinship in the Mormon Cosmos - published by University of North Carolina Press. As he discusses, Petrey’s book explores some new and exciting ways to rethink and reimagine kinship bonds within the theological frame of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.More about the book:https://uncpress.org/book/9781469682709/queering-kinship-in-the-mormon-cosmos/
In this episode, host Jason R. Smith interviews Shinji Takagi, Meagan Rainock, and Conan Grames - authors of the recent book, Unique But Not Different: Latter-day Saints in Japan - published by Greg Kofford Books. We discuss the survey they conducted of Latter Day Saints in Japan and learn more about their findings. You might be surprised by what they have to say. If you’d like to join JWHA or visit our entire backlog of episodes and journals, go to www.JWHA.info. Check out the book at Greg Kofford Books!
In this episode, we bring you a followup to our last episode with an authors meet critics panel session from the 2024 JWHA annual meeting in St. George, Utah. In this session, Cheryl Bruno and John Dinger, authors of Come Up Hither to Zion: William Marks and the Mormon Concept of Gathering, are joined by Chris Blythe, Kyle Beshears, and Rachel Killebrew to discuss the book. If you’d like to join JWHA or visit our entire backlog of episodes and journals, go to www.JWHA.info. With that out of the way, let’s get started!
In this episode, we bring you an interview with Cheryl Bruno and John Dinger about their recent book, Come Up Hither to Zion: William Marks and the Mormon Concept of Gathering, published by Greg Kofford Books. If you’d like to join JWHA or visit our entire backlog of episodes and journals, go to www.JWHA.info.
In this episode, we bring you an interview with Dr. Kyle Walker about his new book, Sister to the Prophet: The Life of Katharine Smith Salisbury, published by the BYU Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book. In this new book, he tells the story of Joseph Smith’s younger sister.
In this episode, host Jason R. Smith interviews Dr. Matthew L. Harris about his new book, Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality, published by Oxford University Press. In this groundbreaking work, Harris tells the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 126 year priesthood and temple ban against those of African ancestry which ended in June 1978. Harris is a professor of history at Colorado State University-Pueblo. His particular focus is in religion and the law, church and state, American Religions, civil rights, legal history, and Mormon Studies. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Watchman on the Tower: Ezra Taft Benson and the Making of the Mormon Right. https://www.amazon.com/Second-Class-Saints-Mormons-Struggle-Equality/dp/019769571X/
Special crossover episode with Latter Day Digest in which host Gene Judson interviews Paul DeBarthe and Michael S. Riggs, co-authors of the recent book, Hawn’s Mills Hamlet: A Phase III Archaeological Investigation. Click here to buy the book: https://a.co/d/7d1GYyw Click here to visit Latter Day Digest: https://www.youtube.com/@Latter-dailyDigest
In this episode, host Jason R. Smith interviews Adam Stokes, an elder and apostle in the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, Assured Way of the Lord. We discuss the history of his church and Adam tells us about his church·s unique take on scripture and theology.
Host Jason R. Smith interviews Dr. David Howlett about the history and importance of the Kirtland Temple. David also shares some of his research on religious pilgrimage. David is a visiting assistant professor of religion at Smith College and is currently the President of the Mormon History Association. He is the author of Kirtland Temple: the Biography of a Shared Mormon Sacred Space. https://davidjhowlett.net
Katherine Hill interviews historians Nancy Ross and David Howlett about women's ordination movements in Community of Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Community of Christ women participated in feminist groups and networks before the passing of CofC D&C 156 in 1984. For Latter-day Saint feminists, the topic of women's ordination has become less taboo in recent years as the organization Ordain Women did public actions in the mid-2010s. While still not ordaining women, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been changing its language in talking about priesthood and made changes in women participating in the life of the church. Nancy and David talk about how these two ordination movements compare to each other and how they do or do not interact with larger social trends.
Jason R. Smith interviews author Ronald V. Huggins and biography star Sandra Tanner about Lighthouse: Jerald & Sandra Tanner, Despised and Loved Critics of Mormonism (2022, Signature Books). Jason asks Ron about the genesis of the book, challenges and opportunities of writing about the Tanners, interesting details left out of the book after editing, and what makes the Tanners different from other critics of Mormonism. Sandra gives her perspective about opening her life for a biography, her faith journey, early connections with Pauline Hancock and her church based on the Bible and Book of Mormon, and what makes Utah Lighthouse Ministry special. Mormon history over the past 60 years cannot be understood without the contributions of Jerald and Sandra Tanner and their quest for truth.
Casey Paul Griffiths, Conference Chair, and Scott Esplin, Board Member, preview the 50th Anniversary Conference happening September 15-18, 2022. The hosts discuss: the two keynote speakers for the conference, the interfaith panel for the forthcoming book Restoration(s): Scholars in Dialogue from Community of Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the special events celebrating 50 years of JWHA, conference sessions, the Life of John Whitmer bus tour, and the Sunday morning hymnfest. Conference registration closes September 7, 2022. You can learn more about the 2022 JWHA Conference here.
Katherine Pollock interviews Casey Paul Griffiths regarding his new book Truth Seeker: The Life of Joseph F. Merrill, Scientist, Educator, Apostle. Joseph F. Merrill (1868 - 1952) lived during the transitional period of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints into the American mainstream. Griffiths discusses Merrill’s early life in a polygamous family, his contributions to the University of Utah as an administrator, his time as Church Commissioner of Education helping to grow the seminary and institute programs, and his time as an Apostle. You can find Casey Paul Griffith’s newest book here: https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Seeker-Merrill-Scientist-Educator/dp/1950304124
In this episode, host Jason R. Smith talks with W. Paul Reeve and Christopher B. Rich, two of the authors of This Abominable Slavery: Race, Religion, and the Battle over Human Bondage in Antebellum Utah, published by Oxford University Press. This important book details the legal and theological debates of mid-19th century Utah over race and labor.About the Book:https://academic.oup.com/book/58151This Abominable Slavery - Online Document Databasehttps://exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/this-abominable-slavery/page/welcome
In this episode, Jason R. Smith interviews Steven C. Taysom, author of the recent book, Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith, published by University of Utah Press. We discuss the book and the extraordinary life of the sixth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Katherine Pollock interviews BYU scholar Joseph Spencer on several of his publications, including a chapter comparing Community of Christ and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints editions of the Book of Mormon and his newest book A Word in Season: Isaiah’s Reception in the Book of Mormon (University of Illinois Press).