Analyzing Mormonism

This episode is a reading of an article from Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Volume 15, No. 4 that was published in 1982. The article is called Grain Storage: The Balance of Power Between Priesthood Authority and Relief Society Autonomy by Jessie L. Embry.  This article goes over the power struggle between the Relief Society and the Presiding Bishopric and other priesthood leaders during th...

In the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints women have used the priesthood. Women gave blessings of healing, dedicated homes, officiated to men in the temple, and one even raised a man from the dead (temporarily). These stories are not told in the manuals of the Church. You will not find them in Sunday School or Gospel Doctrine. It seems that the Church today is trying to dis...

Another great episode with Jenn Kamp on her podcast Our Truth Be Told! If you want to see our slides, our sources, etc., please go over to her YouTube channel and watch it there! I learned so much when preparing for this podcast! I had been a part of the Relief Society since I was seventeen and didn’t know most of these things! One prophet promised the Relief Society a building and commended the w...

Another great episode with Jenn Kamp on her podcast Our Truth Be Told! Please go on over to YouTube and view this episode with our many sources, quotes, and just super great slides!  Join with us as we discuss the role the LDS leadership and church played in the Equal Rights Amendment. What messages were given to women within the LDS church? What oppression did they foster? How are the lives of th...

Jenn Kamp, who is the host of the new podcast Our Truth Be Told, has given me permission to share with you the episode we did together on The Family Proclamation.  If you go and visit her channel , you'll get to see our beautiful slides and sources! So if you can and are willing, please hop on over to her YouTube channel! I am so thrilled to be able to get together with Jenn once a month to discus...

Join America and me as we give our response to Hugh Nibley's pamphlet "No Ma'am That's Not History." We break down five of his specific criticisms of Fawn Brodie along with a few others. First we discuss the origin of the Book of Mormon. Second, Joseph Smith's character. Third, the First Vision. Fourth, Joseph's communion with angels and Five, the Book of Abraham. We also discuss polygamy, the evo...

In response to Fawn Brodie's book No Man Knows My History BYU Professor and Mormon apologist, Hugh Nibley wrote a booklet called No Ma'am That's Not History. Published in 1946, the sixty-two page booklet is now out-of-print and mostly ignored even among active Mormon circles. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did.  The booklet is available online, if you wanted to read along or use it...

A few months back I got together with Scott who is the host for the podcast Rameumptom Ruminations and together he and I did a four part series of a Book Club discussing the book "No Man Knows My History" by Fawn Brodie. He has given me permission to share each of those parts here on my podcast.  This is the fourth and final part of the book club where we go over chapters twenty-two through twenty...

A few months back I got together with Scott who is the host for the podcast Rameumptom Ruminations and together he and I did a four part series of a Book Club discussing the book "No Man Knows My History" by Fawn Brodie. He has given me permission to share each of those parts here on my podcast.  This is Part 3 of that series, where we go over chapters fifteen through twenty-one.

A few months back I got together with Scott who is the host for the podcast Rameumptom Ruminations and together he and I did a four part series of a Book Club discussing the book "No Man Knows My History" by Fawn Brodie. He has given me permission to share each of those parts here on my podcast. This is Part 2 of that series where we go over chapters eight through fourteen. After I share all of th...

A few months back I got together with Scott who is the host for the podcast Rameumptom Ruminations and together he and I did a four part series of a Book Club discussing the book "No Man Knows My History" by Fawn Brodie. He has given me permission to share each of those parts here on my podcast.  So this is Part 1 of that series. After I share all of these, I am going to share Hugh Nibley's respon...

I recently reached out to the Mormonism Research Ministry and asked permission to read their booklet on my podcast. And they consented! The booklet is called "The Palmyra Revival & Mormon Origins" by Rev. Wesley Walters. His research goes over the accuracy of the revivals occurring in and around Palmyra, New York during the 1820s. His findings are revolutionary to understanding Mormon History.  Wh...

Dozens of individuals around the world claimed to have had heavenly visions, much like Joseph Smith. This episodes highlights eighteen of those individuals who gave their accounts before 1832 (with one in 1838 from a member of the Church).  These individuals are as follows:  Catharine Hummer in 1786, the Richards Brothers in 1794, David Brainerd in 1812, Benjamin Abbott in 1813, Lorenzo Dow in 181...

The author of the book Letter for My Wife has given me permission to share his book on my podcast. Comparable to The CES Letter, Letter for My Wife seeks to share the discrepancies between actual Church History and the canonized stories we heard growing up within the Church.  To learn more about this book, please visit https://www.letterformywife.com/  

Join America and me as we read over ten of the secondhand accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision. The first five accounts that we go over are directly from the Joseph Smith Papers website. The next five come directly from the Journal of Discourses.  Brigham Young, 1855 (Journal of Discourses vol. 2, p. 171) Heber C. Kimball, 1857 (Journal of Discourse vol. 6, p. 29) George A. Smith, 1868 (Journal...

Join us as America reads the essay published on the Church's website under the topic: "Mother in Heaven."

During his lifetime, Joseph Smith and others published four first-hand, First Vision Accounts -in 1832, 1835, 1838 and 1842. Join with us as we read over and compare each account.

In honor of Pride Month, I wrote out a ten page essay that I shared on my personal facebook page. The essay seeks for greater inclusion for the LGBTQ members and poses a number of questions as to why the Family Proclamation is set up the way that it is. This is me reading that essay. It is my hope that everyone can come with empathy and leave an ally.  EDIT: I made a mistake by saying "large major...

America, Jessica and I give commentary to the Church's Gospel Topics Essay titled: "Are Mormons Christian?"

Joseph Smith organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830. In 1832 Joseph Smith claimed that he saw Jesus Christ in a vision twelve years earlier. What evidence is there that Joseph Smith did, in reality, have this heavenly vision? Were there others that validated this claim? Join us as we analyze historical documents (including letters, newspaper articles, and the religious a...

Join us as America reads the essay published on the Church's website under the topic: "Are Mormons Christian?"

This is part two of Jessica, America and myself giving commentary on the Gospel Topics Essay titled "First Vision Accounts."

America, Jessica and I give commentary on the Church's essay on the First Vision Accounts. This is part 1 of 2.

On March 20, 1826 Joseph Smith Jr. was put on trial for being a “glass looker”. Join America and me as we read some of the trial accounts for Joseph Smith Jr. The first document comes from the article “Mormonism” published in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge in 1883. (Which is nearly identical to the court notes published in Frazer’s Magazine in 1873). Another document com...

This is me reading the essay published on the Church's website under the topic: "Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham."