Glass Box Podcast

As March is Women's History Month in the USA, we knew it was time to talk about some amazing and strong women who have had a powerful effect on all of our lives. First we look at a fascinating figure integral to a transitory period of church history, Emmeline B. Wells, who pioneered women's suffrage in Utah. Then, in MOGP we talk about the documentary RBG.  Following that, we round out the episode...

One of the most influential leaders of the modern Mormon church, Bruce R. McConkie, made a name for himself with his seminal 1958 work Mormon Doctrine , an encyclopedia of Mormon doctrine and theology. It immediately made waves in the community and the rest of the leadership decided to censor McConkie and the book was pulled from the shelves. With significant edits to address leadership complaints...

Much is said and thought of John C. Bennett from Nauvoo Mormon history, but what do the documents actually say? Today we go through a brief deep dive into this fascinating figure. He became a close friend and then personal greatest enemy of Joseph Smith throughout a complicated sequence of events. Bennett is most renowned for his 1842 expose, The History of the Saints , which he wrote after his ab...

YES! WE'RE FINALLY DONE!! The Miracle of Forgiveness has been a grind and we're finally putting this monster of a book to rest. However, we can't do it alone so we are joined by the incredible expertise of Natasha Helfer. She's been working in sex and relationship therapy within the Mormon space for two and a half decades and she helps us contrast Spencer W. Kimball's statements about sex and gend...

The Black 14 was a group of athletes at University of Wyoming in Laramie who stood up to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and BYU. They suffered the wrath of withering public ire, but their story is immortalized as emblematic of the struggle for racial justice and equality in the 1960s and 70s. Join us as we learn their story and discuss Brigham Young University's fight to keep disc...

Yes, a show about New Year's Resolutions for 2022! We discuss what resolutions the Mormon church should consider for the new year and some of the hold ups of accomplishing them. We have some resolutions of our own though! Then we get to the penultimate segment of Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball. There's light at the end of the tunnel and it feels good. Then we round out the show talki...

It's the last episode of the year and since we had a blast doing an all media episode last year, we decided to make it a tradition! We each brought something to the table in each category — books, movies, and music — and we had a great time discussing them.  We hope you enjoy them too. Have a fun holiday season!    Books:  Shannon's book: Eva , by Peter Dickinson Bryce's book: Understanding Histor...

We take on the next recommendation from the 2019 NPR broadcast Hidden Brain episode. Shannon tells us how our beliefs can be informed by people we trust and how resilient they prove. Then we get into the next segment of Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball telling us about the benefits of forgiving folks who wrong us. Then we wrap with happy news about green power from India!   July 22, 20...

Our main segment features a piece done by NPR on their Hidden Brain podcast a few years ago. We discuss the type of mindset people need in order to be influenced for various purposes. Hope and fear feature in informing the mindset of a receptive brain when facts simply aren't enough. After that we get into the next segment of The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball. We read a couple of th...

Let's chat about some funny Mormon stories! We start from the earliest days of the church. We hear about missionaries raising the dead, Joseph Smith training a dove to eat grain out of his ear, and then going for a swim while covered in phosphorus oil. After that we talk about funny stories told about Mormons by the genius minds of Matt Stone and Trey Parker in the Mormon South Park episode and Th...

Welcome to today's show. This episode contains another installment in the dangerous shitshow that is the Miracle of Forgiveness. Because the chapter we discuss is about bishop's interviews, for our main segment, we interviewed Sam Young to talk about his Protect LDS Children movement — now named Protect Every Child. We also go over some of the answers you, our wonderful listeners, gave us on our s...

It's that time again. Every six months we see what slipped through the cracks of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We watched it so you don't have to, and yes, the timestamp is accurate. It's a long listen, but hearing us dissect #GenCON is way better than actually watching the 10 hours for yourself, right? There's also a point in the episode with a content war...

We have a fun episode for you this week! We begin with a vicious anti-Mormon story about Henry Caswell (Caswall) and the Greek Psalter incident in Joseph Smith's Nauvoo church. Hugh Nibley considered this one of the longest-running anti-Mormon stories and spent a good deal of print trying to debunk it (unsuccessfully I might add). Then we talk a Nic Cage movie from 2000, Gone in 60 Seconds because...

Bishop's Interviews Survey: https://forms.gle/LrhBWKkyX8DeGanh8 The recent updates to the recently openly-published church handbook contain some fascinating details, some of which have stirred controversy and caused Mormons to leave the church! Shannon walks us through a few of the prominent changes and helps put them in context by comparing the 2020 Handbook to the 2006 Bishop's Handbook. Then it...

Apostle, and glorified school teacher, Jeffrey R. Holland gave a speech at BYU recently titled The Second Half of the Second Century of BYU. It's made waves within the community for its viciously anti-human and bigoted bend, but there are many deeper messages and a truly disturbing historical context for the speech. Let not the fire of muskets keep us from seeing the true evil within. After that w...

Shannon brings us some interesting information derived from a recent study about feeling the spirit™. The study was conducted on a small population of believing Mormons which produced some interesting results. After that we jump into Miracle of Forgiveness discussing sins of omission and suicide. We wrap up talking about some new tech that harnesses water from the air! Show notes:    Main topic: ...

We decided it was time for us to prove we are actual human beings! Shannon and Bryce were able to attend the Sunstone Symposium in Sandy, Utah, along with our friend Julianne Briscoe, and we had an amazing time. We met extremely interesting people — both new friends and old friends — and learned new things that gave us some exciting ideas for us to explore on the podcast. We hope you enjoy our spe...

You read that right! Captain Moroni, known as Caesar No-Salad to non-Mormons, who participated in the treasonous Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol building was arrested! We gloat over Nathan Wayne Entrekin's arrest a bit, discuss the videos he recorded and sent to his mom that day, and take a high-level overview of how the DOJ and FBI are progressing with the unprecedented case. Then we discuss a...

Last December, the church made some changes to the bishop's handbook that bear a closer look, poor beleaguered Bryce gets to take on the 3rd segment of MOF, and then we'll relieve EVERYONE's thoughts with some lovely news from Canada. And please, be prepared. Not only is this an incredibly long episode but we also need to give you a content warning. We will be discussing one of the worst chapters...

This week's show is a brief deep-dive into a lesser-known figure of American history and her connections to Mormon polygamy and the larger national women's suffrage movement. We romp through 70 years of history through a few different vantage points and wrap it all together by discussing polygamy as one of the next social justice issues. After that, we review Love, Simon, a coming-of-age story of...

There was a recent announcement by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that they are no longer performing time-only marriages in the temple. What? What even does that mean? Our main segment teases apart the marriage and sealing practices conducted in the temple and places this headline within a broader context while we opine on what it the larger plan at play might be. Then we dive int...

Today is a bit of a classic deep dive into early Mormon history, sort of. We crack open the pages of Rick Grunder's Mormon Parallels (linked below; please pick up a copy) and investigate what was in the air of 18th and early 19th century America. Turns out, Joseph Smith was not an island and the Book of Mormon is very much a product of its time. Let's see how Shannon does with my clever little gam...

For our main segment today, we do a brief deep-dive into the history of Asian-American immigration and public sentiment. Of course, we also analyze the Mormon angle with help from listener Adam Watanabe who is kind enough to share his lived experience. After that we dive into our next long-form analysis of Mormon-related texts with Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball. Then we round out th...

Who wants something FUN today? We have had a few dark and depressing episodes lately that we decided we all needed a break. You need to see fun things to remind you the world really ISN'T on fire … yet. First we start with news out of Canada where BYUtv agreed to allow LGBTQ+ characters on their shows, then we discuss the movie Clue in Media of Great Price, and we end with a little happy news abou...

It's that time of year again for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We managed to watch all of the April 2021 General Conference and have our analysis for you here. We'll go over the more damaging points made by Oaks, Bednar, etc, as well some of the more odd moments. And if you're a Patreon patron, you get to hear about the strange behavior of Eyring in his talk in the Saturday nigh...