Sunstone Podcast

William A. Wilson and John B. Harris spent years gathering missionary folklore—everything from greenie initiation stories to encounters with the Devil. Whether the stories are true or not, Wilson shows in this episode what they reveal about the inner lives of missionaries. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/SLP-186.mp3

People need organizations to help us fulfill our potential. However, organizations are never entirely safe. In this episode, J. Bonner Ritchie explores how the LDS Church functions and how members can transcend its inherent organizational dangers. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/SLP-185.mp3

Stephen Carter takes you on a tour of various afterlife theologies—from Ancient Greek to LDS to New Age—to see if he can believe in one. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/SLP-184.mp3

What should we make of the astonishing lack of females in the Book of Mormon? Carol Lynn Pearson says that it points to a lesson the Nephites never learned—one that likely contributed to their destruction. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SLP-183.mp3

In 1972, Marylee Mitcham started a quasi-monastic Catholic community, where she lived for ten years. Later, when she joined the LDS Church, she learned that one of her ancestors had started a branch of the United Order in early Utah. Mitcham narrates her fascinating religious history in this episode. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SLP-182.mp3

LDS scholar Hugh Nibley became a legend in his own time. But how many of the legends were real and how many were fantasies? In this episode, Boyd Petersen digs into the facts behind the stories. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SLP-181.mp3

Religious conversion and trauma have very similar structures, but with one important difference. In this episode, Stephen Carter draws on Adam Phillips, Julie Hanks, and Prentis Hemphill to explore what happens when people enter a religion, and what happens when they leave. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/SLP-180.mp3  

Is the story of Korihor the story of a missed opportunity? In the Book of Mormon, an anti-Christ named Korhior is struck dumb by Alma using the power of God. Could there have been a neurological contributor to Korihor’s sudden loss of speech? But even more importantly, could Korihor have been rehabilitated, physically and spiritually, if he had received the same treatment Alma had received w...

A Mormon can’t get a temple recommend if they drink coffee or black tea, but they can get one if they consume energy drinks that have five times as much caffeine as either. Launching from Michael Pollan’s book “Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World,” Stephen Carter explores the strange limbo caffeine has occupied in in the LDS Church—from general condemnation to apostolic approval. https...

“When virtues run wild, catastrophe reigns.” In this episode, John Durham Peters reveals the dangers of Mormon perfectionism and suggests a new approach. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SLP-176.mp3

Esther Peterson was one of the most beloved and effective activists of the 20th century, working with John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter to improve women’s rights in the United States. And she grew up Mormon in Provo, Utah. In this episode, Esther talks about how her Mormon upbringing affected her activism—both for good and ill. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/...

If the Christian God and the Mormon God got into a fight, who would win? In this episode, S. Richard Bellrock shows just just how unfair the fight would be. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SLP-174.mp3

History is a dangerous profession in the LDS Church, sometimes leading to excommunication. Stephen Carter explores why history is such a charged topic—and what Ethiopian leopards have to do with it. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SLP-173.mp3

One fine July Sunday in Relief Society, Deja Earley was asked to share a story about her Mormon ancestors. Her story did not go down well. In this episode, Deja tries to come to terms with her polygamous forebears. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SLP-172.mp3

Testimony meeting would be a terrible place for Stephen Carter to talk about the movie that finally made him feel a connection to the atonement. Hint: It has connections to Lord of the Rings, Avatar, and Run Lola Run. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SLP-171.mp3

The Atonement is all about suffering. Or is it? In this episode, Stephen Carter stumbles across a new atonement theory that would stop any Sunday school lesson in its tracks. Yet, it fits perfectly into the Plan of Salvation. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SLP-170.mp3

In Part II of Gregory Prince’s article, he explores what he thinks the LDS Church has done right and what kinds of changes both it and its members will need to go through to meet current and future challenges. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SLP-169.mp3

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SLP-168.mp3 Gregory A. Prince has been watching the LDS Church for 75 years. And it has changed. A lot. Some changes have been constructive; some have been devastating. What does Prince see as the best way forward from where we are now? What will this path demand of the Church organization and its members?  

Carol Lynn Pearson is known for her long-standing advocacy for the LGBT community in the LDS Church. This episode presents her thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of the Church, and why she continues to engage with it. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SLP-167.mp3

Using Eric Hoffer’s book “The True Believer,” Stephen Carter explores how Mormonism became a mass movement and the surprising way its cycle is playing out today.   https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SLP-166.mp3

The New Testament is full of healing stories. But in real life, not so much. Dana Haight Cattani talks about her struggle with cancer. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SLP-165.mp3

After a tour of the Orem Temple’s art with Stephen Carter, Michael Stubbs talks about how difficult it is for him to find God in nature—even when hiking with a bunch of rowdy Young Men! https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SLP-164.mp3

Treasure digging did not stop with Joseph Smith. In this episode, Kevin Cantera tells us about John Koyle, a Mormon visionary who started a mine that he said would lead to caverns filled with Nephite gold. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/SLP-163.mp3

This episode honors the life, thought, and spirit of Lavina Fielding Anderson with one of her best Sunstone articles: “In the Garden God Hath Planted: Explorations Toward a Maturing Faith.” https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/SLP-162.mp3

Are you a Barbie, a Ken, or a Gloria? Stephen Carter, who watched the Barbie movie five times in the theaters, argues that these three characters typify some of the most common faith crises in the LDS Church. And that they show us how to look at these crises in a completely new light. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SLP-161.mp3