My friends Laura and Brian Hales join me for an informed, candid interview about the practice of early Mormon polygamy. A catalyst for our discussion is their recently published Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding—a distillation of Brian’s three-volume magnum opus Joseph Smith’s Polygamy (Brian has generously uploaded most of his…

A prolific interpreter of Mormonism, Dan Vogel is an engaging guest and a decades’ long friend. In this interview we discuss his most recent publication, an annotated edition of Eber Dudley Howe’s 1834 Mormonism Unvailed: Or, a Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion from Its Rise to the Present Time—the first book-length assault …

Authoring the Old Testament: Genesis–Deuteronomy is the first in a three-volume series by David Bokovoy on the composition of the Tanakh, which he suggests can inform and clarify our understanding of Joseph Smith’s translations. A gracious podcast guest, David shares why he values scriptural criticism over traditional apologetics and sacred narrati…

In her newly published revision of Search, Ponder, and Pray: A Guide to the Gospels, Julie M. Smith invites readers to engage the gospels devotionally by asking questions critically. In our podcast, Julie elaborates on the benefits she sees in this approach. We also discuss the pitfalls of ignoring the assessments and conclusions of Bible scholars.…

Jan Shipps is the perfect inaugural interview for the Mormon Studies podcast. She has become the matron saint of Mormon studies (that’s a promotion from her previous role as the den mother of Mormon studies). She is professor emeritus of history at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis and a former president of the John Whitmer Historic…