Sunstone Podcast

For more than 45 years, Sunstone has been exploring Mormonism in all its expressions through our publications and symposiums. The Sunstone Podcast gathers the best of these explorations, including compelling sessions from our worldwide symposiums as well as interviews, book reviews, and deep dives into all things Mormon. Hosted by Stephen Carter.

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Episodes 211

E215: Young Washington vs. Odysseus: A Tale of Two Myths
6d ago · 34:35
Young Washington and Odysseus walk into a fast and testimony meeting. Only one will emerge triumphant! Both are violent. Both play fast and loose with their source material. And both are myths. In this episode, Stephen Carter compares the two movies for what they might offer to a Mormon audience. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SLP-215.mp3
E214: The Genesis of a TikTok Bible Scholar
1mo ago · 45:49
Dan McClellan has done the seemingly impossible. He has made Bible scholarship not only accessible, but cool on his TikTok channel. In this episode, he talks about how he became the internet sensation he is today. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SLP-214.mp3
E212: Where Have All the Roadshows Gone?
2mo ago · 39:24
Roadshows, Boy Scouts, MIA, basketball leagues, potlucks—the LDS Church was once buzzing with community activities. But most of that has disappeared. How did it happen? In this episode, Mithryn (a.k.a. Kenneth Lines) presents a fast-paced history of the rise and fall of community activities in the Church. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SLP-212.mp3
E211: The Apostle Who Tried to Retire.
2mo ago · 36:46
What if apostles were given emeritus status at 70 years of age? This was the question apostle Hugh B. Brown proposed to the Quorum of the Twelve as President David O. McKay descended into senility. Would the Quorum go for it? After all, Hugh would be the first to go! In this episode, Matt Harris talks about how a power vacuum caused chaos in the First Presidency. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SLP-211.mp3
E120: What’s in the Sacred Sauce?
3mo ago · 32:36
What do Latter-day Saints mean when they say temples are sacred? Intrepid reporter Stephen Carter braves three tours of the Lindon Temple to find out. (Hint: It’s definitely not the symbolism.) https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/SLP-210.mp3
E209: From Villains to Heroes: Mormons in Italy’s “Tex” Comics
6mo ago
Polygamists, Danites, and guns! The Italian cowboy hero Tex has met with them all over the course of more than 75 years of comic book stories. But the portrayal of Mormons in the series has changed significantly, as presented by Michael Homer in this episode. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/SLP-209.mp3
E208: Religion Is Dangerous. You Should Try It!
6mo ago
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat thinks that believing in the divine and joining a religion is not only a rational thing to do, it’s the best way to interact with reality. But what happens when you come out the other side of belief? Stephen Carter analyzes Douthat’s book “Believe: Why Everyone Should be Religious,” in this episode of the Sunstone Podcast. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/SLP-208.mp3
E207: Joseph Smith: Not Boring.
8mo ago
As a non-Mormon scholar, John G. Turner spent years researching Joseph Smith’s life as he wrote a biography of Smith. He found out that nothing about Joseph Smith’s life was boring; for better or for worse. In this episode, Turner compares the young Joseph Smith as he produced the golden plates with the older Joseph Smith as he practiced polygamy. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/SLP-207.mp3
E206: How Sunstone Cartoons Saved the LDS Church from Itself.
10mo ago
Is it blasphemous to publish a cartoon about Angel Moroni? How about Jesus? How about God? Sunstone has been exploring the limits of what LDS culture is willing to laugh at for decades. Using many hilarious (and possibly blasphemous) examples, Stephen Carter talks about the times when Sunstone ran afoul of sacred sensibilities, and also how its cartoonists subtly changed the Church—right up to the Church Office Building. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/SLP-206.mp3
E205: Perfectionism: Mormon Style.
11mo ago
Is your life a sermon? Do you imagine your every action being narrated by a general authority? In this episode, Stephen Carter dives into perfectionism, showing how it manifests in people’s lives, and proposing a few odd ways to escape it. (Hint: Not through fasting and prayer.) https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SLP-205.mp3
E204: The Saddest Book in the World: How Filmmaker David Lynch Revised My View of the Book of Mormon
1y ago
Jesus, Mormon, and David Lynch walk into Stephen Carter’s head. Together, they manage to revise everything Stephen thought he knew about the Book of Mormon, the Atonement, and Eraserhead. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/SLP-204.mp3
E203: The Dance of Love: A Lynne Kanavel Whitesides Memorial.
1y ago
In September 1993, six scholars—called the September Six—were disciplined by the LDS Church. Lynne Kanavel Whitesides was the first. For the next ten years, she went on an extraordinary spiritual journey. Sadly, she passed away July 7, 2025. In her memory, this episode features a recording of the speech she gave about her spiritual journey at the 2003 Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium.
E202: Three Steps Toward Weathering a Faith Crisis in Your Marriage.
1y ago
A faith crisis is one of the most destabilizing things that can happen to an LDS marriage. Both partners feel betrayed. Feelings either erupt or are suppressed. In this episode, therapists Adam Fisher and Mary Fisher talk about the three most important things a couple can do to help each other. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/SLP-202.mp3
E200: J. Golden Kimball: The Man Behind the Myth.
1y ago
He was the Church’s most unlikely general authority. A coffee habit, an oft-shot-off mouth, and–according to this great-grandnephew–a deep spirituality. This episode includes some of J. Golden Kimball’s funniest stories and reflections by James N. Kimball on the man behind the myth. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/SLP-200.mp3
E199: How I Made It Through Life Without Missing a Single Guilt Trip.
1y ago
Being a single, 25-year-old Mormon female is a tough life. But Dorothy Black makes it into a stand-up comedy routine in this episode of the Sunstone Podcast. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SLP-199.mp3
E198: Relief Society Baby.
1y ago
For Heather Sundahl, Relief Society was the “monster child that sucked up my mom.” What was it like to be the daughter of the most powerful woman in the stake—who couldn’t find time to read to her? https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/SLP-198.mp3
E197: The Indomitable Raftsman of Mormonism.
1y ago
In 1954, California LDS bishop Devere Baker set out to prove that Lehi could have sailed from the Persian Gulf to Guatemala—by sailing his own raft, which he called the Lehi. Samuel Taylor tells about Baker’s 25-year endeavor—and how he went through six Lehis in the process. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/SLP-197.mp3
E196: You Can Go Home Again. But Do You Want To?
1y ago
How much can we heal from the wounds our religious community gave us? Stephen Carter explores the “hero cycle” story structure to find out. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SLP-196.mp3
E195: An Insider’s Look at the Baseball Baptisms in Britain.
1y ago
The Baseball Baptism era is a controversial one in LDS history. Richard Mavin gives a first-hand account of how it all happened in Britain and how his mission experience both thrilled and haunted him for the rest of his life. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SLP-195.mp3
E194: The Baseball Baptism Era.
1y ago
Probably the most controversial period of Mormon missionary history was from about 1960–1962 when more than 100,000 boys were baptized into the LDS Church worldwide—sometimes without realizing it. They were on a baseball field one moment and being baptized the next. In this episode, D. Michael Quinn tells the story of the Baseball Baptism era and the fallout that occurred from it—including the excommunication of about 90 percent of those boys. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SLP-194.mp3
E193: Should We Toss Testimony Meeting?
1y ago
LDS testimony meetings are usually tedious affairs. Yet we have them every month. Why? Anthropologist David Knowlton compares testimony meeting with similar rituals worldwide to see if it’s doing its job—or if we should toss it. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SLP-193.mp3
E192: Annalee Skarin: Excommunicated then Translated—Yes, Like Enoch.
1y ago
In 1948, Annalee Skarin had just published a book she said was written by the power of God. She was very soon excommunicated from the LDS Church. But then a few days later, eyewitnesses said she was translated. She wrote eight more books after that, becoming nationally famous. In this episode, Samuel W. Taylor and Skarin’s daughter Hope A. Hilton give two very different perspectives on Skarin’s life and legacy. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SLP-192.mp3
E191: How to Spot an Unorthodox BYU Professor.
1y ago
Clark Gilbert is tightening the orthodoxy clamps at BYU, just like Ernest Wilkinson did in the 1950s and 60s. Is this the best way to make BYU students into lifelong Latter-day Saints? Stephen Carter compares Wilkinson’s BYU with Gilbert’s and then talks about his own experience with two BYU professors who kept him engaged with the Church—because of their unique mix of faithfulness and unorthodoxy. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SLP-191.mp3
E190: Camping at the Edge of Excommunication.
1y ago
Sterling M. McMurrin had only been a seminary teacher for two years before the president of the Church, Heber J. Grant, wanted to fire him. And he camped at the edge of excommunication for the rest of his life. McMurrin recalls these turbulent, and comic, years in this episode. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SLP-190.mp3
E189: Three Kinds of Believers.
1y ago
Much is made in the LDS Church about how David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, never recanted his testimony, even though he left the Church. What they don’t tell you is that it was precisely his testimony of the Book of Mormon that drove him out. In this episode, Karl C. Sandberg tells the rest of Whitmer’s story, showing how Whitmer, B. H. Roberts, and Werner Heisenberg represent three different types of believers—all offering something completely different. https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SLP-189.mp3

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Episodes 211

E215: Young Washington vs. Odysseus: A Tale of Two Myths

E214: The Genesis of a TikTok Bible Scholar

E212: Where Have All the Roadshows Gone?

E211: The Apostle Who Tried to Retire.

E120: What’s in the Sacred Sauce?

E209: From Villains to Heroes: Mormons in Italy’s “Tex” Comics

E208: Religion Is Dangerous. You Should Try It!

E207: Joseph Smith: Not Boring.

E206: How Sunstone Cartoons Saved the LDS Church from Itself.

E205: Perfectionism: Mormon Style.

E204: The Saddest Book in the World: How Filmmaker David Lynch Revised My View of the Book of Mormon

E203: The Dance of Love: A Lynne Kanavel Whitesides Memorial.

E202: Three Steps Toward Weathering a Faith Crisis in Your Marriage.

E200: J. Golden Kimball: The Man Behind the Myth.

E199: How I Made It Through Life Without Missing a Single Guilt Trip.

E198: Relief Society Baby.

E197: The Indomitable Raftsman of Mormonism.

E196: You Can Go Home Again. But Do You Want To?

E195: An Insider’s Look at the Baseball Baptisms in Britain.

E194: The Baseball Baptism Era.

E193: Should We Toss Testimony Meeting?

E192: Annalee Skarin: Excommunicated then Translated—Yes, Like Enoch.

E191: How to Spot an Unorthodox BYU Professor.

E190: Camping at the Edge of Excommunication.

E189: Three Kinds of Believers.

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Sunstone Mormon History Podcast

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Episodes 211

E215: Young Washington vs. Odysseus: A Tale of Two Myths

E214: The Genesis of a TikTok Bible Scholar

E212: Where Have All the Roadshows Gone?

E211: The Apostle Who Tried to Retire.

E120: What’s in the Sacred Sauce?

E209: From Villains to Heroes: Mormons in Italy’s “Tex” Comics

E208: Religion Is Dangerous. You Should Try It!

E207: Joseph Smith: Not Boring.

E206: How Sunstone Cartoons Saved the LDS Church from Itself.

E205: Perfectionism: Mormon Style.

E204: The Saddest Book in the World: How Filmmaker David Lynch Revised My View of the Book of Mormon

E203: The Dance of Love: A Lynne Kanavel Whitesides Memorial.

E202: Three Steps Toward Weathering a Faith Crisis in Your Marriage.

E200: J. Golden Kimball: The Man Behind the Myth.

E199: How I Made It Through Life Without Missing a Single Guilt Trip.

E198: Relief Society Baby.

E197: The Indomitable Raftsman of Mormonism.

E196: You Can Go Home Again. But Do You Want To?

E195: An Insider’s Look at the Baseball Baptisms in Britain.

E194: The Baseball Baptism Era.

E193: Should We Toss Testimony Meeting?

E192: Annalee Skarin: Excommunicated then Translated—Yes, Like Enoch.

E191: How to Spot an Unorthodox BYU Professor.

E190: Camping at the Edge of Excommunication.

E189: Three Kinds of Believers.