Stephen Murphy host of the program Mormonism with the Murph recently sat down with Evangelical Steven Pynakker to discuss Apologetic defenses of the Book of Mormon.

Link: https://youtu.be/ril622_FACI?si=IAG8qqx-roWjoyF6

https://sunstone.org/episode-136-mormon-reformation-part-two/

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Selected shownotes:

Wilford Woodruff and the Mormon Reformation of 1855-57 by Thomas G. Alexander

https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V25N02_27.pdf

The Mormon Reformation A Historiographical Essay by Julie Harris Adams

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol35/iss1/8/

Accountant and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Aaron Brewster talks about innovative approaches to Tithing!

Link: https://youtu.be/tsIucdMP8y0?si=b49bjb8PhdOordZj

John Vance was an early member and pioneer west. He arrived in one of the first waggon trains (but not with Brigham Young). His journal is bland at times, but does include entries talking about the crickets eating crops the first year, the birds coming to eat the crickets, how this helped somewhat (but they still came back later), and preaching from the early summer telling the saints that if they wanted to get rid of the crickets they had to be better at sharing their cows. It's an interesting perspective and a little more complex than traditional narriative.

I have uploaded it digitally here for anyone who is interested.

Here is the transcription which is easier to read.

Some entries:

Su 5th [June] Parley preached encouraging the people to hold on - we will make grain notwithstanding crickets. This is the place for the Saints at present. Father Smith

said “You who have many cows lend to those who have none, till harvest & then crickets will quit & we shall have plenty.

Th 20th [July] Finished planting peas therein and everywhere else. Snipes have cleared off crickets much...

Kevin Kraut son of Mormon Fundamentalist scholar Ogden Kraut talks about the history of Bishop Koyle's Dream Mine and his father's involvement.

Link: https://youtu.be/yhiTvCInYSs?si=cvtvtLezhEijqpvn

I’m offering a recommendation for Jeffrey Krohn’s “Mormon Hermeneutics.” Any serious scholarship on LDS theology, doxy, or interpretive praxes ought to be familiar with this book. While he does restrict his focus on LDS interpretive practices to those of the Bible, it is well researched - the bibliography subsection titled “LDS Books and Articles” alone fills 21 pages.

Krohn states, “My intention is not to offer the LDSC a set of rules for interpretation, but rather, a critically well-founded assessment of the potential alignment between LDSC hermeneutics and mainstream theological and hermeneutical scholarship.” His use of the research framework critical realism allows an evaluative, rather than a strictly interpretivist, stance. Krohn and one reviewer discussed the legitimacy of critical realism for this subject matter. 

The five hermeneutics he identifies are literal, allegorical, sociological, emendatory, and “re-authoring.” He ultimately argues that a Gadamerian hermeneutic framework would best suit church scholars who seek dialogue with the “mainstream hermeneutical academy.” 

A repository on the university website contains a pdf of Krohn’s thesis that predates the paperback publication by two years.

Link: https://youtube.com/shorts/t3FVSzQgfSo?si=DbxFcDAYxCJEk10d

My father spent a lot of time transcribing a pioneer journal of an ancestor. The result is a nicely bound book with photographs of all of the pages along with his transcription. It has some interesting first-hand and second-hand accounts of things like arguments along the path to SLC between church leaders and the problems with insects and late planting of crops after they arrived.

I have a limited number of copies. The church has already received the original (historial journal) and copies of the transcription. I would like to place a few copies in places where researchers can have access. I was thinking the Univesity of Utah(?). Possibly Yale? Any suggestions as to where I should put these so that people researching mormon history can find them? Should I post this digitally online?

Everyone has there views on polygamy, and this is not that debate, for nor against it.

But... Math checks out at least.

The narrative is that a third of all heaven was cast out. And those cast out were all men.

This means that 1/6 of the original total in heaven is men with the remainder half being only women.

And because 1/2÷1/6 is 3, this would mean that for everything to be as even as possible, every man would need to have three wives.

This doesn't take into account variables like people's opinions and desires. Plenty want to be gay, plenty are fine with being single, plenty just want 1 spouse, and yes, some will have more than three.

So if the polygamist doctrine is true, it at least got the math right.

Mormon Scholar Cherly Bruno and Michelle Brady Stone join Steven Pynakker to talk about a new Mormon History resource called "The Journal of Mormon Polygamy". We also discuss an upcoming conference that will occur next March in Utah! Here is a link to the Journal's site: https://journalofmormonpolygamy.org/

Link: https://youtu.be/m-v-BCOujf0?si=Vop0ufAYa1xWsY7h

Robert Messick of Book of Mormon Editions joins Steven Pynakker as a special co-host to interview Paul Durham an editor of a remarkable edition of the Book of Mormon that is a Modern English version called Covenant of Christ!

#bookofmormon #holybook #bible #churchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints #thebookofmormon #denversnuffer #restoration #josephsmith #evangelical #stevenpynakker #mormonbookreviews

Link: https://youtu.be/7K4RJk8s3zw?si=LLljW1X4ukyRwnJo

Mormon Fundamentalist Benjamin Shaffer returns to Mormon Book Reviews to discuss with Evangelical Steven Pynakker the important role that Covenants play in Mormon theology!

Link: https://youtu.be/PFv9gATyMSk?si=KH1PIdWy_Q0BMHJG

On today's episode of Mormon Book Reviews, I am excited to have on my friend Cheryl L. Bruno to discuss her art exhibit she showcased at Sunstone. The exhibit was water color portraits of some of the more prominent characters in the Mormon Studies community! Here is Cheryl's email to contact her about her artwork: clbruno@gmail.com

Interview Link: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FPRLAVJm9Zs&si=P2wQIEqqx9s587VN