Brigham Young's status in the early LDS Movement needs to be understood in order to tackle the hard question of what gave him the right to claim the presidency,  particularly in light of the fact that it is now well known that the transfiguration of Brigham was a myth.   

Joe Geisner joins me to discuss Brigham's 'right' to succeed Joseph?

Bringing a philosophical eye to Mormonism helped author Brittany Hartley to appreciate the beauty and potential of Mormon thought as she came into her own questions about her ongoing affiliation. 

Unfortunately, Mormon thought kept alive by generations of curious Mormon intellectuals, can’t quite compete with the heft of Mormon authoritarianism.   When push comes to shove, the church’s direction is often decided by edict rather than drawing on the traditions own philosophical and theological resources.

Where one stands in relation to this tension between the Big ‘C’ Church’s bent toward authoritarianism, and the small ‘c’ church’s concern for keeping the Mormon theological conversation expanding and emerging is where the heart of faith crisis lies.  

Brittney’s book ‘Mormon Philosophy Simplified’ is a philosophically accessible treatise that excavates the best of what Mormonism continues to offer while not being naive that most of it will ever make it to the pulpit or to the Ensign. 

Cristina Rosetti is a Roman Catholic woman and scholar who is interested in Mormon Fundamentalism.

She joins me to discuss her own religious and spiritual path.  Oddly her inquiry into Mormon Fundamentalism comes out of an interest in how certainty shapes and creates religious identities.   Her scholarship in Mormonism was initially a way of helping her understand the relationship between faith and doubt, certainty and uncertainty

But, her questions of faith drew her into the world Mormon Fundamentalism and the way in which Mormonism has unfolded as highly schismatic and overly concerned with truth claims and authority.

In order to really understand the LDS Church, one absolutely needs to understand Mormon history.  There are few periods in Mormon history that are darker and more defining than the Mormon Reformation. 

In order to really understand the LDS Church, one absolutely needs to understand Mormon history.  There are few periods in Mormon history that are darker and more defining than the Mormon Reformation. 

Lindsay Hansen Park characterizes this period of Mormon history as best understood by imagining what you’d get if you introduced the wild, wild West to an Old Testament God. She further argues that the LDS Church today continues to be shaped by the unresolved violence that took place during that murderous time.