Maxwell Institute Podcast

Following the Latter-day Saints’ expulsion from Missouri and while they worked to make a new home in Nauvoo, IL, Joseph Smith received several revelations that brought divine insight into earthly problems. For instance, what to do for those who could not afford to live in Nauvoo, or who desired to live in small cities surrounding the “City of Joseph?” How long could a person work before they needed a break? How do you ensure your life doesn’t fall apart when circumstances beyond your control take over your life? And how are you supposed to keep track of the many important things that you’ve been asked to do in your limited time? In my mind, these revelations answer those questions by pointing to the importance of focusing on two audiences: God and our community.  The post Abide #18: Doctrine and Covenants 125-128 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

From acting as a scribe for the translation of the Book of Mormon to founding the Relief Society, Emma Hale Smith was a key figure in the Restoration. She was also her husband’s anchor and the love of his life. But how much do we really know about her role, teachings, and leadership? Drawing upon letters written by Emma to Joseph and to many others, along with minutes from Relief Society meetings and other artifacts, this book sketches a more complete portrait of this elect lady. It allows each of us to become personally acquainted with Emma as we learn more about her essential work as a leader, a wife, and a mother in the early days of the Church. Today’s guest is Dr. Jennifer Reeder, who wrote a biography of Emma Smith, entitled FIRST: THE LIFE AND FAITH OF EMMA SMITH from Deseret Book. Dr. Reeder will be delivering the Neal A. Maxwell Institute Lecture on November 13 at 7 PM at the Hinckley Alumni Center at BYU. Make plans to attend her lecture! And follow us on Instagram at @BYUMaxwell. The post Max

On January 19, 1841 Joseph Smith voiced a revelation that declared Nauvoo as the new gathering place for the Saints. Much had happened since we left Joseph in section 123. After the expulsion from Missouri, 5,000 Saints scattered traveling east across Missouri to safety in Illinois, 200 miles east of Far West, Missouri 1838, with a population of 1,800. They took in 5,000 Mormon refugees. The citizens of Quincy did much to welcome the Saints officially resolving to “extend kindness” to the Saints, to speak out against those with prejudices against the Saints, help them find employment and housing, and their last resolution: “Resolved, That we recommend to all the citizens of Quincy, that in all their intercourse with the strangers, they use and observe a becoming decorum and delicacy, and be particularly careful not to indulge in any conversation or expressions calculated to wound their feelings, or in any way to reflect upon those, who by every law of humanity, are entitled to our sympathy and commiseration.”

Everything changed for Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints in a few short months in 1838. 5000 Saints gathered in the burgeoning city of Far West, Missouri to celebrate the 4th of July. Confident and secure in their main settlement, Sidney Rigdon declared that if a mob came again, it would be a “war of extermination.” His words proved prophetic–the Missourians would remember that language. Governor Lilburn Boggs signed Executive Order number 44 the 27th of October declaring that “the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state.” After the Hawn’s Mill Massacre and the siege at Far West, 66 Latter-day Saint men were arrested. Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Sidney Rigdon, as well as Caleb Baldwin, Lyman Wight and Alexander McRae were eventually jailed in the Clay County Jail at Liberty, Missouri for “crimes of high treason”–an offense that did not provide the possibility of bail. BH Roberts would later call the jail a “prison temple,” yet it was a squalid, dirty, and d

Eugene England was many things: a scholar, a theologian, an essayist, a husband, father, and teacher. But, above all, he defined himself as a disciple of Jesus Christ and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Today, we speak with Terryl Givens, a Senior Research Fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute, to discuss his biography of Gene England, entitled Stretching the Heavens: The Life of Eugene England and the Crisis of Modern Mormonism (UNC Press, 2021). We discuss Gene’s approach to discipleship, scholarship, and how he wouldn’t have separated his pursuit of knowledge and bridgebuilding from his very core beliefs in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Could you do us a favor and review, rate, and subscribe to the Maxwell Institute Podcast wherever you find podcasts? Thank you! Now, without any further do, let’s start our conversation with Terryl Givens. The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #130: Stretching the Heavens with Eugene England appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute

Sections 116-120 reveal a Church and prophet trying desperately to make the best of a bad situation. By the date of the last revelation a third of the Quorum of the Twelve would apostatize. The Lord directed that the Church move its headquarters from Ohio to Missouri. The Latter-day Saints changed their main county of residence.  In the midst of this, God gave them answers, but not ones that did not immediately seem to pay off in the short term. However, the Lord’s revelations pointed to things working out in the long run. Identifying the place where Jesus would return before the Second Coming. Sending out missionaries to bring in new members. The importance of councils and counseling with them to allow for a wide variety of perspectives and voices to make a decision. Or, thinking even bigger picture, sometimes we just have to remember that the Lord’s timeline is a LOT longer than ours.  The post Abide #15: Doctrine and Covenants 116-120 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

In July of 1836 JS Hyrum Smith OC SR travelled to Salem, MA. They arrived on 5 August and rented a house on Union Street for the next 3 weeks. The revelation in section 111 might have been received there, BUT There is no contemporary evidence that tells us why they were there. THe contemporary evidence we do have, included in the JOseph Smith Papers, is a letter from Oliver to his brother Warren and a letter from Joseph to Emma, they talk of preaching and visiting historic places, of their financial worries for the church, but little else. And this was a long trip for little else. Finishing the Kirtland temple (known as the House of the Lord) and buying up land in Ohio left the church in a precarious financial situation.  There are two late accounts of individuals who were not on the trip that suggested they went to Salem to find hidden money.  The post Abide #14: Doctrine and Covenants 111-115 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

How do we understand the lives of women who lived in ancient times? Where do historians and scholars go for evidence when there’s relatively little available in written records? In this episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast, we will talk with Dr. Catherine Gines Taylor, a Nibley Postdoctoral Fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute, and Dr. Mark Ellison, an Associate Professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, to learn more *about the lives of Christian women in antiquity*how to uncover or unearth the religious lives of women*and discuss how the material record or historical “stuff” reveals religious meaning and practice.You can purchase their book Material Culture and Women’s Religious Experience in Antiquity, co-edited with Carolyn Osiek, wherever books are sold, including from Amazon and the Rowman and Littlefield website. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive show notes for this and all Maxwell Institute Podcast episodes!https://mi.byu.edu/monthly-mi-news/ The post Maxwell In

We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” The post Abide #13: Doctrine and Covenants 109-110 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

In early 1835 the first Quorum of the 12 of the Restored Church were called and that spring were tasked with travelling “through the Eastern States, to the Atlantic Ocean, and hold conferences in the vicinity of the several branches of the Church for the purpose of regulating all things necessary for their welfare.” As they prepared to approach their first mission, they requested revelatory instruction from Joseph. This revelation came in response to that request, though the last part of the revelation had actually been received 4 years earlier.  This revelation demonstrates the continuing process of revealing understanding of priesthood particularly building on some of the ideas introduced in section 84. This expanded administrative offices within the church including deacons, teachers, priests, and elders. As the JSP details, the first individuals were ordained to the high priesthood in June of 1831. It likewise opened the way for multiple bishops and a president of the high priesthood. In late 1831 Newe

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have taken the Lord’s call to “have a record kept among [them]” since the commandment was given in the first days of the Church. One of the ways that the Church accomplishes this is through the Joseph Smith Papers Project. In this episode, we will hear from Robin Scott Jensen, David Grua, and Jessica Nelson about the work of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, what was going on during Joseph Smith’s life in March-July 1843 (including the reception of what was later canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 132), and much more! The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #128: Joseph Smith Papers, Documents Volume 12 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” The post Abide #11: Doctrine and Covenants Sections 102-106 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Charles Inouye writes, “I am Japanese but was born and raised in rural central Utah. At first, my parents were afraid that our involvement with the Church would weaken our grounding in Japanese tradition. As it turned out, it only reinforced my interest in animism, Buddhism, and other aspects of Japanese culture. As a scholar of Japanese culture, I have discovered that Latter-day Saint culture and Mahayana Buddhist culture are similar in many ways, and that the paths to the building up of Zion, on the one hand, and to Zen enlightenment, on the other, are one and the same. The genius of both faith traditions lies in how they push the abstract ideas of salvation down into the world of material practice. Raking sand in a Zen garden reminds us that mortality is similarly a “high maintenance” situation, where constant service is required if we are to grasp our purpose here on earth.” Come learn more about Charles’ life, work, and what Latter-day Saints can learn from a life of faith, service, and “raking”: the

We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” The post Abide #10: Doctrine and Covenants 98-101 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” The post Abide #9: Doctrine and Covenants 94-97 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” The post Abide #8.2: Doctrine and Covenants 93 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” The post Abide #8: Doctrine and Covenants 90-92 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” The post Abide #7: Doctrine and Covenants 89 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” The post Abide #6: Doctrine and Covenants 88 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

We will be discussing each week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” The post Abide #5: Doctrine and Covenants 85-87 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.