In our conversation with Brant Gardner about his new book entitled"The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon," we discuss most of the major issues with the Book of Mormon including: Joseph Smith's use of folk magic, the translation process (including the peep stone in the hat), anachronisms, DNA and race.

In our conversation with Brant Gardner about his new book entitled"The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon," we discuss most of the major issues with the Book of Mormon including: Joseph Smith's use of folk magic, the translation process (including the peep stone in the hat), anachronisms, DNA and race.

In our conversation with Brant Gardner about his new book entitled"The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon," we discuss most of the major issues with the Book of Mormon including: Joseph Smith's use of folk magic, the translation process (including the peep stone in the hat), anachronisms, DNA and race.

In our conversation with Brant Gardner about his new book entitled"The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon," we discuss most of the major issues with the Book of Mormon including: Joseph Smith's use of folk magic, the translation process (including the peep stone in the hat), anachronisms, DNA and race.

In our conversation with Brant Gardner about his new book entitled"The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon," we discuss most of the major issues with the Book of Mormon including: Joseph Smith's use of folk magic, the translation process (including the peep stone in the hat), anachronisms, DNA and race.

In this episode, we spend two good hours with author and scholar Jana Reiss. Jana discusses: her early years being raised by secular parents, her conversion to God/Christianity, and her ultimate conversion to Mormonism. We also discuss with Jana her new book,"Flunking Sainthood.."

In this episode, we spend two good hours with author and scholar Jana Reiss. Jana discusses: her early years being raised by secular parents, her conversion to God/Christianity, and her ultimate conversion to Mormonism. We also discuss with Jana her new book,"Flunking Sainthood.."

In this episode, four members of the Phoenix Mormon Stories Support Community: Kendahl, Lauren, Scott, and James, discuss: 1) the value that this community has played in their lives, and 2) the lessons they have learned about how to successfully run such a community.

James McLachlan is a professor of philosophy and religion at Western Carolina University, and is actively involved in academic discussions of Mormonism as a co-chair of the American Academy of Religion’s Mormon Studies Group and a board member and past president of the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology. But to overplay his academic bona fides is possibly a mistake, because, as this interview with longtime friend and Mormon Stories contributor Dan Wotherspoon reveals, Jim is the opposite of the stuffy scholar stereotype. In this two-part interview, his incredibly quick and inquisitive mind is on full display, but it’s his good humor and ability to use observations from everyday life, great literature, and important films to elucidate powerful philosophical and religious questions that will surely captivate listeners. Among other discussions, through Jim's lenses Mormonism’s fully engaged God—as Sterling McMurrin described: a God with his"own problems"—comes alive and becomes a highly compelling alternative to traditional Christian views that borrow so heavily from Greek ideas about the nature of perfection. Hear, too, Jim's wonderful take on why those of us who experience many of Mormonism’s theological ideas differently from many in the mainstream might still feel confident in answering temple recommend questions affirmatively.

James McLachlan is a professor of philosophy and religion at Western Carolina University, and is actively involved in academic discussions of Mormonism as a co-chair of the American Academy of Religion’s Mormon Studies Group and a board member and past president of the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology. But to overplay his academic bona fides is possibly a mistake, because, as this interview with longtime friend and Mormon Stories contributor Dan Wotherspoon reveals, Jim is the opposite of the stuffy scholar stereotype. In this two-part interview, his incredibly quick and inquisitive mind is on full display, but it’s his good humor and ability to use observations from everyday life, great literature, and important films to elucidate powerful philosophical and religious questions that will surely captivate listeners. Among other discussions, through Jim's lenses Mormonism’s fully engaged God—as Sterling McMurrin described: a God with his"own problems"—comes alive and becomes a highly compelling alternative to traditional Christian views that borrow so heavily from Greek ideas about the nature of perfection. Hear, too, Jim's wonderful take on why those of us who experience many of Mormonism’s theological ideas differently from many in the mainstream might still feel confident in answering temple recommend questions affirmatively.