Maxwell Institute Podcast #202: Book of Mormon Ethics, featuring Dr. Courtney Campbell

What if your daily scripture study is actually ethical training? In this episode Rosalynde Welch sits down with editor and scholar Dr. Courtney Campbell to unpack Moral Visions: Ethics and the Book of Mormon (edited with Kelly Sorensen). They take the Book of Mormon seriously as an ethical text: not just a list of dos and don’ts, but a set of moral visions that shape who we are, how we live together, and what kind of communities we build.

Campbell and Welch walk through three big moves in the book: how the Book of Mormon teaches (the “scene of instruction”), what it says about everyday ethics (from clothing and conspicuous consumption to prosperity), and why those moral teachings matter — prophecy as moral memory and social criticism aimed at creating flourishing, covenantal communities.

What you’ll take away:

• A fresh lens for reading the Book of Mormon: ethics as vision, not only rule-following.
• How narrative, memory, and prophecy function as tools for communal moral formation.
• Concrete ethical concerns the book raises for the 21st century: social cohesion, economic justice, and peacemaking.
• A new appreciation for why the Book of Mormon’s stories still matter—because they aim to shape communities that last.