

Sunstone Podcast
Sunstone
For more than 45 years, Sunstone has been exploring Mormonism in all its expressions through our publications and symposiums. The Sunstone Podcast gathers the best of these explorations, including compelling sessions from our worldwide symposiums as well as interviews, book reviews, and deep dives into all things Mormon. Hosted by Stephen Carter.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 25, 2022 • 0sec
E127: The Polygamy Explosion in Early Utah
https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/SLP-127.mp3
During early Utah’s “Mormon Reformation,” LDS leaders whipped the Saints into a religious fervor. Along with this reformation came an unprecedented spate of polygamous marriages. Scholar John G. Turner tells the story of the run-up and fallout of this matrimonial frenzy. This episode was recorded at the 2016 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

Aug 16, 2022 • 0sec
E126: Will You Have a Personality in Heaven?
https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/SLP-126.mp3
Will the personality we develop in mortal life have any kind of staying power in the post-mortal life? Stephen Carter uses the television series “Severance” to explore the possibilities.

Jul 21, 2022 • 0sec
E125: A Native View of Pioneer Day.
https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SLP-125.mp3
Who was living in Salt Lake Valley when the Mormon pioneers arrived? What relationships existed between the Mormons and the Natives during Utah’s settlement? Forrest Cuch talks about the role generational trauma played in Utah’s settlement and how can we reconcile the difficulties of Utah’s past. This episode was recorded at the 2018 Sunstone Summer Symposium.

Jun 21, 2022 • 0sec
E124: Post-Mormonism and the Witchy Worldview.
In this episode, Zina Bennion and Sara Hanks talk about their journeys from being Mormons to being witches, and how their upbringing still affects the way they practice and believe now. This episode was recorded at the 2019 Sunstone Summer Symposium.
https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SLP-124.mp3

Jun 13, 2022 • 0sec
E123: Why Latter-day Saints Should Embrace “Under the Banner of Heaven”.
https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SLP-123.mp3
It would probably surprise both the prophet Mormon and Dustin Lance Black to know how much they have in common. In this episode, Stephen Carter shows how the similarities between Under the Banner of Heaven and the the Book of Mormon should encourage Latter-day Saints to give the television series a chance.

Jun 6, 2022 • 0sec
E122: Bug or Feature? Historical Inaccuracies in Under the Banner of Heaven.
How important is the “historical” in historical fiction? Three historians, Barbara Jones Brown, Bryan Buchanan, and Cheryl Bruno, talk with Stephen Carter about the historical inaccuracies in Under the Banner of Heaven and whether they were worth it.

Jun 3, 2022 • 0sec
E121: Mormon Fundamentalists Talk about Under the Banner of Heaven.
Mormon fundamentalism plays a shadowy, menacing part in Under the Banner of Heaven. This episode gathers Vicki Darger, Benjamin Shaffer, Shirlee Draper, and Moroni Lopez Jessop, all either current or former fundamentalists, to talk about the realities of current-day Mormon fundamentalism, temple ceremonies, blood atonement, and polygamy.

May 17, 2022 • 0sec
E120: Under the Banner of Heaven with Actors Tyner Rushing and Scott Michael Campbell
Lindsay Hansen Park interviews two actors who took on iconic Mormon roles for “Under the Banner of Heaven”: Tyner Rushing as Emma Hale Smith, and Scott Michael Campbell as Brigham Young. Did one of them really end up in Relief Society one Sunday?

May 13, 2022 • 0sec
E119: An Ex-Mormon Temple Worker Tours the Washington DC Temple
Stephen Carter and his ex-Mormon brother walked into the Washington DC Temple open house, and what they saw on the walls changed the way they perceive the LDS Church forever. No ex-Mormons were re-converted in the making of this episode.

May 4, 2022 • 0sec
E118: The LDS Proselytizing Mission as Hazing.
In this episode, S. Richard Bellrock argues that the LDS proselytizing mission hits all the right buttons at all the right times to be a bona fide instance of hazing, with both hazing’s benefits and drawbacks.


