Mormon Stories Podcast

In this Mormon Stories episode, historian John Hamer discusses the 19th century historical and cultural context -- largely forgotten today -- that informed the composition of the Book of Mormon.

Lindsey Johnson Snider was raised LDS and attended BYU-Idaho from 2012-2016. She experienced a shift towards progressive/liberal Mormonism in 2013, which coincided with a faith crisis. Later, Lindsey became the editor in chief of the BYU-Idaho student newspaper called "The Scroll," and worked for the paper until the end of 2015. During her time with "The Scroll" Lindsey wrote many controversial editorial and opinion columns, which both changed some hearts and minds on progressive issues, and also upset/angered some orthodox Mormons. Lindsey's tenure with the paper included a meeting with the dean of the BYU-Idaho religion department, wherein all BYU-Idaho religion professors were told to be more respectful of those in their classrooms who may be part of the LGBTQ community. After leaving BYU-Idaho, Lindsey and her husband lost their first baby girl at 23 weeks due to premature labor. This experience caused much grief for Lindsey and her husband, and ultimately brought her 5 year faith crisis to a head. Today we will be discussing Lindsey's story, going into depth on the good/bad/ugly of attending BYU-Idaho, along with Lindsey's faith journey and her experiences with grief.

Lindsey Johnson Snider was raised LDS and attended BYU-Idaho from 2012-2016. She experienced a shift towards progressive/liberal Mormonism in 2013, which coincided with a faith crisis. Later, Lindsey became the editor in chief of the BYU-Idaho student newspaper called "The Scroll," and worked for the paper until the end of 2015. During her time with "The Scroll" Lindsey wrote many controversial editorial and opinion columns, which both changed some hearts and minds on progressive issues, and also upset/angered some orthodox Mormons. Lindsey's tenure with the paper included a meeting with the dean of the BYU-Idaho religion department, wherein all BYU-Idaho religion professors were told to be more respectful of those in their classrooms who may be part of the LGBTQ community. After leaving BYU-Idaho, Lindsey and her husband lost their first baby girl at 23 weeks due to premature labor. This experience caused much grief for Lindsey and her husband, and ultimately brought her 5 year faith crisis to a head. Today we will be discussing Lindsey's story, going into depth on the good/bad/ugly of attending BYU-Idaho, along with Lindsey's faith journey and her experiences with grief.

Lindsey Johnson Snider was raised LDS and attended BYU-Idaho from 2012-2016. She experienced a shift towards progressive/liberal Mormonism in 2013, which coincided with a faith crisis. Later, Lindsey became the editor in chief of the BYU-Idaho student newspaper called "The Scroll," and worked for the paper until the end of 2015. During her time with "The Scroll" Lindsey wrote many controversial editorial and opinion columns, which both changed some hearts and minds on progressive issues, and also upset/angered some orthodox Mormons. Lindsey's tenure with the paper included a meeting with the dean of the BYU-Idaho religion department, wherein all BYU-Idaho religion professors were told to be more respectful of those in their classrooms who may be part of the LGBTQ community. After leaving BYU-Idaho, Lindsey and her husband lost their first baby girl at 23 weeks due to premature labor. This experience caused much grief for Lindsey and her husband, and ultimately brought her 5 year faith crisis to a head. Today we will be discussing Lindsey's story, going into depth on the good/bad/ugly of attending BYU-Idaho, along with Lindsey's faith journey and her experiences with grief.

Lindsey Johnson Snider was raised LDS and attended BYU-Idaho from 2012-2016. She experienced a shift towards progressive/liberal Mormonism in 2013, which coincided with a faith crisis. Later, Lindsey became the editor in chief of the BYU-Idaho student newspaper called "The Scroll," and worked for the paper until the end of 2015. During her time with "The Scroll" Lindsey wrote many controversial editorial and opinion columns, which both changed some hearts and minds on progressive issues, and also upset/angered some orthodox Mormons. Lindsey's tenure with the paper included a meeting with the dean of the BYU-Idaho religion department, wherein all BYU-Idaho religion professors were told to be more respectful of those in their classrooms who may be part of the LGBTQ community. After leaving BYU-Idaho, Lindsey and her husband lost their first baby girl at 23 weeks due to premature labor. This experience caused much grief for Lindsey and her husband, and ultimately brought her 5 year faith crisis to a head. Today we will be discussing Lindsey's story, going into depth on the good/bad/ugly of attending BYU-Idaho, along with Lindsey's faith journey and her experiences with grief.

In our final segments with renowned Joseph Smith historian Dan Vogel, we focus our attention on the creation of the Book of Mormon. Through his extensive research, Dan theorizes that the Book of Mormon is a tangible artifact giving insight into Joseph Smith's state of mind, and commentary on the cultural and spiritual influences that surrounded him in his early life.  In this interview, we focus our attention on the role of the golden plates in the creation of the Book of Mormon, the 116 "lost" pages of the original Book of Mormon and how this event influenced the final product, and we discuss the different events that may have influenced the timeline in which the Book of Mormon was created.

In our final segments with renowned Joseph Smith historian Dan Vogel, we focus our attention on the creation of the Book of Mormon. Through his extensive research, Dan theorizes that the Book of Mormon is a tangible artifact giving insight into Joseph Smith's state of mind, and commentary on the cultural and spiritual influences that surrounded him in his early life.  In this interview, we focus our attention on the role of the golden plates in the creation of the Book of Mormon, the 116 "lost" pages of the original Book of Mormon and how this event influenced the final product, and we discuss the different events that may have influenced the timeline in which the Book of Mormon was created.

In our final segments with renowned Joseph Smith historian Dan Vogel, we focus our attention on the creation of the Book of Mormon. Through his extensive research, Dan theorizes that the Book of Mormon is a tangible artifact giving insight into Joseph Smith's state of mind, and commentary on the cultural and spiritual influences that surrounded him in his early life.  In this interview, we focus our attention on the role of the golden plates in the creation of the Book of Mormon, the 116 "lost" pages of the original Book of Mormon and how this event influenced the final product, and we discuss the different events that may have influenced the timeline in which the Book of Mormon was created.

After exploring historian Dan Vogel’s motivations behind his studies of the life of Joseph Smith in our first segments, we now delve deeper into Joseph’s treasure digging activities. Dan devoted a portion of his book Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet to understanding not only the financial motivations for Joseph’s treasure digging practice, but also to explain how this practice possibly became the start of a chain of events leading to the creation of the LDS Church, best explained by a portion of the abstract in Dan’s book: “Over time, Joseph became aware that people trusted him and that he could be an influence for good or ill, that even through nefarious means, God worked through him when his heart was right. He realized this when he led groups in search of Spanish treasure in New York and Pennsylvania. Although no treasure was found, the men sincerely believed that Smith had a spiritual gift and could see where casks of gold were hidden in the earth. This training ground in spiritual leadership was invaluable because the prophet learned how to create an environment for belief—one in which people could exercise faith and be converted to Christ through the sensible influence of the Spirit, all prior to the overarching work of restoring primitive Christianity.”

After exploring historian Dan Vogel’s motivations behind his studies of the life of Joseph Smith in our first segments, we now delve deeper into Joseph’s treasure digging activities. Dan devoted a portion of his book Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet to understanding not only the financial motivations for Joseph’s treasure digging practice, but also to explain how this practice possibly became the start of a chain of events leading to the creation of the LDS Church, best explained by a portion of the abstract in Dan’s book: “Over time, Joseph became aware that people trusted him and that he could be an influence for good or ill, that even through nefarious means, God worked through him when his heart was right. He realized this when he led groups in search of Spanish treasure in New York and Pennsylvania. Although no treasure was found, the men sincerely believed that Smith had a spiritual gift and could see where casks of gold were hidden in the earth. This training ground in spiritual leadership was invaluable because the prophet learned how to create an environment for belief—one in which people could exercise faith and be converted to Christ through the sensible influence of the Spirit, all prior to the overarching work of restoring primitive Christianity.”