Faith Matters – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Today’s episode kicks off our five-part series Unpacking Polygamy—a deep dive into one of the most complex and sensitive topics in our church’s history. We hope you’ll listen to the full series, where you’ll hear from a variety of voices and perspectives that help illuminate this part of our shared story.

To start us off, we’re honored to bring together two remarkable thinkers. Patrick Mason is a historian, author, and Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University and co-host of Proclaim Peace, another Faith Matters network podcast. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian, and professor emerita at Harvard University.

In this episode, Patrick and Laurel explore what we actually know—and how we know what we know—about Joseph Smith’s involvement in plural marriage, how the practice evolved in early Utah, and the theological, social, and gender dynamics that shaped it. Laurel also shares reflections from teaching a comparative polygamy course at Harvard, and considers how the echoes of plural marriage still reverberate today in our doctrine, culture, and hearts.

We’re so grateful to both Patrick and Laurel for their honesty, curiosity, and compassion.

You can find even more resources on this important topic on our website, faithmatters.org.

Find Laurel's groundbreaking book A House Full of Females on Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Tickets for Restore 2026 are now available, and we have a new format we think you're going to love. Get details here!

Today, we’re sharing a conversation that feels especially urgent. In fact, we’d planned to release this episode later in the month—but this week, as a major hurricane moves through the Caribbean and the U.S. government shutdown is causing massively disruptive ripples in the daily life of countless families, we know so many are asking, What can I do? 

We hope this conversation offers real practical guidance  and clarity for getting to work today.

We’re joined by Sharon Eubank, author of the new book Doing Small Things with Great Love: How Everyday Humanitarians Are Changing the World.

Sharon has spent decades in humanitarian work around the globe, and now works as the director of Latter-day Saint Charities. In this conversation, she shares what her experience has taught her about ethical, lasting, and impactful relief. 

We were struck by this term, “the second disaster." Sharon explains how, all too often, well-meaning aid can actually become a second disaster—doing more harm, complicating and even obstructing urgent relief efforts. But she offers some surprisingly simple and practical ways to ensure that what we give and how we serve is genuinely helpful. 

As our hearts turn to the Caribbean, this feels especially important—but the principles Sharon shares are just as vital at home. She explains why she believes we’re most effective where we live, how relationships and trusted networks form the foundation of lasting change, and why honoring agency and dignity is essential to any effort—whether local or global.

Sharon shared so many incredible insights—things that energized us to be helpers, and that empowered us to get started. We hope that in this time of deep need, fear, and urgency, that this episode will help you to recognize where you feel called, and help you know what to do first. 

Resources to use to find reputable organizations to support: 

https://www.charitynavigator.org
https://www.charitywatch.org/our-charity-rating-process
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission

Tickets for Restore 2026 are now available, and we have a new format we think you're going to love. Get details here!

You’ve probably heard the old joke—we caught it again recently on Ezra Klein’s show. A conspiracy theorist dies and goes to heaven. At the pearly gates, God tells him he can ask one question—anything at all. The conspiracy theorist says, “Who really killed JFK?” God replies, “Lee Harvey Oswald and he acted alone.” The conspiracy theorist pauses, nods, and says, “Wow. This goes higher than I thought.”

The joke captures just how impenetrable conspiracy thinking can be. That’s part of what we’re exploring today with our guest, Sharon McMahon. Sharon is a former high school government teacher turned trusted national educator, bestselling author, and host of the Sharon Says So podcast, known for bringing truth, clarity, and calm to some of the most divisive issues in American public life.

Today, Sharon helps us unpack why conspiracy theories can be so compelling, how they spread, and the very human needs behind them—like safety, belonging, and making sense of uncertainty. She also shares deeply practical and compassionate guidance for staying in relationship with someone who’s caught in that mindset, while still honoring your own values and boundaries.

In 2020, the Church offered timely guidance in its General Handbook, warning against misinformation that promotes anger, contention, and fear—and encouraging members to be skeptical of conspiracy theories. So we talked with Sharon about the role faith communities can play in building resilience against misinformation—not by controlling ideas, but by fostering connection, curiosity, and critical thinking.

Sharon’s clarity, courage, and humor made this one of our favorite conversations and we’re also so excited she’ll be speaking at Restore this year—we hope you’ll join us to see her live.

Learn more about Restore at faithmatters.org/restore

Get Sharon's book from Bookshop.org

Get Sharon's book from Amazon

Come to our event at The Compass on 9/13

Tickets for Restore 2026 are now available, and we have a new format we think you're going to love. Get details here!

Today we’re sharing a conversation that we had a lot of fun with, along with an exciting announcement about the work we’re doing at Faith Matters.

Our guest was our friend Jared Halverson. Few people we know exude as much enthusiasm for scripture—the Latter-day Saint canon in particular—as Jared does. He’s someone who clearly loves and cherishes these holy texts, and has taken the best they have to offer to heart. He’s as genuine, loving, and big-hearted as they come.

So we felt Jared would be the perfect person to talk to to kick off this year’s study of The Book of Mormon, the book Joseph Smith called “the keystone of our religion.” In our discussion with Jared, we talked about how we might be able to gain something from engaging with the Book, regardless of where our faith is at; how scriptures are the means, not the end, and how they’re not frozen in time—they’re part of an ongoing conversation that we’re a part of.

With all that said, we could not be more excited to tell you that Faith Matters is formally teaming up with Jared to bring his podcast, Unshaken, one of the most widely engaged scripture study podcasts out there, into the Faith Matters network of podcast and YouTube shows. We’ll have more to share about that in the future as that network expands and grows. For now, it means that Jared will continue to bring his signature blend of scholarly rigor and devotional reflection to his discussions of scripture that move with the Come Follow Me curriculum. But whereas in the past, Jared’s podcast episodes have been deep dives of 3-5 hours per episode, the new Unshaken format will shoot for an hour or so to make them a bit more digestible.

Unshaken will continue to operate on its own Youtube and Podcast channels, while the Faith Matters podcast will continue to operate on this one. If you’re interested in Jared and his work based on what you hear today, we’d highly recommend you head over to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube to subscribe.

For those unfamiliar with Jared, he’s an associate professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, and has taught religion courses at the high school and college level since 1998. He studied history and religious education at BYU and earned a PhD in American religious history at Vanderbilt University.

Tickets for Restore 2026 are now available, and we have a new format we think you're going to love. Get details here!

This week, we’re sharing another session from our Restore conference, this time featuring a scholar most of you will be familiar with: our long time friend and advisor Terryl Givens.

Terryl’s heartfelt session explores what he finds to be the “peaceable things” of Christ, referred to in scripture. An unsettling experience at the age of sixteen led Terryl to confront the inherent risk and uncertainty of our choices in life. And while life may not always be “peaceful,” Terryl says, we can always access “peaceable things”, which he anchors in the Restoration’s understanding of God.

If you know Terryl’s work, you know of his gift for illuminating gospel truths gleaming quietly throughout Christian history. Terryl guides us through three names of Christ–Creator, Emmanuel, and Paraclete–that show God to be relational, loving, and open-hearted. This God doesn’t seek to judge or condemn, but to invite us at their table as peers and mutual witnesses of each other’s inherent goodness.

We hope you enjoy this hopeful message that cuts straight to the heart of the fear and uncertainty that so many of us feel, day to day. 

Tickets for Restore 2026 are now available, and we have a new format we think you're going to love. Get details here!

Nearly everything we do in the Church — from missionary work and ministering efforts to baptisms and temple work — hinges on an underlying question: who is the Church for? Is the project of the Restoration to find and shepherd the elect of God to exaltation in the next life, or is it to create a Zion community here that strives to include those on the margins, the way Jesus ministered? Should it be one or the other?

It’s seemed to us that there’s an implicit discourse around this question playing out on social media, in Church meetings, in books and articles, on podcasts — and even in forums like General Conference.

And it has significant implications — the answer holds real weight as for we participate in the work of the Restoration, but not just that — what does it say about the nature of God?

This past conference, Pres. Dallin H. Oaks declared “the purpose of this restored Church is to prepare God’s children for salvation in the celestial glory and, more particularly, for exaltation in its highest degree.” In theory, that destiny is available to all God’s children. But what about the multitudes of God’s children who may seem to be left behind-–those for whom any quest for exaltation seems buried under conditions like grinding poverty, mental illness, abuse, or other serious obstacles to thriving. Is the restored church for them too?

We thought it could be important and helpful to have an explicit conversation around this question that’s often felt more than heard. And, we think we ended up with the perfect conversation partner, and someone we know many of you love and admire as much as we do — Patrick Mason.

Patrick helped us walk through some of this tricky territory with his signature blend of love for the Church, enthusiasm about the restoration, and clear-eyed realism about where we are as a community and tradition — and where we could hope to go. 

Patrick Mason is the Leonard Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University, has been a frequent guest on this show and is long-time friend and advisor to Faith Matters.

Tickets for Restore 2026 are now available, and we have a new format we think you're going to love. Get details here!

Buy Melissa’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Struggle-Seeking-Christ-Resistance/dp/1639931872/

As we’ve gotten to know her over the past few years, we’ve noticed that Melissa Inouye, in any group, has a remarkable way of reorienting a conversation. She tends to be the one with the eyes to see “the least of these.” She has a profound and sincere empathy for those who are in deep struggle, those on the edges, the marginalized, the looked-over, the passed-by. When these people and their difficulties are invisible to others, she gently call others’ attention to them as well. 

That uniquely empathetic perspective she brings has found a beautiful expression in her new book Sacred Struggle: Seeking Christ on the Path of Most Resistance. It’s a “treatise on trials” — one in which Melissa asks the deepest, most difficult questions without shying away from them, including those around her own experience with cancer.

The book, and the conversation we had with Melissa, deal with struggle itself, but also with its second-order effects: how can struggle be alchemized into connectedness — into Zion — instead of driving us apart? Who gets to assign meaning to struggle? Is there a way to avoid pain in a community, or is it built into the experience?

Melissa received her Ph.D. from Harvard in 2011 and became a Senior Lecturer in Asian Studies at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She’s now working as a historian for the Church History department.

We were grateful, as we always are, to benefit from her deep wisdom born of lived experience.

Tickets for Restore 2026 are now available, and we have a new format we think you're going to love. Get details here!

Professor Eric Huntsman has an infectious enthusiasm when he talks about Christmas. He’s up for the fun, the decorating, the shopping, the lights, and the gift-giving. He also has a deep intellectual curiosity and many years’ academic research into the historical development of this holy day. And of course, most importantly, he has a profound devotional attachment to the holiday’s namesake, Jesus Christ. 

So it’s only natural that he would spend years developing ways to help his family, students and community find more meaning throughout the Christmas season. One way that he’s done that is through the observance of Advent. Much more than just the calendar many of us think of checking off the days in December leading up to Christmas, Advent is a traditional Christian season that’s been observed for at least 1500 years and is marked by the four Sundays prior to Christmas, each of which celebrates a theme of Christ’s birth: hope, love, joy, and peace. 

In today’s conversation, Eric shared with us the background and purpose behind Advent and some of its symbolism, how he celebrates it, and what he recommends for anyone looking to observe Advent as part of creating their own traditions or rituals.

Resources:
Good Tidings of Great Joy: An Advent Celebration of the Savior's Birth (Eric's book): https://www.amazon.com/Good-Tidings-Great-Joy-Celebration/dp/1606416596/r

Come, Lord Jesus: An Advent Invitation (Wayfare Magazine): https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/come-lord-jesus

Celebrating Advent: https://huntsmanseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/11/celebrating-advent.html

First Advent: https://huntsmanseasonal.blogspot.com/2013/12/first-advent-hope.html

Christmas Resource Guide (Daily December devotionals): https://huntsmanseasonal.blogspot.com/p/christmas-resource-guide.html

Advent Carols: https://www.amazon.com/Advent-Carols-Countdown-Stories-Christmas/dp/1639930477

Tickets for Restore 2026 are now available, and we have a new format we think you're going to love. Get details here!

A few weeks ago, Faith Matters released a video we called “Why Church?” It features several of our favorite people, who gave really thoughtful answers to that question that is present for so many. 

Today, we’re sharing Tom Christofferson’s Restore talk, which addresses the next question: “How Church?” Tom describes in poignant and sometimes hilarious detail his experiences joining a new ward where so many people are so unlike him, and, in the end, found that that was kind of the point. 

For us, this was one of the very most memorable sessions at this year’s Restore. We love Tom deeply and know he has so much to teach us. When he talks, we always stop to listen.

For those of you who don’t know, we’ve decided to release all of this year’s Restore sessions on YouTube totally free of charge. If you’d like to watch them, just head to YouTube and search “Faith Matters”  — you’ll see our channel pop up and you can subscribe there.

Tickets for Restore 2026 are now available, and we have a new format we think you're going to love. Get details here!

Our guest today is a long-time friend and collaborator, and an incredibly unique voice in the Latter-day Saint tradition: Thomas McConkie. Thomas is an author, developmental researcher and meditation teacher who has been practicing under masters in the traditions of Sufism, Buddhism and Christian contemplation, among others for over 25 years. Thomas is the founder of Lower Lights School of Wisdom, and is is currently researching and writing on transformative spiritual practice at Harvard Divinity School.

He’s also the author of a brand new book published by Faith Matters Publishing called At-One-Ment: Embodying the Fullness of Human-Divinity. This is, in our opinion, a monumentally important work, and one that has the capacity to powerfully change the way we see the world.

The book reminds us that much of Christianity has spent centuries focusing on what to believe. Thomas redirects this conversation to the simple but potent practices we can engage in body, heart, mind and spirit to awaken us to a greater measure of the Sacred right here and now. “At-one-ment” becomes a spiritual reality in which we can all participate, not just a historical event in which a select few believe.

In our conversation, we covered some important themes of the book, including how we can all at once seek transformation and already feel whole; how we are both individuals and yet deeply connected to everything and everyone around us, and how the mind, while indispensable and so prominent in our modern society, is far from the only way of knowing.

We really encourage you to pick up this book — it’s available now on Amazon and we think it makes a great gift as well.

And, as a note for those interested: Thomas will also be leading a 3-day retreat in Salt Lake City in May 2024, diving deeper into the concepts of At-one-ment. Additional details can be found here:

https://lowerlightswisdom.org/classes/the-art-and-practice-of-becoming-one-retreat-may-2024

Tickets for Restore 2026 are now available, and we have a new format we think you're going to love. Get details here!