Maxwell Institute Podcast

Easter. A time for Christians to consider the life, atoning sacrifice, and miraculous resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How can we use our knowledge of the Old Testament to deepen our Easter experiences? And how can understanding how other religions approach Easter help us commit to being better Christians and Latter-day Saints. The post Abide: Easter appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

“When we begin to see ourselves as the prodigal in that famed biblical parable, we are better able to minister to that prodigal daughter or that prodigal father. When we see them as in process and recognize the same in ourselves, we can forgive their wandering because we know we must.” The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #140: Prodigals All, with Spencer Fluhman appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

In some ways, Israel has to be feeling pretty great in Exodus 14-17. They’re finally escaping enslavement and have been delivered by God through His prophet. On the other hand, they are also between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea. Spoilers: they escape. But they didn’t know that until the moment of deliverance–they had to have faith that the Lord would provide a way for them. What can we learn from the ancient Israelites living, figuratively and literally, on the water’s edge? We’ll discuss that and more on today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.” The post Abide: Exodus 14-17 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

God delivers us. That’s one of the central takeaways of Exodus’s story. But what do we do to ensure that we remember that takeaway? In this episode of Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast, we discuss what it means to hold on in the face of adversity, to remember the actions that ensure our temporal and spiritual salvation, and much more. The post Abide: Exodus 7-13 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Exodus: a movement of the people. As we move into the second book of the Tanak, or Old Testament, we have more than a movement of people. We have a flurry of new people, ideas, and we see Jehovah’s miraculous work through ancient Israelite eyes. But how can we be moved? How can we learn to see God’s orchestrations and work to become a part of them? We discuss that and much more in today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.” The post Abide: Exodus 1-6 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Throughout the Old Testament we learn much about the relationships of tribes, clans, and family groups. We began discussing Israel’s family in the last episode, focusing on Joseph, the favored son sold into Egypt whose meteoric rise in Egyptian politics through the spiritual gift of interpreting dreams ultimately provided a land inheritance that would keep the family together. What can we learn in the last chapters of Genesis about spiritual gifts, brotherly love, and how understanding biblical narrative can make sacred stories more clear? We discuss that, and much more, on today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.” The post Abide: Genesis 42-50 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

The version of Joseph in Egypt I got growing up was shaped heavily by Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Despite the delightful music and vivid color, there’s far more to the Joseph narrative than even Donny Osmond can share in 90 minutes. In today’s episode of Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast, we explore several key themes in the story of Joseph in Egypt. The post Genesis 37-41 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Volume 5 of the Revelations and Translations series from the Joseph Smith Papers Project presents all extant fragments of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon. For the first time ever, researchers have access to a photograph and color-coded transcripts of each fragment of the manuscript, showing every change made and which scribe made it. The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #139: The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, with Robin Scott Jensen appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Readers of the Tanak or Old Testament see that The Lord marks Israel as a chosen people. Modern Latter-day Saints identify with being a “peculiar people.”  But what does it mean to be a chosen people? And how does one’s peculiarity mark boundaries of values, identity, and peoplehood? Chosenness does not mean a life without disappointment or despair, but it does bring comfort in recognizing the divine power of our Heavenly Parents’ love for all of their children. In today’s episode of Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast, we dive into Genesis 28-33 to explore Chosenness in three ways: covenant relationships, expectations, and longing as it affects the ancient Israelites and modern Saints alike. The post Abide: Genesis 28-33 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

As Genesis marches on we are introduced to new people, whose lives are in some ways different than our own, but in many ways are similar. In this episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast,” we meet Isaac and Rebekah, who push us to think about what our responsibilities are in our families, and how we can understand people and their faith in all their complexity. My name is Joseph Stuart, I’m the public communications specialist at the Maxwell Institute. Kristian Heal is a Research Fellow at the Institute, and each week we will be discussing the week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block, so as to help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to “inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” Today we are joined by one of our research assistants, C

Today, Dr. Elisa Eastwood Pulido joins us to discuss her book, The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista: Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident, and Utopian Founder, 1878-1961 (Oxford University Press, 2020). Dr. Pulido’s book is the first full-length biography of Margarito Bautista (1878-1961), a celebrated Latino Mormon leader in the U.S. and Mexico in the early twentieth century who was a Mexican cultural nationalist, visionary, founder of a utopian commune, and Mormon dissident. Surprisingly little is known about Bautista’s remarkable life, the scope of his work, or the development of his vision. Elisa Eastwood Pulido draws on his letters, books, pamphlets, and unpublished diaries to provide a lens through which to view the convergence of Mormon evangelization, Mexican nationalism, and religious improvisation in the U.S. Mexico borderlands. The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #138: The Biography of Margarito Bautista, with Elisa Eastwood Pulido appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | B

The Lectures on Faith teaches that, “…a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.” But how much can we be asked to sacrifice? For Abraham, he seemed to have been asked to sacrifice in a myriad of ways. First, he placed his faith on the altar by waiting for a child with his wife, Sarah. Second, and more famously God commanded him to sacrifice his long-awaited son, Isaac on a literal altar. How can we approach this as modern Latter-day Saints with a context of near ancient eastern history and culture? We’ll discuss that and more on today’s episode of Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast. The post Abide: Genesis 18-23 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

The post Abide: Genesis 12-17 and Abraham 1-2 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Have you ever had anyone ask you “what is scripture?” For such a short question it has the possibility to open up into thousands of answers. For Latter-day Saints, it can be defined as “whatsoever [God’s representatives] shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost.” This definition is somewhat broader than many other Christian definitions of scripture, incorporating both written and spoken modes of inspiration. At the end of the day, though, scripture must be interpreted by the power of the Holy Ghost for edification. In the past several hundred years, though, some have looked to academic tools to prove the truth of religious texts. Professionals from fields like history, archaeology, and anthropology have sought to add detail from the empirical record to sacred texts. Those professionals are often women and men of faith. But what are the limits of using academic tools to “prove” religious truth? And how did that play out in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ during the first decades of the

Introduction: The world of the Old Testament, like our own day, is swimming in violence. From the direct and intimate violence of person-to-person interaction to the structural violence that reinforce hunger, war, and inequality, each of us is affected by others’ use of force. Despite this reality, or perhaps because of it, the Lord commanded us to “proclaim peace” to the world and to follow the Prince of Peace. In choosing peace we are rejecting our own desires for results, for others to bend to our will, in order to align our will with the Lord’s.  On today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast,” we discuss Noah, the Tower of Babel, and violence, thinking broadly about what we can learn from violence in scripture. The post Abide: Genesis 6-11 and Moses 8 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Moses 7 features Enoch, a figure that receives scant attention in Genesis, but has an overwhelming impact on the Pearl of Great Price. Importantly, Enoch’s experience with God also shapes how we view the Father, His relationship to us, and recognize his character and disposition. In today’s episode of Abide, we discuss Moses 7 and how it contributes to Latter-day Saint ideas.  My name is Joseph Stuart, I’m the public communications specialist at the Maxwell Institute. Kristian Heal is a Research Fellow at the Institute, and each week we will be discussing the week’s block of reading from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Come, Follow Me” curriculum. We aren’t here to present a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block, so as to help fulfill the Maxwell Institute’s mission to “inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.” Today we are joined by special guest Terryl Gi

The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #136: Documenting a Relationship: Early Latter-day Saints and the Book of Mormon, with Janiece Johnson appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

A lot of time passes in Genesis 5. We see fathers and sons’ names and their ages when sons were sired. They lived a lot longer than we do now! In Moses 5 we receive far more detail about post-Eden life but without the connections to genealogy beyond Adam, Abel, Cain, and Lamech.  What are we to understand from these genealogies? What happens when we zoom way out, like in Genesis 5, or we zoom in and receive more detail, like in Moses 6? We’ll discuss that and more in this week’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.” The post Abide: Genesis 5; Moses 6 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Please enjoy Dr. Jennifer Reeder’s 2021 Neal A. Maxwell Lecture! You can watch the address, with Dr. Reeder’s slides, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo7GR8ql_xY. The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #135: The Stuff of Discipleship, with Jennifer Reeder appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

“Adam fell that men might be. And men are that they might have joy.” Lehi’s declaration in 2 Nephi 2 is transformative in Latter-day Saint theology, transforming an event portrayed often in negative terms throughout Abrahamic faiths into something fulfilling and meaningful.  That isn’t the only way that Latter-day Saints understand the Fall differently than Jews, Christians, and Muslims. In today’s episode of Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast,  we explore the scriptural narratives of Eden, post-Eden life, agency, and much much more. The post Abide: Genesis 3–4 and Moses 4–5 appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.