Maxwell Institute Podcast

What does it mean to be an objective judge of history--of personal history, family history, or shared human history? Are charity and objectivity opposites--or are they partners? Today on the podcast I talk to Jenny Hale Pulsipher, a professor of history at BYU and a contributor to the Maxwell Institute’s recent book Every Needful Thing: Essays on the Life of the Mind and the Heart. As an historian, Jenny specializes in finding the nuance in complex historical figures--never excusing wrongdoing, but never losing sight of the gospel’s witness that we are all children of God. In the October 2022 General Conference, Sister Anette Dennis, Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, asked, “How many wounded individuals do we have among us? How often do we judge others based on their outward appearance and actions, or lack of action, when, if we fully understood, we would instead react with compassion and a desire to help instead of adding to their burdens with our judgment?” Jenny and I talked about how to