Hello and welcome to another episode of the Maxwell Institute's Book of Mormon Studies podcast.

My name is Rosalind Welch. I'm the host of the podcast and I'm joined today by Dr. Joseph Spencer.

Dr. Spencer's name has been all over this podcast from day one.

So listeners know who you are, Joe.

Nevertheless, Dr. Spencer is an associate professor of ancient scripture here at Brigham Young University.

Among many notable accomplishments, I'll just note that he is the author of a new book,

A Word in Season, Isaiah's Reception in the Book of Mormon that was published last year in

2023. We're not going to spend a lot of time talking about that book today, but I'll just say

that it's actually very relevant to our discussion. And that is the way that the Book of Mormon was received in the 19th century when it came forth.

So as listeners will see, if you hang with us here, it will become very relevant to our discussion today.

So Joe, welcome to the podcast.

Thanks. Glad to be here.

It is December. This is the last official episode of this

podcast, an episode on each book of the Book of Mormon diving into the text, and then an

episode on the highlights of the scholarly literature around each book in the Book of Mormon.

Today we're talking about scholarly literature on the book of Maroni.

And then we're going to transition into speaking a little more broadly about reception scholarship, as I've talked about.

The book of Maronite is a wonderful book. It is a testament that the heavens are open,

that God still speaks, and that in the midst of darkness and destruction, grief, mourning,

and violence, we can be filled with faith, hope, and charity through the abundant gifts of God.

It's a beautiful book, and it has prompted beautiful reflection and beautiful scholarship.

I'm going to kick us off today, Joe, by introducing to our readers the last of the Maxwell

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