Episode 609: Christian Kimball, LDS Author, “Living on the Inside of the Edge”

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Richard Ostler

Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 839 Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2023

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

My friend Chris Kimball (married father of three, grandfather of eleven, and as he says, a 'retired' bishop, a 'retired' professor, and a 'retired' lawyer) joins us to share his unique Latter-day Saint journey. Chris shares some of his personal story which includes deciding more than 25 years ago to no longer sit for worthiness interviews and as a result to not hold a temple recommend, and nevertheless stay a participating member of the Church. Chris shares why he doesn’t hold a recommend and some of how he stays in the Church. The long journey has led to Chris writing a book called “Living on the Inside of the Edge: A Survival Guide”. The purpose of the book is to help other Latter-day Saints in a faith transition/faith crisis who have a goal to stay in the Church. The book would also be helpful for local leaders and parents who are looking for new tools/perspectives to help those in a faith crisis/transition who are working to find an authentic way to stay in the Church. That said, Chris informs listeners the book is not agenda based, not arguing for staying nor arguing for leaving, but supportive of people in their individual journeys. I was deeply moved listening to Chris and his long view of being on this road. I believe this podcast and his book will help you if you are in a faith transition or if you want to better understand and support those walking this road. Thank you, Chris, for your much needed work in our community. I hope your book is read far and wide! Links mentioned in the podcast: Chris’s book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/194821878X Waters of Mormon Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/366835446735927

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome listeners to another episode of Listen, Learn and Love, hosted by Richard Osler.
0:10.3	My guest on today's podcast, kind of been my friend for a long time that I've actually never talked to the way we're going to talk in this podcast.
0:18.1	And he's going to talk about his new book is my friend Chris
0:21.6	Kimball. Welcome to the podcast, Chris. Thank you. It's good to meet you. I know this is all audio,
0:29.4	but Richard face-to-face. It is good. Do you go by Christian or Chris for our listeners?
0:38.3	This will be a longer answer than you want.
0:42.3	I go by Chris, I go by Christian, I go by Christian E. Kimball.
0:47.3	When we got to the publishing for this book, the publisher came back to me and said, the way Amazon works, you're going to have
0:56.5	to pick a name and use that forever for anything you publish or write. And so we decided,
1:04.0	since I'd been using Christian E. Kimball professionally in my legal practice for years and years,
1:09.9	we decided for publication in the
1:13.5	Mormon sphere, we would use Christian Kimball. But I go by Chris most of the time with my friends.
1:20.0	I'm glad I asked that question. That was a very thoughtful and helpful answer. Just to introduce
1:25.7	my friend Chris, he's a lawyer by profession. He's in his mid-60s. He's a
1:31.3	married father of three. He's going to talk about his story as a Latter-day Saint, serving as a bishop
1:38.3	while I'm teaching law school at Boston University. This is about 25 years ago and then being released from being
1:46.5	bishop and turned in his temple recommend, but didn't turn in his church membership and has stayed
1:52.6	a member of the church attending consistently, but not having a temple recommend. He'll talk about
2:00.3	why that's been his path forward. And
2:03.2	either Chris or I are suggesting that's your path forward. Chris is not prescriptive, but it's
2:08.5	sharing his story. And the name of his book is called Living on the Inside of the Edge, a survival
2:14.4	guide. So we hope this podcast to be helpful for those of you that are
	...

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