From Brigham Young University's Maxwell Institute, this is the Maxwell Institute podcast,

Faith Illuminating Scholarship.

My name is Rosalind Welch, and today I have for you an interview with Dr. Stephen Harper,

another in my series of conversations with our new Maxwell Institute fellows.

Dr. Harper is a professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University and the author of many books, most recently,

wrestling with the restoration out last year from Desiret Book. Steve will be a fellow at the

Maxwell Institute for the next two years, here to work on a book about the doctrine and covenants for Oxford University Press.

This will be the first book of its kind at a major university press, a landmark in the field.

In this conversation, we talk about what it means for a revelation to become scripture, a topic theologians call

canonization. Steve shares a view of canonization that is less a single historical event and more a social process driven by countless individuals,

men and women, adults and children, who return again and again

to the text as a place to hear the voice of Christ. We talk about the Restoration's unique view of

Revelation and Scripture. For Latter-day Saints, it's not the earliest divine word that is privileged,

but the most current,

and how this changes things for historians and believers.

We talk about the future of the doctrine covenants in our rapidly globalizing church,

where the historical context of Joseph Smith's revelations becomes ever more remote. And Professor Harper shares some thoughts on Section 132, perhaps the most difficult of sections in the Doctrine

and Covenants, and how frustration can be a gateway to revelation. Please enjoy this interview with Stephen C. Harper. Steve Harper, welcome to the Maxwell

Institute podcast. I, Roslyn, thanks for having me. It's great to be with you. I want to take you back in time.

I want to take you back to November of 1831. Joseph Smith has just convened a council

of church leaders in the Johnson Farmhouse in Hiram, Ohio, and you, Steve, are a fly on the wall

in that room. You're watching the events of these days. During the course of almost a week,

...