It's the Maxwell Institute podcast. I'm Blair Hodges.

Latter-day Saint historians have long demonstrated that the Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints was not established all at once, but that it has unfolded, line upon line,

precept upon precept to borrow a biblical phrase. Ideas about priesthood in Mormonism, for example,

have developed over time in fascinating ways.

A new book from Oxford University Press called The Power of Godliness

gives us one historian's take on the development of priesthood.

Jonathan Stapley is the author, and he joins us here to talk about LDS priesthood and ritual,

everything from baby blessings and baptism to temple

ceilings and everything else in between. Before we get to it, I want to thank Colin Stewart,

one of our new interns at the Maxwell Institute. He helped with some of the audio editing

on this episode. It's the first time anyone other than me has played around with the recording

before it reaches your ears, so thanks Colin, and also Camille Hogille Hogglet-Messick, she's taken up the duties

of transcription for the show. She's transcribing these latest episodes, and she's also going

through the back catalog to make sure that people will be able to read every single episode.

You can read full transcriptions at my.byu.edu.m.m.podcast slash transcript.

Okay, our review of the month comes from fred axelgard here's what he said about the show

i've been listening to these podcasts for well over a year and i find them

the best thing out there in lvvess listening for those with an academic interest in

Mormonism and related topics there's a superb interviewer always prepared.

The guests are excellent and he lets them shine.

Hats off to the Maxwell Institute.

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