The end of the world (Latter-day Saint style), with Christopher James Blythe [MIPodcast #119]

Maxwell Institute Podcast

Christianity, Education, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 809 Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2020

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Christopher Blythe’s new book focuses on Latter-day Saint views of the end of the world, which might seem like it’s a little on the nose, but here we are!

Blythe goes back to the beginning of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to find out how early church members thought about the apocalypse—the cataclysmic end of the world which would usher in a new peaceful era under the reign of Jesus Christ. The more tension Latter-day Saints felt with the United States where the church began, the more intense their ideas about how it would all turn out became. But Blythe says violent visions of end times destruction began to fade as the church became more mainstream in American culture.

About the Guest

Christopher James Blythe is a Research Associate at the Maxwell Institute’s Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies. In 2019 he was named co-editor of the Journal of Mormon History. He also is co-president of the Folklore Society of Utah. His new book is Terrible Revolution: Latter Day Saints and the American Apocalypse. He has coedited two volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers Documents series.

The post The end of the world (Latter-day Saint style), with Christopher James Blythe [MIPodcast #119] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Maxwell Institute podcast. I'm Blair Hodges.
0:05.8	Christopher Blythe's new book focuses on Latter-Dy-Staint views of the end of the world, which
0:09.7	might seem like it's a little bit on the nose right now, but here we are. Blythe goes back to
0:14.8	the beginning of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to find out how early church
0:18.4	members thought about the apocalypse, the cataclysmic
0:21.5	end of the world which would usher in a new peaceful era under the reign of Jesus Christ.
0:26.2	The more tension Latter-day Saints felt with the United States, where the church began, the
0:30.3	more intense their ideas about how it would all turn out became.
0:34.4	But Blythe says violent visions of end times destruction began to fade as the church became
0:38.9	more mainstream in American culture. Questions and comments about this and other episodes of the
0:43.9	Maxwell Institute podcast can be sent to me at MI Podcast at BYUu.edu. I'm sitting here right now
0:51.1	with Christopher Blythe, I want to set the scene a little bit for listeners, because this is the first interview that we've ever done in the new Maxwell Institute building.
0:59.1	So, Chris, you are the very first one to join me here.
1:02.0	Exciting times.
1:03.0	Yeah, so we're sitting in the new Maxwell Institute library.
1:05.6	I won't typically be doing interviews in here, but it's empty in here.
1:09.6	The books are not on the shelves. I can't wait until
1:12.2	the place is finished. We've got art up on the walls throughout the hallways. Offices are getting
1:16.2	put together. It's an exciting time at the Maxwell Institute. And Chris, how have you spent your
1:21.3	summer? How has it been with COVID going on? I've done a lot of childcare. So I'm there.
1:26.5	Mm-hmm. That did some interviews, some blog writing, and a lot of child care.
1:32.1	And you had a book come out.
	...

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