Faith Matters

With Mother’s Day coming up, we’re so honored to bring you this conversation with McArthur Krishna about her new book, Mother in Heaven: A Gospel Topics Essay Study Guide. The doctrine of Heavenly Mother is one of the most beautiful and distinctive Latter-Day Saint teachings—but for many, it’s still unfamiliar territory. McArthur and her co-authors created this study guide as an invitation to engage with this doctrine more deeply. Drawing on the church’s Gospel Topics essay, the book explores...

Transcribed - Published: 3 May 2025

This week, we’re so glad to be sharing a conversation with our friend Chad Ford. Chad is a conflict mediator, peace educator, and associate professor of religious studies at Utah State University. He’s spent decades working in some of the most entrenched conflict zones in the world—from the Middle East to South Africa to Northern Ireland. He’s also the author of a new book called Seventy Times Seven: Jesus’s Path to Conflict Transformation, published by Deseret Book. The book explores a quest...

Transcribed - Published: 26 April 2025

With Easter just a few days away, we’re so excited to share this conversation with Amanda Suarez and Jon Ogden. Amanda and Jon are two of the co-founders of Uplift Kids, a lesson library and curriculum that helps families explore spirituality, values, and emotional health together. Amanda is a school psychologist and certified conscious parenting coach, and Jon is a writer, curriculum creator, and author of When Mormons Doubt. In this conversation, Amanda and Jon offer a beautiful vision of E...

Transcribed - Published: 16 April 2025

This week, we’re so excited to welcome Adam Miller and Rosalynde Welch to talk about their brand-new book, Seven Visions. This book is an exploration of seven visionary experiences in the Doctrine and Covenants—moments where heaven and earth meet in powerful and sometimes surprising ways. Through these visions, Adam and Rosalynde invite us to consider how we engage with scripture and revelation in our own lives. In this conversation, we explore what it means to truly see God’s face and hear g...

Transcribed - Published: 12 April 2025

This week, we’re really excited to share a conversation about a brand-new Children’s book called Changemakers by McArthur Krishna and Anne Pimentel, with beautiful artwork by Jessica Sarah Beach. The book is a powerful and much-needed affirmation, especially in a moment when many women are quietly wondering where they fit. Through stories from scripture and the global history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it highlights women whose ideas, faith, and courage have hel...

Transcribed - Published: 5 April 2025

Today we’re bringing you a special conversation hosted by Jared Halverson, who’s joined by three women—Bethany Brady Spalding, Kathryn Knight Sonntag, and me—who’ve been part of a larger, ongoing conversation sparked by one of Jared’s recent videos on social media. If you haven’t seen the video, here’s the context: Jared highlighted the recent trend of women leaving the Church in greater numbers than men and encouraged women to stay, he connects this to D&C 25, highlighting how much depen...

Transcribed - Published: 1 April 2025

We have a really fun episode for you today—We’re talking with James Goldberg about his delightful book Tales of the Chelm First Ward, which he co-wrote with his, wife Nicole Wilkes Goldberg, and his brother, Mattathias Singh. The book is a collection of fictional stories set in a Latter-day Saint ward in the imagined town of Chelm—a nod to Jewish folklore and the famous “village of fools.” The humor is wonderfully absurd but beneath the silliness is something powerful and profound. In this co...

Transcribed - Published: 29 March 2025

This week, we’re joined by Mike Petrow, who serves as the Director of Formation, Faculty Relations, and Theological Foundations at the Center for Action and Contemplation. The CAC is a nonprofit founded by Father Richard Rohr that introduces seekers to the contemplative Christian path of transformation. Mike is intimately involved with the CAC’s Living School, a core educational offering from the CAC that last year offered a course called Essentials of Engaged Contemplation that Tim and I par...

Transcribed - Published: 22 March 2025

This week, we’re excited to share a conversation between Zach Davis and New York Times columnist and author David French. David French began his career as a constitutional litigator, with a special focus on religious liberty. He has since become known for his thoughtful, principled political writing, having worked previously for The National Review, The Dispatch and The Atlantic. In their conversation today, David emphasizes the need for Christians to move from a fear-based political cu...

Transcribed - Published: 15 March 2025

This week, we’re welcoming back our good friend Jeff Strong. Last year, Jeff and his team sent out a survey to the Faith Matters audience as part of a larger research project on faith and church participation. Over 1,600 of you responded, and the results were fascinating! We’re excited to share them with you today. What emerged was a picture of a significant and often unheard cross-section of the Church—a community of people who are deeply devoted but also wrestling, holding both conviction a...

Transcribed - Published: 8 March 2025

For today’s episode, we’re releasing a fascinating conversation that Aubrey had with Rich Hanks about the life and legacy of his father, Marion D. Hanks. For those who know his name, you’ll know exactly why this conversation matters so much to us—Marion D. Hanks embodied so many of the values we hold dear. He was a leader of immense integrity, a champion for those on the margins, and a disciple of Christ in the truest sense. Even today, the ripples of his influence continue to shape the Churc...

Transcribed - Published: 1 March 2025

We have been waiting a long time for this episode with our friend Thomas McConkie. As many of you know, Thomas is an incredibly skilled meditation teacher and guide on the path of spiritual awakening. Faith Matters produced his very popular online course Transformations of Faith and also published his incredible book At-One-Ment, which has deeply impacted so many readers. For the last several years, Thomas has been doing graduate work at Harvard Divinity School. All the while, we have b...

Transcribed - Published: 22 February 2025

This week, Tim and I are sharing a fascinating conversation with therapist and researcher Janeen Martin about the complex and deeply personal ways that religion and mental health intersect. Janeen has spent years working with clients navigating the full spectrum of religious experience—some who find their faith to be a source of deep resilience and healing, and others for whom it has been a source of pain and struggle. That contrast led her to ask some big questions: What makes religion a pr...

Transcribed - Published: 15 February 2025

This week, we are thrilled to welcome back Terryl Givens—one of our all-time favorite guests and collaborators and someone we always have a running list of topics for. This time, we’re finally diving deep into the topic of agency and free will: it’s something that has come up in many of our past conversations but never had its own dedicated discussion. Terryl’s new book, Agency, is part of the Maxwell Institute’s Doctrine & Covenants theological series, and it explores some of the m...

Transcribed - Published: 8 February 2025

This week, we’re thrilled to talk with Carl Youngblood— longtime technologist, software engineer, and president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. Artificial Intelligence is no longer a distant, futuristic idea—it’s already shaping the way we learn, work, and even practice our faith. And just this past week, AI made big headlines again in the tech world with the release of vastly improved models and increasing belief among technology leaders that artificial general intelligence (AGI) is...

Transcribed - Published: 1 February 2025

This week, Zach Davis is joined by New York Times columnist and author Ross Douthat to talk about his new book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious.Ross has spent his career bridging worlds—explaining faith and conservatism to a largely secular audience while also translating secular ideas back to religious readers. In this conversation, he makes a compelling case for why belief isn’t just a leap into the unknown, but a rational and maybe even necessary response to the world as we actua...

Transcribed - Published: 25 January 2025

This week, we’re joined by Shima Baradaran Baughman, a nationally renowned expert on criminal justice reform and a law professor at BYU. After years focusing on shaping public policy and reforming systems, Shima began to recognize that the deepest and most lasting change wasn’t coming from legislation alone, but from the quiet, compassionate efforts of faith communities and individuals who were directly transforming lives one by one.In this conversation, Shima shares her astonishing life stor...

Transcribed - Published: 18 January 2025

This week, we’re so grateful to share a conversation with Justin Dyer, a professor of religion at BYU and a researcher who has spent years exploring the intersection of faith and mental health. Justin’s most recent work focuses on perfectionism, especially within the church. He recently edited a special issue of BYU Studies Quarterly dedicated entirely to this subject, and you can find a link to it in our show notes.In this conversation, Justin shares some compelling research, including the s...

Transcribed - Published: 11 January 2025

This week, we’re so grateful to share a conversation with Justin Dyer, a professor of religion at BYU and a researcher who has spent years exploring the intersection of faith and mental health. Justin’s most recent work focuses on perfectionism, especially within the church. He recently edited a special issue of BYU Studies Quarterly dedicated entirely to this subject, and you can find a link to it in our show notes.In this conversation, Justin shares some compelling research, including the s...

Transcribed - Published: 11 January 2025

This week, we’re joined by Jana Spangler for a powerful and practical conversation about emotions—especially the ones we’ll do just about anything to avoid feeling.Jana explains that emotions aren’t our enemies; they’re signals—messages from deep within us, rooted in ancient systems designed to guide and protect us. While emotions can feel overwhelming or even painful, learning to pay attention to them—rather than suppress or ignore them—helps us understand what’s really going on and respond ...

Transcribed - Published: 4 January 2025

This week, we’re joined by Jana Spangler for a powerful and practical conversation about emotions—especially the ones we’ll do just about anything to avoid feeling.Jana explains that emotions aren’t our enemies; they’re signals—messages from deep within us, rooted in ancient systems designed to guide and protect us. While emotions can feel overwhelming or even painful, learning to pay attention to them—rather than suppress or ignore them—helps us understand what’s really going on and respond ...

Transcribed - Published: 4 January 2025

As we wrap up the year, we’ve got something a little different in store for you today. We’ve invited Zach Davis, Bill Turnbull, and McKay Coppins on for a conversation about two Hollywood Films that are making waves. Zach is the executive director of Faith Matters, Bill is one of the founders, and you may remember Mckay from his previous episodes. He’s a New York Times bestselling author and staff writer at the Atlantic. They’re joining us today for a deep dive into two films-...

Transcribed - Published: 28 December 2024

Today, as Christmas Eve settles around us, we invite you into a quiet meditation written by Tyler Johnson and published as the culmination of the advent series in the FM magazine, Wayfare, with music from the King's College Choir singing O Magnum Mysterium. This reflection draws us into the sacred reality of the Nativity—the laboring Mary, exhausted and tearful, the beauty born through pain. It reminds us that the Christ child did not come to erase suffering but to teach us how to live a...

Transcribed - Published: 24 December 2024

In the spirit of this Christmas season, we’re so excited to share a beautiful reflection with you, written and read by Lori Forsyth, Managing Editor of the Faith Matters magazine, Wayfare. This piece is part of Wayfare’s Advent series. If you've missed any parts of this series, you can still find them at wayfaremagazine.org. You can also subscribe to the digital or print versions of Wayfare for access to the incredible essays, interviews, poetry, art and more.Advent is a time of reflect...

Transcribed - Published: 21 December 2024

This week, we’re so excited to share our conversation with Dr. Janette H. Ok. She’s an Associate Professor of New Testament at Fuller Seminary and an ordained pastor at Ekko Church in Anaheim, CA. She earned her MDiv and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary and is passionate about empowering women—as leaders and preachers in their religious communities.This conversation is a rich exploration about why women’s voices are essential in religious settings and how we can step into those opportu...

Transcribed - Published: 14 December 2024

This week, we are so thrilled to bring you a conversation with Joseph Grenny. If you’ve ever read Crucial Conversations, Influencer, or Change Anything, then you already know the immense impact of Joseph’s work. His books have sold millions of copies and become essential texts for building trust, improving relationships, and transforming the way we communicate in every area of life—from families to Fortune 500 companies.Joseph is more than an author. He’s a social scientist, a business leader...

Transcribed - Published: 7 December 2024

Today, we’re excited to share our conversation with Dr. Rebecca Glazier, a Professor at the School of Public Affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and author of the new book, Faith and Community: How Engagement Strengthens Members, Places of Worship, and Society. For over a decade, Rebecca has been researching how religious communities engage in their broader communities, and the findings are incredibly compelling.Rebecca’s work offers a powerful perspective on how congregation...

Transcribed - Published: 30 November 2024

This week, we’re thrilled to share a conversation with Hannah Packard Crowther about her new book, Gracing, the latest release from Faith Matters Publishing. We love Hannah's profound wisdom, lyrical writing, and her invitation to reflect on grace in entirely new ways, the book also features stunning, original, artwork by J. Kirk Richards. Hannah asks—what if grace is not a gift we passively receive, but a dynamic process we actively engage in and co-create with God? Drawing from life’s ...

Transcribed - Published: 23 November 2024

This week, we’re thrilled to share a conversation with Lisa Olsen Tait and Scott Hales, two of the historians and general editors behind Saints, the Church’s official history series. With the release of Volume 4 which covers the years of 1955 to 2020, this monumental task of recounting the Church’s story from its founding to the present day is now complete.And in this candid discussion, Lisa and Scott reflect on the Church’s evolving approach to its own history through the years. They both sh...

Transcribed - Published: 16 November 2024

Today, we're bringing you a special episode recorded live from the Restore gathering, where we were joined by Jared Halverson. Jared, who’s become a familiar voice to many of us here, spoke on what he calls “contraries” or paradoxes that are inherent in a life of faith. His message felt like a breath of fresh air and especially timely.He offers the powerful image of the cross as a symbol of wholeness in our discipleship. One axis, reaching vertically, represents our connection to God, while t...

Transcribed - Published: 9 November 2024

Tyler Johnson is intimately familiar with suffering. He’s an oncologist who has sat with countless people in some of the most difficult moments of their lives, and in the final moments before their deaths. He’s been there as people have received life-changing news, and as they’ve grappled with their deepest questions: “What has my life meant? What should I prioritize if my time is limited? Have I given enough attention to what truly matters?”It’s that perspective that Tyler brings to the proj...

Transcribed - Published: 2 November 2024

We’re excited to share something special with you. Today we're featuring an episode from the Proclaim Peace Podcast because we were so touched by this powerful conversation that feels especially meaningful right now—with an election right around the corner. In this episode, Patrick Mason, Jennifer Thomas, and their guest Thomas McConkie, explore how meaningful action doesn't come from this energy of frantic box-checking or a striving for perfection, but from a heart transformed by grace....

Transcribed - Published: 26 October 2024

This week, we’re honored to welcome Arthur Brooks to the podcast. Arthur is a renowned social scientist, Harvard professor, and bestselling author, and we’re excited to talk with him about his latest book, Build the Life You Want, which he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey.In our conversation, Arthur offers some profound insights on happiness, emphasizing that though genetics and circumstances influence our baseline, we have significant agency over our happiness. It's a skill we can practice and...

Transcribed - Published: 19 October 2024

In today’s episode, we’re talking with Dr. Jennifer Thomas, co-authored with Gary Chapman of The 5 Apology Languages: The Secret to Healthy Relationships. Dr. Thomas's work builds on the framework of the 5 Love Languages and offers a profound new lens for how we give and receive apologies. If you’ve ever felt like you’ve said “I’m sorry” but it didn’t quite land, or if you’ve been on the receiving end of an apology that didn’t feel satisfying, this conversation is going to hit home.In this di...

Transcribed - Published: 12 October 2024

This week, we’re sharing a beautiful and timely conversation between Faith Matters’ executive director Zach Davis and Andrew Hanauer, the founder and CEO of the One America Movement, an organization that helps faith leaders fight toxic polarization. In this conversation, Andrew and Zach discuss the causes behind the rise in polarization, the way political tribalism can become a false idol, and the imperative of truly following Jesus’ call to “love your enemies, bless them that curse you,...

Transcribed - Published: 5 October 2024

For today’s episode, we’re bringing you another powerful moment from our Restore gathering. Eboo Patel joined us to explore a compelling and deeply hopeful vision for what it means to build a loving, spiritually rich community where different faiths come together to form the foundation of a stronger, more united whole. Eboo challenges us to live our faiths in ways that not only elevate ourselves but lift others, creating bonds that bridge divides and bring healing to our world.Eboo, an Ismail...

Transcribed - Published: 28 September 2024

We have decided to share with you 2-3 sessions from our recent Restore gathering to give you a taste of what took place during this amazing weekend. Last week we shared Joseph Grenny’s incredible message. It was an instant classic. . Today, we’re honored to bring you another really special moment from Restore. In a powerful, unflinching, and faithful presentation, our friend and community leader Neylan McBaine addressed an “elephant in the room” that so often goes unnamed: our experienc...

Transcribed - Published: 22 September 2024

This week, we’re going to share what we think was an “instant classic” from last week’s Restore Gathering; a deeply personal and thought-provoking message about family, faith, and the complexity of life from Joseph Grenny, author of Crucial Conversations and co-founder of many organizations, including The Other Side Academy, Drawing from his own experience with his own “messy” family, Joseph speaks openly about moments of despair, including the heartache of watching loved ones, including...

Transcribed - Published: 14 September 2024

Today is the start of this year’s Restore! We look forward to seeing those of you who are attending! This week we’re departing from our normal format and sharing a recent conversation of the MormonLand podcast, between the Salt Lake Tribune’s Peggy Fletcher Stack and David Noyce and our executive director, Zach Davis. The conversation focused on the origin and vision of Faith Matters, the questions we are wrestling with, and what to expect at this year’s Restore. We think you’re really going ...

Transcribed - Published: 6 September 2024

This week, we’re sitting down with our good friend Patrick Mason for a conversation that is as deeply challenging. Patrick recently returned from a transformative trip to Rwanda, where he was confronted with the enduring impact of the 1994 genocide. In our discussion, Patrick shares his reflections on witnessing both the unimaginable horrors of the past and the remarkable steps toward reconciliation and peace that are happening today.We also dive into the hard questions: Where is God in the m...

Transcribed - Published: 31 August 2024

This week, we’re thrilled to be joined by our friend, David Butler. You may know David from his incredible podcast, Don’t Miss This, where he and Grace Freeman dive deeply into the scriptures with an infectious joy and thoughtful insights. We’re so excited to have David here in the studio, and even more excited that he’ll be joining us at Restore in just a few weeks.In this conversation, David helps us explore one of the biggest faith questions: what is the nature of God? So many of us have e...

Transcribed - Published: 24 August 2024

Today, we’re thrilled to welcome Mallory Everton–a comedian, actor, and writer–and Diana Brown–the new Associate Director for Faith Matters, to the podcast. We’re diving into a conversation that’s often overlooked but so important—being single in the church. Diana and Mallory are launching a new podcast on the Faith Matters Podcast Network called The Soloists, where they’ll be talking about singleness and relationships, and what it's like trying to form families in today’s cultural and techno...

Transcribed - Published: 17 August 2024

This week, we're thrilled to welcome back Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, a renowned therapist specializing in relationship and sexuality counseling within the Latter-day Saint community. We’re super excited that Jennifer has a new book coming out this year that Faith Matters is publishing, and she’ll also be joining us in person soon for Restore.In our conversation, we explore some of the early themes from Jennifer’s book, including the shift many couples experience from passion to duty in marr...

Transcribed - Published: 10 August 2024

This week, we are re-releasing a conversation with Pete Davis. In 2018, Pete Davis was graduating from Harvard Law School and was chosen to give a commencement address that ended up going unexpectedly viral, having now been viewed over 30 million times.The thesis of Pete’s speech was that our culture has entered what he calls “infinite browsing mode”—with so many options to choose from, and devices that present those options to us literally endlessly—we can become paralyzed by choice and inad...

Transcribed - Published: 3 August 2024

Today, we’re sharing a beautiful conversation between writer and thinker Elizabeth Oldfield and Zachary Davis. Elizabeth is the author of Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times and host of the podcast, “Sacred”. Elizabeth grew up in a faintly Christian home that rarely if ever spoke of God; But as a young teen she had a powerful and unmistakable answer to prayer that made her a believer. She then turned to the Bible to learn more about her newfound christian faith and was bl...

Transcribed - Published: 28 July 2024

This week, we're bringing you a special episode with Brian Mclaren on his new book, Life after Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart. Though we recorded this conversation weeks ago, it feels especially timely now in light of the horrific violence we witnessed this last weekend in the attempt on former President Trump's life, the deadly heat waves and hurricanes happening across the world, and so much else. This book is an empowering call to action and an invitation to do th...

Transcribed - Published: 20 July 2024

Today, we're resharing an interview we loved with Astrid Tuminez, who we're excited to be hosting as a speaker at Restore this year. Astrid is the President of Utah Valley University and an absolute delight to talk with and listen to. She’s full of stories, humor, and deep insights that made our time with her pass way too quickly.This interview actually came about because Astrid wrote an essay in Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook’s new book Every Needful Thing. We loved Astrid’s essay and knew...

Transcribed - Published: 13 July 2024

Today, we’re thrilled to welcome therapist and podcaster Valerie Hamaker.In his book Falling Upward, Franciscan priest Richard Rohr uses the metaphor of a container to elaborate on what he calls “the two halves of life.” The first half of life, he says, is for building the structure of the container; the second is for filling it and sharing from it. This concept has been foundational for us in our faith journey over the last 10 years, and today with Valerie, we delved into how everyone’s fait...

Transcribed - Published: 7 July 2024

This week, we're thrilled to welcome back Dr. Michael Wilcox to the podcast. Michael is an esteemed author and longtime Institute teacher, and his previous episodes, which we released in two parts as "God's Many Voices" in episodes 85 and 86, have been some of the most listened to in Faith Matters' history. It's been three years since we last had him on, and we're excited to dive into another meaningful conversation.In this episode, Michael shares his profound insights on the topic of the mar...

Transcribed - Published: 29 June 2024

This is part two of our conversation with Michael Wilcox, and if you haven’t heard part one yet, it helps set up some important context for this episode. This is really not an interview so much as a story Michael tells: the story of his father, who navigated life in the mid-20th century as a gay man and a Latter-day Saint.This story delves into the messy and painful predicaments his family faced, when reality failed to fit the predictable ideal. It also offers a glimpse into the experience of...

Transcribed - Published: 29 June 2024