Maxwell Institute Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Abide: Exodus 24; 31-34 Apr 28, 2022

Show notes

Often, when we speak about matters of religion, we discuss belief. “I know the Church is true. I have received a witness for myself that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I have had these experiences and share them in Sunday school and other venues. For me, though, faith also takes place in the fleshy here-and-now. My religion is taking the sacrament on Sunday with all the ties poking out of shirt collars, special trays for those who can’t have gluten, and the silent nod of a bishop signaling that the sacramental prayer has been offered correctly. It’s laying grass for a service project or the smell of campfire from youth conferences past. I suspect that as you’ve been listening to this that you, too, have been able to think of the physical, earthy stuff of Latter-day Saint belief, practice, and culture.

Today we are going to explore the “stuff” of religion, what scholars call material culture. Through an exploration of the mundane, what some might call the ordinary, we discover God’s presence and the faith of ancient Israel. I suspect that we also learn something about our own modern faith, too.

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Abide: Exodus 18-20 Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

President Spencer W. Kimball said in 1976 that “Few men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and his blessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise of faith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things more immediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God to material things. Therefore, in all ages when men have fallen under the power of Satan and lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the “arm of flesh” and in “gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know” (Dan. 5:23)—that is, in idols. This I find to be a dominant theme in the Old Testament. Whatever thing a man sets his heart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn’t also happen to be the true and living God of Israel, that man is laboring in idolatry.” What can we learn from the Old Testament about worshiping God and rejecting idols? We’ll explore that, and much more, in today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.”

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Abide: Easter Apr 14, 2022

Show notes

Easter. A time for Christians to consider the life, atoning sacrifice, and miraculous resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How can we use our knowledge of the Old Testament to deepen our Easter experiences? And how can understanding how other religions approach Easter help us commit to being better Christians and Latter-day Saints.

The post Abide: Easter appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Maxwell Institute Podcast #140: Prodigals All, with Spencer Fluhman Apr 12, 2022

Show notes

“When we begin to see ourselves as the prodigal in that famed biblical parable, we are better able to minister to that prodigal daughter or that prodigal father. When we see them as in process and recognize the same in ourselves, we can forgive their wandering because we know we must.”

The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #140: Prodigals All, with Spencer Fluhman appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Abide: Exodus 14-17 Apr 07, 2022

Show notes

In some ways, Israel has to be feeling pretty great in Exodus 14-17. They’re finally escaping enslavement and have been delivered by God through His prophet. On the other hand, they are also between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea. Spoilers: they escape. But they didn’t know that until the moment of deliverance–they had to have faith that the Lord would provide a way for them. What can we learn from the ancient Israelites living, figuratively and literally, on the water’s edge? We’ll discuss that and more on today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.”

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Abide: Exodus 7-13 Mar 31, 2022

Show notes

God delivers us. That’s one of the central takeaways of Exodus’s story. But what do we do to ensure that we remember that takeaway? In this episode of Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast, we discuss what it means to hold on in the face of adversity, to remember the actions that ensure our temporal and spiritual salvation, and much more.

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Abide: Exodus 1-6 Mar 24, 2022

Show notes

Exodus: a movement of the people. As we move into the second book of the Tanak, or Old Testament, we have more than a movement of people. We have a flurry of new people, ideas, and we see Jehovah’s miraculous work through ancient Israelite eyes. But how can we be moved? How can we learn to see God’s orchestrations and work to become a part of them? We discuss that and much more in today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.”

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Abide: Genesis 42-50 Mar 18, 2022

Show notes

Throughout the Old Testament we learn much about the relationships of tribes, clans, and family groups. We began discussing Israel’s family in the last episode, focusing on Joseph, the favored son sold into Egypt whose meteoric rise in Egyptian politics through the spiritual gift of interpreting dreams ultimately provided a land inheritance that would keep the family together. What can we learn in the last chapters of Genesis about spiritual gifts, brotherly love, and how understanding biblical narrative can make sacred stories more clear? We discuss that, and much more, on today’s episode of “Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast.”

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Genesis 37-41 Mar 10, 2022

Show notes

The version of Joseph in Egypt I got growing up was shaped heavily by Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Despite the delightful music and vivid color, there’s far more to the Joseph narrative than even Donny Osmond can share in 90 minutes. In today’s episode of Abide: A Maxwell Institute Podcast, we explore several key themes in the story of Joseph in Egypt.

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Maxwell Institute Podcast #139: The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, with Robin Scott Jensen Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

Volume 5 of the Revelations and Translations series from the Joseph Smith Papers Project presents all extant fragments of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon. For the first time ever, researchers have access to a photograph and color-coded transcripts of each fragment of the manuscript, showing every change made and which scribe made it.

The post Maxwell Institute Podcast #139: The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, with Robin Scott Jensen appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

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