Sunstone Podcast

Latest Episodes:

E194: The Baseball Baptism Era. Mar 12, 2025

Show notes

Probably the most controversial period of Mormon missionary history was from about 1960–1962 when more than 100,000 boys were baptized into the LDS Church worldwide—sometimes without realizing it. They were on a baseball field one moment and being baptized the next. In this episode, D. Michael Quinn tells the story of the Baseball Baptism era and the fallout that occurred from it—including the excommunication of about 90 percent of those boys.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/SLP-194.mp3

E193: Should We Toss Testimony Meeting? Feb 18, 2025

Show notes

LDS testimony meetings are usually tedious affairs. Yet we have them every month. Why? Anthropologist David Knowlton compares testimony meeting with similar rituals worldwide to see if it’s doing its job—or if we should toss it.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SLP-193.mp3

E192: Annalee Skarin: Excommunicated then Translated—Yes, Like Enoch. Feb 06, 2025

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In 1948, Annalee Skarin had just published a book she said was written by the power of God. She was very soon excommunicated from the LDS Church. But then a few days later, eyewitnesses said she was translated. She wrote eight more books after that, becoming nationally famous. In this episode, Samuel W. Taylor and Skarin’s daughter Hope A. Hilton give two very different perspectives on Skarin’s life and legacy.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SLP-192.mp3

E191: How to Spot an Unorthodox BYU Professor. Jan 22, 2025

Show notes

Clark Gilbert is tightening the orthodoxy clamps at BYU, just like Ernest Wilkinson did in the 1950s and 60s. Is this the best way to make BYU students into lifelong Latter-day Saints? Stephen Carter compares Wilkinson’s BYU with Gilbert’s and then talks about his own experience with two BYU professors who kept him engaged with the Church—because of their unique mix of faithfulness and unorthodoxy.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SLP-191.mp3

E190: Camping at the Edge of Excommunication. Jan 14, 2025

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Sterling M. McMurrin had only been a seminary teacher for two years before the president of the Church, Heber J. Grant, wanted to fire him. And he camped at the edge of excommunication for the rest of his life. McMurrin recalls these turbulent, and comic, years in this episode.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SLP-190.mp3

E189: Three Kinds of Believers. Jan 06, 2025

Show notes

Much is made in the LDS Church about how David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, never recanted his testimony, even though he left the Church. What they don’t tell you is that it was precisely his testimony of the Book of Mormon that drove him out. In this episode, Karl C. Sandberg tells the rest of Whitmer’s story, showing how Whitmer, B. H. Roberts, and Werner Heisenberg represent three different types of believers—all offering something completely different.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SLP-189.mp3

E188: “Heretic” and the War Within Mormonism. Dec 09, 2024

Show notes

In the movie “Heretic,” Mr. Reed is the logical conclusion of many parts of Mormonism. And they threaten to destroy Mormonism’s best parts. Join Stephen Carter on a deep dive into Heretic’s multi-faceted story.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SLP-188.mp3

E187: Four Looks at My Father. Nov 27, 2024

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What happens when you grow apart politically from a parent? In this episode, Bryan Waterman looks back over the years he spent with his father—both at home and at school—and how they learned to live together.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/SLP-187.mp3

E186: The Folklore of Mormon Missionaries. Nov 13, 2024

Show notes

William A. Wilson and John B. Harris spent years gathering missionary folklore—everything from greenie initiation stories to encounters with the Devil. Whether the stories are true or not, Wilson shows in this episode what they reveal about the inner lives of missionaries.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/SLP-186.mp3

E185: Can You Avoid Organizational Abuse in the Church? Oct 29, 2024

Show notes

People need organizations to help us fulfill our potential. However, organizations are never entirely safe. In this episode, J. Bonner Ritchie explores how the LDS Church functions and how members can transcend its inherent organizational dangers.

https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/SLP-185.mp3

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