Monthly Archives: August 2016

Reconceiving infertility in the Bible, with Candida Moss and Joel Baden [MIPodcast #52]

Candida R. Moss, Joel S. Baden, Podcast

“Be fruitful and multiply.” According to the book of Genesis, these are the first words God speaks to humanity. People have understood these words over the centuries as a commandment to procreate, and the ability to bear and raise children has been understood as a divine blessing. But what about people who can’t bear children due to biology or circumstance?

Biblical scholars Candida Moss and Joel Baden teamed up to write a book about the different views on infertility and families found in the Bible. From the apparently barren matriarchs of the Old Testament like Sarah and Rachel to Paul’s efforts to forge a new family in Christ, biblical views are more diverse than you might expect. Moss and Baden tell the story in their book Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness. Not only do they clarify ancient perspectives on infertility, they also provide ways to create a more supportive religious environment for women and men experiencing infertility today.

About the Guests

Candida R. Moss is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame. Joel S. Baden is professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale Divinity School. Together they wrote the book Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness (Princeton University Press, 2015).

The post Reconceiving infertility in the Bible, with Candida Moss and Joel Baden [MIPodcast #52] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Work of the Dead, with Thomas W. Laqueur [MIPodcast #51]

Podcast, Thomas W. Laqueur

What good is a dead body? How have humans cared for dead bodies through the ages and why do we do it? What do dead bodies tell us about the things we value most and about the things we’re afraid of?

All of us will be dead bodies someday, so these questions are relevant for everyone. The answers constitute what cultural historian Thomas Laqueur calls “the work of the dead.” Laqueur dug into records both ancient and contemporary to craft his fascinating new book The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains.

About the Guest

Thomas W. Laqueur is the Helen Fawcett Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley. He’s written histories about the human body and gender. His latest book is The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains.

The post The Work of the Dead, with Thomas W. Laqueur [MIPodcast #51] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, 2015 [MIPodcast #50]

Podcast, Summer Seminar

In some ways it’s been a lonelier than usual summer at the Maxwell Institute. Since it was founded in 2006 we’ve had the privilege of hosting the Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, a remarkable research opportunity that is somewhat legendary for the people that have passed through it, like Reid Neilson of the Church History Library, Patrick Mason and Kathleen Flake who hold chairs in Mormon Studies at universities on the east and west coast, and the Institute’s brand new executive director, Spencer Fluhman. Students, scholars, junior faculty—a variety of different people come together to study a particular aspect of Mormon culture or history and then write working papers to share some of the things they discovered and prompt further research.

In lieu of the seminar this year the Institute hosted a scholars’ colloquium in honor of Richard Bushman, the Mormon historian who started the Summer Seminar back in 1997 when he was working on his acclaimed biography of Joseph Smith. Richard is still active in his studies, but he’ll be leaving the direction of summer seminars in the capable hands of Terryl Givens and possibly others going forward.

This 50th episode of the Maxwell Institute Podcast will give you a sense of what the Summer Seminar is all about. Last summer I sat down with some of the participants to talk about their experiences and the papers they were working on. Their papers are now available—along with most of the seminar papers going back to 2006 when the seminar came to the Maxwell Institute—at mi.byu.edu/summerseminar.

The post The Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, 2015 [MIPodcast #50] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download