Monthly Archives: October 2016

Mormons and American politics, with David E. Campbell and J. Quin Monson [MIPodcast #56]

David E. Campbell, J. Quin Monson, Podcast

The deep red state of Utah is surprising pundits as the 2016 presidential election approaches. For the first time in over fifty years, the state is poised to vote for someone other than the Republican nominee. Mormons within the Republican party have been singled out as a significant reason Utah is looking elsewhere. It’s useful to ask, how did things get to this point?

Throughout its existence, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have seen themselves as a “peculiar people.” At the same time, they’ve worked hard to fit in with their broader American culture. These goals require a lot of balancing. Political scientists J. Quin Monson and David E. Campbell write that being people set apart while also becoming socially accepted is like a “promised land” that Mormons have been seeking from the 1800s to the present. They join us in this episode to talk about their book, Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics. 

Look for Molly Worthen’s book review of Seeking the Promised Land and other books on Mormons and politics in volume 4 of the Mormon Studies Review, out this November.

About the Guests

David E. Campbell (pictured left) is a professor of political science at the university of Notre Dame and co-author of the award-winning book American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.

J. Quin Monson (right) is associate professor of political science at Brigham Young University whose research has appeared in places like the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and Political Research Quarterly.

Together with John C. Green they wrote Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics.

The post Mormons and American politics, with David E. Campbell and J. Quin Monson [MIPodcast #56] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

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American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism, with Thomas W. Simpson [MIPodcast #55]

Podcast, Thomas W. Simpson

As the twentieth century dawned, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remained at odds with the United States, a country that had provided fertile soil for the growth of their faith, but also a country they felt alienated from. Some of the things Mormons did to keep themselves separate from the outside world ended up helping them reconcile with it. In their efforts to build a self-sustaining Great Basin Kingdom, they sent missionaries back to the eastern United States not to preach their restored gospel per se, but to learn at universities, to advance in fields like law and medicine.

In his new book, Thomas W. Simpson argues that American universities played a key role in making Latter-day Saints feel at home in America again. In this episode of the MIPodcast, Simpson joins us to talk about his new book, American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism. It’s a story about the tensions that come along with being a people set apart, and a people trying to fit in.

Show note: See Elder M. Russell Ballard’s recent address to LDS Church educators here. 

About Thomas W. Simpson

Thomas W. Simpson is a specialist in modern U.S. religious history. He received a PhD from the University of Virginia and a Master of Theological Studies from Emory University. He’s an instructor in religion and philosophy at Phillips Exeter Academy. His is the author of American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism, 1867–1940.

The post American Universities and the Birth of Modern Mormonism, with Thomas W. Simpson [MIPodcast #55] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

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