Long-form Mormon history with human stakes.
Mormon Stories Podcast treats Mormonism as lived experience, historical argument, and ongoing public controversy. Its conversations move patiently through Joseph Smith history, church authority, influencer culture, abuse allegations, and the human cost of belief and disaffection.
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Mormon Stories Podcast is built for long-form attention. Its episodes move slowly enough to let Mormon history, personal experience, and institutional conflict develop in public view. Recent installments show the range clearly. A major thread follows John Turner through Joseph Smith, with conversations on polygamy, the second anointing, Relief Society origins, secrecy, affidavits, critics, and Joseph Smith's public and private conduct. These are not quick summaries. They often begin with recap, context, and a precise question, then work through the historical record piece by piece. The show is especially interested in how religious authority operates when doctrine, family loyalty, reputation, and silence collide. That same concern appears in episodes about abuse allegations and the handling of church-connected cases. The tone can become grave, but it stays explanatory rather than theatrical. Other episodes look outward at Mormonism's cultural reach. Bridget Reed's discussion of Mormon mom influencers links media culture, social platforms, commerce, tech history, and the public performance of family life. A celebration of Carolyn Pearson brings in diaries, feminism, LGBTQ experience, publishing, grief, and affection inside a Mormon world under pressure. The LDS Discussions episode turns toward truth claims, gold plates, faith crisis, and post-Mormon analysis. Across these subjects, the show favors patient interviews and extended follow-up questions. Guests often carry the substance, while the moderator keeps returning the conversation to definitions, chronology, evidence, and consequence. It is a show for people who want the full argument, including uncertainty and discomfort. Its best moments come when a large claim is slowed down until the human stakes become visible. The result is a sprawling archive of Mormon belief, dissent, memory, scandal, scholarship, and transition.
Made for: For listeners interested in Mormon history, LDS truth claims, faith transition, religious authority, and the lived consequences of church culture. It especially suits people who prefer extended interviews over compressed commentary.
What sets it apart: The show combines personal narrative, historical deep reading, and institutional critique in unusually long conversations. Its recurring Joseph Smith series and Mormon culture episodes build context across many installments instead of treating each controversy as isolated.
Mormon Stories Podcast is the longest-running and most successful podcast in Mormonism. At Mormon Stories we explore, celebrate, and challenge Mormon culture through in-depth stories told by members and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormon Stories is a product of the Open Stories Foundation - a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to supporting Mormons in religious transition. Mormon Stories is not affiliated with or sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Mormon Stories Podcast makes contested Latter-day Saint history legible through sustained interviews, documentary detail and openly stated questions about belief and authority.
Mormon Stories Podcast follows belief into history, family life and public culture, with John Dillon moving between interviews, tributes and sustained discussions of Joseph Smith.
This is the Mormon-history seminar where sacred claims meet scholarship, scandal, and your follow-up question.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A measured review of how the second anointing's reported promises raise questions about secrecy, status, and belonging in Mormonism.
John Dillon's conversation with Dr. John Turner of George Mason University treats the second anointing as a test of sacred privilege: who is said to receive it, what it is understood to promise, and why secrecy around it continues to draw Mormon criticism.
Mormon influencer culture gets a wider history, from Utah tech to social-media power.
Mormon Stories Podcast frames Bridget Reed's New York Magazine reporting on the Mormon mom influencer movement as a lens on Utah women, church culture, and commerce.
Carolyn Pearson's diaries anchor a tribute that turns one 1986 note into a wider moral portrait.
Mormon Stories Podcast uses Carolyn Pearson Week to shape a tribute around Volume One, The Diaries of Carolyn Pearson, moving from 1956 to 1990 and tracing her life as a Mormon author, feminist, and activist.
A careful look at how an accusation involving Nancy Rigdon became part of Joseph Smith's Nauvoo conflicts.
Joseph Smith's strained relationship with Sidney Rigdon is viewed through the dispute involving Nancy Rigdon and John C. Bennett. John DeLinn asks Dr.
A measured look at Mormon authority, lineage, and the racial ideas tied to blood and ancestry.
Spiritual authority here becomes inseparable from blood, lineage, and the racial assumptions circulating in nineteenth-century America. John Dillon leads Dr.
A focused discussion of the second anointing and the elite access critics associate with it.
The episode frames the second anointing as a private Mormon ordinance carrying larger questions about status, access, and spiritual assurance. In conversation with Dr.
A patient, reflective setup on inherited faith, tacit worldviews, and the moments that make certainty visible.
James Fowler's stages of faith shape this episode's look at how a worldview can be inherited long before it is examined. John Dillon, Dan Witherspoon, and Tom Kimball trace the influence of family, religion, teachers, and cultural groups, focusing on the stories, symbols, and…
Mormon claims, cross-examined in public.
Two Bible translators unpack Scripture's hardest passages, from Revelation's 666 to the Witch of Endor.
MJ Dorian's solo deep dives trace genius through Blake, McQueen, da Vinci, and Jung's Red Book.
Two Methodist pastors and guests work through forgiveness, control, and grief in scripture.
John Dehlin hosts Dan Wotherspoon and Tom Kimball to discuss James Fowler's stages of faith theory.
This episode examines the controversial Fanny Alger affair involving Joseph Smith, exploring whether it constituted polygamy or adultery during a turbulent period in early Mormon history.
Historian John Turner discusses Joseph Smith's introduction of the second anointing ritual in September 1843.
Mormon Stories' LDS Discussions Pt.
This episode features an interview with Dr.
John Dillon opens with a special edition and brings in Bridget Reed, a feature writer for New York Magazine.
Mormon Stories Podcast marks Carolyn Pearson Week with a live celebration of Carolyn Pearson and Volume One, The Diaries of Carolyn Pearson.
This episode continues a series with historian John Turner discussing Joseph Smith's biography, focusing on historical controversies including polygamy denials and the Whitney family scandal.
This episode discusses the arrest and charges of Wade Christofferson for child exploitation and sexual abuse, exploring his connections to high-ranking Mormon Church leaders and the church's handling of the case.
This episode examines Joseph Smith's polygamy, John C.
This episode examines the formation of the Mormon Relief Society and its potential role in maintaining secrecy around Joseph Smith's polygamy practices in Nauvoo.
This episode examines the origins of Joseph Smith's idea for ancient gold plates through an objective evaluation of LDS church truth claims, featuring guests with Mormon backgrounds.
This episode features an interview with Tom Kimball and Dan Wotherspoon discussing Mormon stages of faith as part of the Mormon Stories Podcast.
Joseph Smith teaches the apostles how to shake hands with an angel and test for a devil.