micahnickolaisen

We at A Thoughtful Faith are really proud to announce a new ATF project. This Saturday April 6th at 11:00pm MDT, we will launch the all new A Thoughtful Faith Blog. Since the beginning we have been extremely interested in supplementing the podcast with regular blog posts that support our message of thoughtful belief and participation in Mormonism.

Thanks to the efforts of our new blog manager Shan Rees Sullivan we now have an awesome group of contributors that will share their thoughts and perspectives under the Blog tab at AThoughtfulFaith.org.

In this recording, Micah and Sarah officially announce the launching of the blog, and Shan shares a little bit of her story and what her vision is for the blog. Thanks for listening and reading, and please join us for the launching of our blog this weekend!

This is an episode of A Thoughtful Faith that has been a long time in the making. I made contact with Andrea Radke-Moss shortly after we launched the podcast, and we recorded the first part of our interview in October 2012. Due to various circumstances, including a blunder on my part (I lost my original audio), we had to postpone the release of the episode. Thankfully a couple months ago I was able to recover a low-resolution backup of our interview. However, Andrea and I realized that by this time so much had changed in the Mormon Gender Equality debate, that we needed to augment our discussion. So several weeks ago we recorded the second half of our discussion. You can find all four segments of our discussion at the links below.

Andrea Radke-Moss is a professor of Women's History at BYU Idaho. Over the years she has become regarded as an expert in Mormon Women's History, and her perspective is incredibly helpful in providing perspective on our current discussion on LDS gender equality. In the interview, Andrea provides her backstory and a brief foray in the evolution of Mormon Women's roles from the 1800's to the present. Afterwards, the rest of our discussion focuses on how in a modern LDS Church and culture we can find ways to produce greater gender equality, while still embracing the important foundational principles of Mormonism.

This is an episode of A Thoughtful Faith that has been a long time in the making. I made contact with Andrea Radke-Moss shortly after we launched the podcast, and we recorded the first part of our interview in October 2012. Due to various circumstances, including a blunder on my part (I lost my original audio), we had to postpone the release of the episode. Thankfully a couple months ago I was able to recover a low-resolution backup of our interview. However, Andrea and I realized that by this time so much had changed in the Mormon Gender Equality debate, that we needed to augment our discussion. So several weeks ago we recorded the second half of our discussion. You can find all four segments of our discussion at the links below.

Andrea Radke-Moss is a professor of Women's History at BYU Idaho. Over the years she has become regarded as an expert in Mormon Women's History, and her perspective is incredibly helpful in providing perspective on our current discussion on LDS gender equality. In the interview, Andrea provides her backstory and a brief foray in the evolution of Mormon Women's roles from the 1800's to the present. Afterwards, the rest of our discussion focuses on how in a modern LDS Church and culture we can find ways to produce greater gender equality, while still embracing the important foundational principles of Mormonism.

This is an episode of A Thoughtful Faith that has been a long time in the making. I made contact with Andrea Radke-Moss shortly after we launched the podcast, and we recorded the first part of our interview in October 2012. Due to various circumstances, including a blunder on my part (I lost my original audio), we had to postpone the release of the episode. Thankfully a couple months ago I was able to recover a low-resolution backup of our interview. However, Andrea and I realized that by this time so much had changed in the Mormon Gender Equality debate, that we needed to augment our discussion. So several weeks ago we recorded the second half of our discussion. You can find all four segments of our discussion at the links below.

Andrea Radke-Moss is a professor of Women's History at BYU Idaho. Over the years she has become regarded as an expert in Mormon Women's History, and her perspective is incredibly helpful in providing perspective on our current discussion on LDS gender equality. In the interview, Andrea provides her backstory and a brief foray in the evolution of Mormon Women's roles from the 1800's to the present. Afterwards, the rest of our discussion focuses on how in a modern LDS Church and culture we can find ways to produce greater gender equality, while still embracing the important foundational principles of Mormonism.

This is an episode of A Thoughtful Faith that has been a long time in the making. I made contact with Andrea Radke-Moss shortly after we launched the podcast, and we recorded the first part of our interview in October 2012. Due to various circumstances, including a blunder on my part (I lost my original audio), we had to postpone the release of the episode. Thankfully a couple months ago I was able to recover a low-resolution backup of our interview. However, Andrea and I realized that by this time so much had changed in the Mormon Gender Equality debate, that we needed to augment our discussion. So several weeks ago we recorded the second half of our discussion. You can find all four segments of our discussion at the links below.

Andrea Radke-Moss is a professor of Women's History at BYU Idaho. Over the years she has become regarded as an expert in Mormon Women's History, and her perspective is incredibly helpful in providing perspective on our current discussion on LDS gender equality. In the interview, Andrea provides her backstory and a brief foray in the evolution of Mormon Women's roles from the 1800's to the present. Afterwards, the rest of our discussion focuses on how in a modern LDS Church and culture we can find ways to produce greater gender equality, while still embracing the important foundational principles of Mormonism.

The theory of Cognitive Dissonance is a well-established concept in the field of psychology that explains why we all experience discomfort and anxiety when we are exposed to new ideas and beliefs or engage in behavior that conflict with our pre-existing views, ideals, and beliefs. I've been extremely interested in producing an episode of A Thoughtful Faith that could explore the concept of Cognitive Dissonance as it relates to an LDS faith crisis / faith transition. When the opportunity came to produce a collaborative episode with the wonderful Nathasha Helfer Parker at the Mormon Mental Health Podcast, this seemed like a really good fit for both audiences. So, I couldn't be more thrilled about sharing my discussion with Natasha Helfer Parker and the amazing Jennifer Finlayson-Fife.

Both Natasha Helfer Parker and Jennifer Finlayson-Fife are active Latter-Day Saints, as well as marriage and family therapists. Natasha and Jennifer each have experience with treating Mormon individuals and couples, and have observed the function of Cognitive Dissonance as it pertains to Mormon culture and ideals. Please visit their respective websites below.

In the first part of this episode we explore the clinical definition of Cognitive Dissonance, including some of the history behind the theory, as well as common examples from day-t0-day life. Afterwards, we transition into how understanding Cognitive Dissonance can be useful in understanding and navigating faith transitions and crises. We hope you enjoy, and please share your thoughts and comments with us below. Thanks again to Natasha and Jennifer for sharing their experience and expertise with me and our audience.

Bob Rees and I recorded this interview a little while ago. I've been holding on to it, hoping to release it to our audience at the right moment. This past week I re-listened to our conversation and found myself moved and enlightened all over again by Bob's wisdom and insight. Though I don't know what's special about this week, for some reason the timing feels right. I hope you will enjoy Bob's perspective on Mormonism as well as his take on faith crisis and how to successfully engage with the Modern Church as an unconventional Mormon.

Bob Rees is no stranger to the Intellectual Mormon community. He was the second editor of Dialogue, and has been contributing to to progressive Mormon thought and scholarship most of his life. We hope our listeners enjoy Bob's unique approach. Please leave us your comments and feedback below.

DISCLAIMER: This audio was a low-resolution recovery of Bob's interview, and so the quality may be a little spotty. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to interview one of my new favorite LDS bloggers Nathaniel Givens. A friend of mine introduced me to Nathaniel's series on the concept of Epistemic Humility that he wrote for Times and Seasons. Embracing epistemic humility allows us to be more open to new ideas, and better equipped to search for additional knowledge and truth. I felt Nathaniel's ideas here are especially applicable and useful in our LDS community, which is often a culture that shies away from uncertainty and doubt, and loves to frame discourse in the terms of "I know . . ."

We apologize in advance for the audio quality from this interview. We had some Internet connection difficulties, which resulted in conducting the interview via telephone.

Since recording this interview, Nathaniel has become a perma-blogger for Times and Seasons. He also maintains his own blog, Difficult Run. Please be sure to check out Nathaniel's writings and provide feedback and responses below. Many thanks to Nathaniel Givens for his contributions to A Thoughtful Faith.

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to interview one of my new favorite LDS bloggers Nathaniel Givens. A friend of mine introduced me to Nathaniel's series on the concept of Epistemic Humility that he wrote for Times and Seasons. Embracing epistemic humility allows us to be more open to new ideas, and better equipped to search for additional knowledge and truth. I felt Nathaniel's ideas here are especially applicable and useful in our LDS community, which is often a culture that shies away from uncertainty and doubt, and loves to frame discourse in the terms of "I know . . ."

We apologize in advance for the audio quality from this interview. We had some Internet connection difficulties, which resulted in conducting the interview via telephone.

Since recording this interview, Nathaniel has become a perma-blogger for Times and Seasons. He also maintains his own blog, Difficult Run. Please be sure to check out Nathaniel's writings and provide feedback and responses below. Many thanks to Nathaniel Givens for his contributions to A Thoughtful Faith.

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to interview one of my new favorite LDS bloggers Nathaniel Givens. A friend of mine introduced me to Nathaniel's series on the concept of Epistemic Humility that he wrote for Times and Seasons. Embracing epistemic humility allows us to be more open to new ideas, and better equipped to search for additional knowledge and truth. I felt Nathaniel's ideas here are especially applicable and useful in our LDS community, which is often a culture that shies away from uncertainty and doubt, and loves to frame discourse in the terms of "I know . . ."

We apologize in advance for the audio quality from this interview. We had some Internet connection difficulties, which resulted in conducting the interview via telephone.

Since recording this interview, Nathaniel has become a perma-blogger for Times and Seasons. He also maintains his own blog, Difficult Run. Please be sure to check out Nathaniel's writings and provide feedback and responses below. Many thanks to Nathaniel Givens for his contributions to A Thoughtful Faith.

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to interview one of my new favorite LDS bloggers Nathaniel Givens. A friend of mine introduced me to Nathaniel's series on the concept of Epistemic Humility that he wrote for Times and Seasons. Embracing epistemic humility allows us to be more open to new ideas, and better equipped to search for additional knowledge and truth. I felt Nathaniel's ideas here are especially applicable and useful in our LDS community, which is often a culture that shies away from uncertainty and doubt, and loves to frame discourse in the terms of "I know . . ."

We apologize in advance for the audio quality from this interview. We had some Internet connection difficulties, which resulted in conducting the interview via telephone.

Since recording this interview, Nathaniel has become a perma-blogger for Times and Seasons. He also maintains his own blog, Difficult Run. Please be sure to check out Nathaniel's writings and provide feedback and responses below. Many thanks to Nathaniel Givens for his contributions to A Thoughtful Faith.

This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with John Kesler to hear about his conversion to the church and subsequently to eastern meditative practices years later. Lately I have been inspired by so many expressions of expanding faith and feel that this expansion is often the natural outcome of questioning and reevaluating. John Kesler offers a very hopeful perspective on the possibility of continued spiritual communion with God despite doubt or lack of literal belief. After encountering Eastern meditative practices years ago he went on to be a founding teacher of the Integral Spiritual Center, consisting of a group of senior members of various Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. John then went on to develop his own meditation and awareness practice called Integral Polarity Practice. He is a active member of the LDS Church and has served as a bishop and in several bishoprics and high councils. If you are interested in receiving emails regarding his workshops please email him at j_Kesler@woodburycorp.com.

Since it's the beginning of a new year and all, we thought it would be a great opportunity to discuss how Sarah and I became involved in the A Thoughtful Faith Podcast, and what our collective has been so far, and where we see the podcast moving forward in 2013. We also want to take this opportunity to express our extreme gratitude for our listeners, who with resounding support have made us feel validated and uplifted as we have strived to provide the best experience possible for our audience. So thank you all very much, and please stay tuned for a promising new year -- more great episodes ahead!

Pantsmageddon! PantsGate! Pants-apocalypse! Whatever term you've used over the past week to describe the Mormon frenzy about All Enlisted's oddly controversial "Wear Pants to Church" event, I think most of us are intrigued about what will actually happen at church tomorrow. With the hope of providing a calm, respectful dialogue on what has become a controversial subject, my lovely wife Stefanie had an opportunity today to interview Kristina Monson, who is a spokesperson and core leader for All Enlisted, the organization sponsoring this event.

Kristina describes herself as a devout, active Mormon Feminist. In this interview she shares some of her backstory and how she has become involved in this new form of Mormon activism. Stefanie and Kristina discuss the motivation and intentions of All Enlisted, and what they hope to accomplish with "Wear Pants To Church" and future activities.

Many thanks to Kristina Monson for taking time out of her national interview circuit to speak with us! And of course, thanks to Stefanie Nickolaisen for sharing this wonderful interview!

We have been humbled and astonished at the caliber of guests we've been able to have on our podcast thus far. People like Greg Prince, Margaret Young, John Sorenson, Phil Barlow, and so many others are the true progenitors of the modern Intellectual Mormonism community. I was surprised to find out early on that many of these living legends had rarely experienced a monumental faith crisis in their lives. Since one of the objectives of this podcast is to help individuals navigate through a faith crisis with testimonies intact, I thought it would be important for us to find some regular LDS folks who have faced that "dark night of the soul" but still remained faithful.

Thanks to our wonderful A Thoughtful Faith Facebook Group and a recommendation by his brother Paul, I've had the wonderful opportunity to get to know Michael Barker and hear his amazing story. In this interview, Mike shares how a close look at polygamy and polyandry catalyzed his doubts in the mission of Joseph Smith. He shares how a combination of unapologetic Mormon Scholarship and communion with God allowed him to find a way to maintain his faith as an active, believing Latter-Day Saint. Michael also discusses how his discovery of the concepts of Natural Theology led him to start the Rational Faiths Blog, and how a burning desire to inoculate the Saints fuels his current zeal for Mormonism.

Before this interview, I had known of Michael Barker and his brother Paul through their work at RationalFaiths.com, a blog dedicated to creating a "safe, fair, and balanced space to discuss the complexities, difficulties, and beauty of their Mormon tradition." At Rational Faiths the Barker Brothers provide insights into the current LDS Sunday School Curriculum, book reviews, and various topics within Mormonism from seer stones to modesty. Be sure to check out their wonderful blog at RationalFaiths.com.

We have been humbled and astonished at the caliber of guests we've been able to have on our podcast thus far. People like Greg Prince, Margaret Young, John Sorenson, Phil Barlow, and so many others are the true progenitors of the modern Intellectual Mormonism community. I was surprised to find out early on that many of these living legends had rarely experienced a monumental faith crisis in their lives. Since one of the objectives of this podcast is to help individuals navigate through a faith crisis with testimonies intact, I thought it would be important for us to find some regular LDS folks who have faced that "dark night of the soul" but still remained faithful.

Thanks to our wonderful A Thoughtful Faith Facebook Group and a recommendation by his brother Paul, I've had the wonderful opportunity to get to know Michael Barker and hear his amazing story. In this interview, Mike shares how a close look at polygamy and polyandry catalyzed his doubts in the mission of Joseph Smith. He shares how a combination of unapologetic Mormon Scholarship and communion with God allowed him to find a way to maintain his faith as an active, believing Latter-Day Saint. Michael also discusses how his discovery of the concepts of Natural Theology led him to start the Rational Faiths Blog, and how a burning desire to inoculate the Saints fuels his current zeal for Mormonism.

Before this interview, I had known of Michael Barker and his brother Paul through their work at RationalFaiths.com, a blog dedicated to creating a "safe, fair, and balanced space to discuss the complexities, difficulties, and beauty of their Mormon tradition." At Rational Faiths the Barker Brothers provide insights into the current LDS Sunday School Curriculum, book reviews, and various topics within Mormonism from seer stones to modesty. Be sure to check out their wonderful blog at RationalFaiths.com.