RFM and Bill sit down with Sandra Tanner, a well known writer and researcher, on the critical side of Mormonism. We sit down with Sandra to discuss her impact within Mormonism and to touch on a few stories that viewers may find interesting.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
RFM. I have been a listener since around 2018 and been donating probably for at least that long. I find myself a bit frustrated because I know people like ths Tanners did great work regarding Mormon history. But they also were totally motivated by their evangelical Christian values. So they, Grant Peterson, New Name Noah, and others, have done great work exposing problems with Mormonism, but are totally blind to the same underlying issues with Christianity, and they share beliefs that are at least as dangeous when it comes to LGBTQ issues and all sorts of other things. I appreciate that these people have done a lot to challenge Mormonisms shortcomings. I am frustrated though that I feel they use it to further their own dangerous beliefs. So I am really conflicted. I think there needs to be a disclaimer that these people have done great research when it comes to criticism of Mormonism, but are totally fundamentalist Christians who ascribe to many of the problematic issues we find with Mormonism, but based on different shaky but to them firm foundations.
Joe,
This is a mormonism podcast discussion. Did you hear Sandra in addressing the man referring to D. Michael Queer? She wanted to discuss content and didn’t know anything about the lives of the authors whose books she sales.
The same applies here. Why would a disclaimer be required about her beliefs on Jesus? Is her info legitimate? Is her argument sound? Is her research thorough?
Agreeing on every social issue is an impossible requirement. Echo chamber…I just escaped that environment and hope for more open skies here. I don’t expect to agree with all that is expressed and have not on several occasions.
Thanks Bill and RFM. And P.S. my heart hurt to hear about your break up.
I love you RFM. However, I sort of feel like interviewing Sandra Tanner without introducing her motivated reasoninng equates to the same think as unethical use of ellipses.
It’s hard to overstate how essential Tanner’s work was in the days before the internet. Back then Tanners offered purest source of truth and there plenty of BYU professors that also consumed their publications. Even my TBM dad subscribed to Tanner’s work to get access to additional source materials not possible from the Church. Jerald’s and Sandra’s style was to minimize opinion and commentary, choosing to let the documents largely speak for themselves.
BTW, BYU did indeed have a course about the controversial parts of Mormon history like Reed Durham’s course at U of U., it was called “Research of Mormonism.” I don’t recall if my dad filtered out students, but it was a 500-level course within the Library Science College which was a graduate program at BYU long before search engines existed. Students had to research out a part of Mormon history of their choice and present it to the class. I don’t believe my dad ever shied away from a tough topic even though they would often be controversial.