He Was Too Honest About Mormon Scripture—So They Made Him Pay! David P. Wright, a brilliant scholar of the Hebrew Bible, once taught at BYU—until his academic integrity put him at odds with LDS orthodoxy. In 1989, he was fired for holding views deemed incompatible with Church doctrine. But the campaign against him didn’t stop there. After securing a position at Brandeis University, a General Authority issued instructions to excommunicate him—all triggered by a scholarly paper showing literary parallels between the Book of Mormon and the New Testament. In this episode, RFM walks you through the evidence—Wright’s own words, the paper that sparked the backlash, and the Church’s behind-the-scenes moves to silence him. This is the story they didn’t want you to know.
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The Requiem was a stunning listen. Thank you for taking the time to create this episode. I know it was a lot of work, RFM, but Wright’s thoughtful and detailed writings still make one of the strongest arguments for intellectual freedom I’ve heard. Very inspiring–a great reminder of many of the reasons I cheerfully and resolutely put Mormonism behind me and found a path that is very much like Wright’s. Thanks for your hard work and research.
This was a bit long but it was absolutely fascinating. It was worth every minute of the 4 hours. Thank you for taking the time to put this together and yes it did appear to be a substantial commitment not only in time but also in emotional energy. Its impossible to imagine what Professor Wright and his family actually experienced. Again many thanks RFM for the podcast/post!