Faith Matters

• A Thoughtful Faith - A Conversation with Philip Barlow

  This week, we’re sharing a conversation with Phil Barlow about his new book, published by Faith Matters, called A Thoughtful Faith for the 21st Century. If that sounds familiar, it may be because Phil published the first volume back in 1986. That original collection included essays by Eugene England, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Francine Bennion, Richard Bushman, and others—each exploring what it means to live a spiritually and intellectually honest life within the Latter-day Saint tradition.As Phil points out, challenges to faith are not new. Thoughtful people were wrestling with difficult questions decades ago in ways that still have power today. But, as he says, “the world has turned some” since then. The 2025 edition brings in a new generation of scholars and voices—Thomas McConkie, Melissa Inouye, Fiona Givens, Ben Schilaty, among others—who speak to today’s distinctive challenges while honoring the wisdom and foundation of those who came before.At the heart of both volumes is an urgent and beautiful question: How can we hold together the integrities of our minds and our hearts and our spirits? That question—its weight, complexity, and quiet hope—sits at the center of this conversation today.Phil brings so much humility and clarity, and in this episode we get to hear a little about what’s changed in his own faith, about the wisdom of surrendering the need to know, and why he still finds the Latter-day Saint tradition compelling, human, and a spiritual home he continues to choose with both heart and mind.We’re so grateful to Phil for this conversation, and we hope you love it as much as we did. With that, here’s Phil Barlow.Links for the show notes:Purchase the book through Bookshop.org (https://bookshop.org/a/108982/9781953677242) Amazon (https://amzn.to/4mgJsCf) or anywhere you get your books. Get a free look inside the book on our website: https://www.faithmatters.org/s/a-thoughtful-faith-vol-2

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• Can Doubt be a Spiritual Gift? A Conversation with Terryl Givens & Jared Halverson

  This week, we’re excited to share a special live episode recorded at the Compass Gallery in Provo, as part of our Big Questions series with Terryl Givens. Each month, Terryl is joined by a guest for a conversation about some of our biggest theological and historical questions.In this episode, he’s joined by scholar and teacher Jared Halverson. Together, Terryl and Jared explore the question: can doubt be a spiritual gift? They consider how doubt might play a meaningful role in our spiritual development, and ask whether we can reclaim faith as something relational, built on loyalty, trust, and love —  rather than a list of things we intellectually agree to.One of the most powerful ideas that emerges is that faith and doubt aren’t opposites — in fact, they may need to coexist. It’s often in the tension between the two that deeper discipleship takes root. Terryl and Jared also explore how the Restoration, at its core, invites us into a life of ongoing seeking and expanding, not one of perfect certainty.So if you’ve ever felt some fear, guilt, or shame around your questions — or worried that doubt means you’re falling behind, out of reach, or off the path, this conversation is for you. We hope it offers a hopeful reframe: that the wrestle is sacred, that you’re in good company, and that sometimes, this is exactly what spiritual growth looks like.And with that, here’s Terryl Givens and Jared Halverson.

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• Heavenly Mother's Day - A Conversation with McArthur Krishna

  With Mother’s Day coming up, we’re so honored to bring you this conversation with McArthur Krishna about her new book, Mother in Heaven: A Gospel Topics Essay Study Guide.The doctrine of Heavenly Mother is one of the most beautiful and distinctive Latter-Day Saint teachings—but for many, it’s still unfamiliar territory. McArthur and her co-authors created this study guide as an invitation to engage with this doctrine more deeply. Drawing on the church’s Gospel Topics essay, the book explores each point through art, rich personal reflections, and theological insights with contributions from many people whose names you may recognize- Patrick and Melissa Mason, Tom Christofferson, and Bethany Brady Spalding to name a few. What emerges is a beautiful tapestry of reverence, curiosity, and lived faith.In this conversation, we explore how the simple truth that we are “beloved spirit children of Heavenly Parents” carries profound implications for how we understand the nature of God. It suggests that divinity isn’t solitary or hierarchical—it’s relational, that we’re not subjects of a distant king but members of a divine family. And that shift transforms the way we see God, one another, and ourselves.McArthur highlights how essential it is for women to have a divine role model and that becoming like Her means learning to use our agency with wisdom and courage. It means aligning with God, trusting the revelation we receive, and standing by it—even when it’s hard. As McArthur puts it, “sovereignty is how we begin to practice godhood.”We hope that as you celebrate Mother’s Day this year, this conversation invites you to remember and honor our Heavenly Mother and embrace the truth that we are Her daughters and sons too, born with the divine potential to become like Her.We’re so grateful to McArthur for her courage, vision, and voice. And with that, here’s our conversation with McArthur Krishna.https://bookshop.org/a/108982/9781734228724https://amzn.to/3RG0USG 

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• Seventy Times Seven - A Conversation with Chad Ford

  This week, we’re so glad to be sharing a conversation with our friend Chad Ford.Chad is a conflict mediator, peace educator, and associate professor of religious studies at Utah State University. He’s spent decades working in some of the most entrenched conflict zones in the world—from the Middle East to South Africa to Northern Ireland. He’s also the author of a new book called Seventy Times Seven: Jesus’s Path to Conflict Transformation, published by Deseret Book. The book explores a question that feels more urgent than ever: how do we follow Jesus as peacemakers in a world so often shaped by fear, division, and violence?Our conversation with Chad moved from the personal to the global—from tensions in families and faith communities to the devastating conflicts we see on the world stage. And through all of it, Chad points back to Jesus as a radical model for how to live, engage, and help transform the world around us.Chad reminds us that Jesus’s path is anything but passive. It doesn’t mean disengaging or avoiding hard conversations. It means choosing to engage with both courage and compassion. It means refusing to meet harm with more harm, and instead walking a path that invites healing, reconciliation, and transformation.That kind of peace doesn’t come quickly—or easily—but it’s the kind of peace that can change lives and communities. Chad offers a vision of Christianity rooted in Jesus’ ministry of reconciliation—not in dominance or defensiveness, but in the slow, often difficult work of restoring wholeness.He helped us see that the peace Jesus offers isn’t always the peace we want—but it’s the peace we need. And when the way forward feels impossible, he reminds us that part of discipleship is learning to make a way out of no way.And with that, here’s our conversation with ChadSeventy Time Seven

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• Easter Is for Everybody - A Conversation with Amanda Suarez and Jon Ogden

  With Easter just a few days away, we’re so excited to share this conversation with Amanda Suarez and Jon Ogden.Amanda and Jon are two of the co-founders of Uplift Kids, a lesson library and curriculum that helps families explore spirituality, values, and emotional health together. Amanda is a school psychologist and certified conscious parenting coach, and Jon is a writer, curriculum creator, and author of When Mormons Doubt.In this conversation, Amanda and Jon offer a beautiful vision of Easter through the lens of what Brian McLaren calls the “harmony” stage of faith—a perspective they also bring to their work with Uplift Kids. They paint a picture of Easter made more meaningful—not less—by welcoming it all: the story of Jesus’ resurrection, the chocolate bunnies, the deep questions, and the simple joy.It’s an approach that honors the unique developmental stage of each child and the evolving faith of each adult, making room for everyone to show up just as they are. And for many families gathering this time of year, that kind of spaciousness matters—especially when there are likely a variety of beliefs around the table and a wide range of needs, from toddlers to teens to adults.Rather than avoiding depth or walking on eggshells around belief, Amanda and Jon invite us to embrace the richness that comes from letting all the layers belong. That richness can become an opening—for deeper connection, for real growth, and for the kind of transformation that Easter is all about.At its heart, this conversation invites us to let go of pressure and agendas, to lean into love and presence, and to trust that what’s needed will rise naturally in its own time. Easter, after all, is a story of life, death and rebirth—and that same pattern is quietly at work in our lives and families too.We hope this conversation fills you with the peace this Easter season brings and with that, here’s our conversation with Amanda Suarez and Jon Ogden.https://upliftkids.org/When Mormons DoubtBookshop affiliate link: https://bookshop.org/a/108982/9781535350372 

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