Faith Matters

As we explore the Old Testament this year, we’ve found ourselves returning to a past conversation with our friend Terryl Givens. It felt grounding and expansive and we're really excited to share it with you again.
The Old Testament can be incredibly rich—full of beauty, poetry, and profound spiritual insights. But it can also sometimes feel bewildering or even faith-shaking. We get glimpses of a loving, nurturing God—and turn the page to encounter a God that seems angry, even violent. It's a text that raises big questions and invites us into deep wrestles. And maybe that’s part of its sacredness—that it pushes us into such honest, meaningful conversation.
In this episode, Terryl helps us navigate those tensions. Together, we ask: What is the Bible, really, and where did it come from? What do different translations of this text have to offer, and how can we engage with this scripture in a posture of reverence and discernment that allows for mystery, and honors the sacredness of the whole landscape.
We loved Terryl’s insights in this conversation, and we’re so grateful to revisit them now. Thanks so much for listening—we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.
For more on this topic, and for weekly resources to accompany your Come Follow Me study, be sure to check out the Faith Matters newsletter at faithmatters.org.
Order That We Might Have Joy for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift, and join the book club with Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife!

Hey everyone, this is Aubrey Chaves from Faith Matters. Today I’m excited to share my conversation with Katie Ludlow Rich and Heather Sundahl about 50 Years of Exponent II, their new book tracing the history of a space where Latter-day Saint women have engaged the most urgent questions of their time—while also honoring the dailiness of life.
The roots of this effort go back to 1872, when women began publishing the Woman’s Exponent to speak for themselves and stay connected across distance. A century later, Exponent II carried that work forward—not to create consensus, but to make room for complexity, difference, and the kind of deep listening that makes real community possible.
And that’s what this conversation is about—what it takes to stay in relationship, even when ground we used to share—whether in belief, perspective, or experience—starts to shift. We’re probably all navigating this now in some spaces, in families, wards, or friendships. And so today, Katie and Heather explore the difference between discomfort and danger, how we can sit with the tension of disagreement without walking away, and what it means to listen not to persuade, but to witness—to be present with someone else’s experience, even when it’s different from our own.
Katie is a writer and independent scholar of women’s history. Heather is a marriage and family therapist in Orem, Utah. 
This was a deeply personal conversation, and we’re so grateful to Katie and Heather for showing up with such honesty and care. Their own lived experiences have led them down different paths, and it was a gift to sit with them in dialogue—watching the ways they do this together and make space for others to do the same. That kind of wisdom is hard won, and we’re honored to share it with you now.
You can find their book, 50 Years of Exponent II, on Amazon, Bookshop.org, or wherever books are sold.
Order That We Might Have Joy for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift, and join the book club with Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife!

We’ve all heard it called a sifting—the language that sometimes surfaces when someone is struggling or steps away from the Church. Wheat from tares, sheep from goats, a sorting in the last days that reveals truly elect.

But today, our good friend and contributor Jeff Strong is back to invite us into a deeper reflection on that idea—and what he sees as the more essential question: Who is the Church for?

Jeff shares how the way we answer that question has real implications—shaping how we respond to difference, and how we create (or close off) spaces for spiritual growth, belonging, and trust.

In this conversation, he also brings new and fascinating findings from his large-scale survey of Latter-day Saints. Jeff introduces a framework of spiritual segments that emerged from the data—types like Seekers, Protectors, Cultivators, and more. It’s illuminating to see yourself in one of these groups—but maybe even more powerful to recognize how others might experience the same Church culture in radically different ways.

He reflects on the tension people feel when their deepest values don’t seem to match what’s emphasized in their church experience. And he offers a way through that tension: wherever you fit, we each face the challenge to let go of fear—because fear, more than anything else, is what drives us apart.

Ultimately, this conversation isn’t about disaffiliation or activity—it’s about relationships. It’s about how we respond to differences, how we hold tension as a community, and whether we’re building a church culture that reflects the expansive, welcoming love of Christ.

And just a heads up: the story Jeff tells toward the end might sound familiar––in fact, Sister Dennis used it in conference this year, though we recorded this episode before conference, so we didn’t tie it in at the time.

Also, there are some really interesting graphs and charts that Jeff mentions that are in the YouTube version of this conversation if you’d like to watch this one instead, or you can search the episode on faithmatters.org and see them there.
Order That We Might Have Joy for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift, and join the book club with Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife!

Today we’re joined by our friend Patrick Mason and filmmaker Robert Reynolds. Rob is the director and producer of the new docu-series An Inconvenient Faith—a project that’s already opening hearts and starting some long-overdue conversations.
This series is raw and honest. It takes on some of the most difficult and tender topics in our faith tradition—things like women and authority, LGBTQ belonging, race and the priesthood, and lots more. And it brings together voices from across the spectrum of faith—people who’ve stayed who are still engaging these issues, and people who have decided to step away. But all of them have one thing in common: they’ve wrestled with these big questions with their whole hearts.
For many of us, this hits close to home. These aren’t abstract issues—this is about our families, our friends, our wards. And so it can be hard to hear a perspective that challenges your own. But Rob explains that his intention here is to help us love better. To help us listen longer and more generously. He hopes it’s a glimpse into the inner wrestles of people you may know and love, to remind us that behind every decision is a real human being, and behind these questions is a heart that wants to do what’s right.
This episode is for anyone who loves someone who’s landed in a different place in their faith. If you’re looking for peace, for trust, for more compassion in the middle of complexity—we think you’ll find something meaningful here.
We’re so grateful to Rob and Patrick for showing us what that can look like.
Order That We Might Have Joy for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift, and join the book club with Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife!

Today, we want to introduce you to another podcast in the Faith Matters Podcast Network called Sanctuary: Discovering the Temple, hosted by Larkin Swain. Larkin brings a candid, curious, and thoughtful approach to conversations about the temple, and this episode felt especially fascinating and timely as we begin a new year studying the Old Testament.
In this episode, Larkin speaks with historical linguist Jared Lambert, whose work focuses on language development, temple theology, and how translation and symbolism have reshaped biblical traditions.
Jared brings a linguistic lens to the Genesis creation story, uncovering rich meanings that have evolved over time and even been lost in translation. His perspectives are both mind-expanding and spiritually moving.
He reexamines the portrayal of God in Genesis, unpacks the symbolism of the temple endowment, and offers what feels like a powerful missing piece in our traditional telling of Adam and Eve’s story.
We hope this conversation sparks fresh insight and deep reflection as you revisit these foundational stories. 
Be sure to follow Sanctuary on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack, or YouTube for curious, open, and honest conversations about the temple!
Order That We Might Have Joy for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift, and join the book club with Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife!