Podcasts

In this reflection on 1 Samuel 25, Kristian Heal explores Abigail’s courageous peacemaking between David and Nabal and invites readers to consider how Christ can transform foolishness, resentment, and offense into wisdom, reconciliation, and peace.

Kristian Heal considers Saul’s calling, the Spirit’s role in shaping Israel’s leaders, and the deeper theological debate over kingship in the books of Samuel. Drawing on Deuteronomy, Judges, and later texts, he explores what Saul’s rise and decline reveal about covenant responsibility, prophetic authority, and the kind of king Israel was meant to have.

Rosalynde F. Welch explores the book of Ruth through the lens of “costly love,” considering the beautiful and complicated ways Orpah, Ruth, and Boaz each respond to need, loyalty, and covenant. The article asks what faithful self-giving looks like when sacrifice is both spiritually powerful and morally risky.

In this reflection on Judges, J.B. Haws revisits the story of Gideon—not only as a thrilling account of miraculous deliverance, but as a morally complex story that asks what happens after victory, when fear, vengeance, power, and faith become difficult to untangle.

Scott Esplin reflects on Joshua’s calling to succeed Moses and the Lord’s promise, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” This essay explores how faith in God’s constancy helps us move beyond comparison and find courage in our own callings.

Andrew Reed reflects on Moses’s final teachings in Deuteronomy, highlighting covenant remembrance, holiness, care for the poor, prophetic succession, and trust in God’s promises.

In the wilderness of Numbers, suffering and abundance exist side by side. Robbie Taggart explores how God’s grace can feel both daily and overflowing—and how our ability to perceive divine abundance, even in hardship, shapes whether we wander in despair or awaken to the promised land already before us.

Rosalynde Welch sits down with graduating student researchers Melissa Jensen and Sam Petersen to explore how faith and scholarship come together at the Maxwell Institute. Melissa shares insights from her work on the Book of Mormon, offering a fresh perspective on miracles as divine help to accomplish God’s purposes. Sam reflects on Joseph Smith’s teachings about sacred matter, suggesting that the material world is not separate from the divine but filled with it. Together, their conversations highlight what it means to pursue “disciple scholarship”—a life of learning that deepens faith, invites better questions, and draws us closer to God.

What does it mean to begin again? Drawing on Exodus 35–40 and Leviticus, Jennifer Champoux shows how ancient patterns of covenant and cleansing reveal Christ’s power to offer renewal, healing, and fresh starts.