Glass Box Podcast

It’s finally time for our long-awaited deep dive into New Mormon History. Put simply, NMH was a movement within the history department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to confront controversial history and turn away from the apologetic and polemical Old Mormon History. The leading figure, Leonard Arrington, was the right person for the job. But, he didn’t have the business chops to fight forces much larger than him in the form of Mark E. Petersen, Ezra Taft Benson, and Boyd K. Packer. The main segment is long as we chronicle the rise, fall, and resurrection of the New Mormon History movement and how the Joseph Smith Papers Project, as well as Saints: The Standard of Truth, are both the results of this movement pushing the church for academic legitimacy. In retrospect, Arrington is vindicated as an intellectual fighting for intellectual integrity while Packer spins in his grave. Then we discuss Finding Forrester as another example of the never-ending fight for academic honesty. We wrap with h