Episodes

Were Joseph and Hyrum’s skulls switched (misidentified) in 1928? Patrick Bishop answers this mystery! https://youtu.be/ZVoXwDdNbVk Don’t miss our other conversations with Patrick: https://gospeltangents.com/people/patrick-bishop/ Copyright © 2026 Gospel Tangents All Rights Reserved Most of us assume the death mask is the closest thing we have to Joseph Smith’s real face. Just open the eyes, the thinking goes, and there he is. Patrick Bishop thought so too, until 25 years of research changed...

Is this tiny locket the only known Joseph Smith photo? Patrick Bishop, producer of Brother Joseph Again, explains the forensic science behind it.

Community of Christ apostles have undergone one of the biggest leadership shakeups in years. With a new prophet-president and major changes among the church’s top leadership, six vacancies opened in the Council of Twelve. Some apostles retired, while others moved into different leadership positions—and six new apostles stepped into the vacancies. https://youtu.be/y5lKYsFEcnw With a new prophet-president and major changes among the church’s top leadership, six vacancies opened in the Council of...

When a Temple Isn’t a Building at All/Virtual Temples What if you could do a virtual temples at home? Not every branch of the Restoration wanted a temple, and the groups covered in this closing conversation show just how far the idea could stretch — from outright rejection to a virtual temple. https://youtu.be/PEd9KOTjY8U Don’t miss our other conversations with John: https://gospeltangents.com/people/john-hamer/ Copyright © 2026 Gospel Tangents All Rights Reserved Bickertonites: No Interest...

James Strang is one of the strangest turns in Restoration history, including being crowned as a Mormon King. Historian John Hamer opens part four of this series by explaining just how unexpected his rise was. https://youtu.be/eUVN58NugEg Don’t miss our other conversations with John: https://gospeltangents.com/people/john-hamer/ Copyright © 2026 Gospel Tangents All Rights Reserved Almost as soon as Joseph Smith died, and right after Sidney Rigdon’s own short-lived church fizzled out, Strang ...

What happened to the Nauvoo Endowment after Joseph Smith’s death? What happens to a temple idea when a group won’t follow Brigham Young west? In this third conversation of the series, historian John Hamer and host Rick Bennett follow two small groups that carried the Nauvoo endowment in their own directions: one that kept it alive in a room above a church, and one that took it to Texas. https://youtu.be/M-I9WmPsu7w Don’t miss our other conversations with John: https://gospeltangents.com/people...

We’re moving beyond LDS Temples and looking at Fundamentalist Mormon temples. Nauvoo gave Latter-day Saints a temple built around Old Testament ordinances, and then the pioneers left it behind. In this second conversation of the series, historian John Hamer and host Rick Bennett follow that inheritance west to Utah, where an Endowment House filled the gap until a real temple could be finished, and then to the more surprising places it landed: the temples of Mormon fundamentalist groups, includin...

Where did Joseph Smith get the idea of temples? It sounds like a simple question, but historian John Hamer’s answer stretches from the Bible to a domed assembly hall in Independence, Missouri, and includes a temple that was called for by revelation, designed by an architect, and never built. In this first conversation of his return to Gospel Tangents, John, a Community of Christ Seventy and co-editor of Scattering of the Saints: Schism Within Mormonism, walks me through the building blocks. ht...

Brigham didn’t dissolve Relief Society! That’s what Katie Rich’s recent article on Brigham Young & the Relief Society claimed. It goes against the historical consensus and won an award at the Mormon History Association. She will explain her reasons here. We’ll also discuss how Exponent II accepts multiple positions on controversial issues. Is it hard to keep disparate opinions together? https://youtu.be/5xqbPUh1Djo Check out this playlist for more info on this topic! https://www.youtube.com/wa...

Over the past three segments, Dr. Thomas Murphy, author of Unsettling Scripture: Iroquois and the Book of Mormon, has walked us through his research connecting Haudenosaunee history to the origins of the Book of Mormon — from the Dartmouth/Moor’s Charity School connection, to the prophet Handsome Lake, to overlooked ties between Native nations and the Revolutionary War era. But all of it has been building toward one question we haven’t asked him directly yet: can the Book of Mormon be both ficti...

Are there echoes of Book of Mormon & Revolutionary War? When we talk about the relationship between early Mormonism and Native American communities, the conversation usually runs in one direction: how indigenous traditions may have influenced Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. But in this segment of our conversation with Dr. Thomas Murphy, author of Unsettling Scripture: Iroquois and the Book of Mormon, we explore something far less discussed — how Haudenosaunee communities weren’t just absorb...

Did Native Americans use seer stones? What if the roots of the Book of Mormon’s narrative trace back not just to revelation, but to a classroom? Book of Mormon Ties to Darmouth? In this second part of our conversation with anthropologist Dr. Thomas Murphy, we explore a detail of Smith family history that rarely gets discussed: Hyrum Smith’s education at Dartmouth’s Moor’s Indian Charity School, where he studied alongside Haudenosaunee students. It’s a small historical fact with potentially lar...

Can rigorous DNA research and religious scripture coexist? Years ago, Murphy’s groundbreaking DNA research directly challenged traditional Book of Mormon claims about Native American origins. It was a stance that put him at odds with his own stake president and nearly cost him his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For many in the Mormon studies world, Murphy’s name has been synonymous with that controversy ever since. Now, Murphy returns to Gospel Tangents with some...

David Nielsen passed away a couple of weeks ago when he fell off a ladder. His death was a very sad surprise. He leaves behind 3 wives, a wonderful family, and a shocked and saddened community of friends. We’re remembering him in this video. He served as an apostle for the Nielsen-Naylor Group. In this 2025 interview, he gives an introduction to this Mormon fundamentalist group. https://youtu.be/vaglaO6_lFk David Nielsen David Nielsen was an apostle for his church. CHAPTERS 0:00 FLDS Splits...

In this engaging temple Q&A session, host Rick Bennett fields questions from a Community of Christ group following a presentation on restoration temples inside and outside the LDS Church. The discussion spans a wide range of captivating topics in Mormon history, theology, and architecture: https://youtu.be/vn7odpxo7Kc Don’t miss our other conversations on temples: https://gospeltangents.com/mormon_history/lds-temples/ Copyright © 2026 Gospel Tangents All Rights Reserved What you will discov...

We’re taking a deep dive into Virtual, Vodou, and Fundy Temples. It’s a fascinating look at secret and highly controversial world of divergent temples and modern groups of the Restoration. Following the assassination of Joseph Smith, the temple liturgy fractured like a prism, scattering the sacred rites of the Restoration in vastly different directions. https://youtu.be/L6vQWsbxxaE Don’t miss our other conversations on temples: https://gospeltangents.com/mormon_history/lds-temples/ Copyright ©...

What happened to the Latter Day Saint movement after it fractured? We discuss the fascination history on RLDS & Bickertonite views about temples. While Brigham Young led his followers West to build physical temples in Utah, multiple restoration branches took a completely different path—formally rejecting Nauvoo theology, secret endowments, and polygamy https://youtu.be/-tjIZUJcOqo Don’t miss our other conversations on temples: https://gospeltangents.com/mormon_history/lds-temples/ Copyright © 2...

Many people think there aren’t non-LDS temples, but that’s not true. When Joseph Smith was assassinated in 1844, the restoration did not just fracture geographically—it shattered the unified theology of the temple. While the LDS Church went on to build a massive global network of private temples, several other branches of the restoration developed highly unique, surprising, and divergent temple traditions of their own. https://youtu.be/AiIf0-7mOIE Don’t miss our other conversations on temples: ...

Back in 2017, I sat down with Anne Wilde, one of the foremost experts on modern-day polygamy. While I like to call her the First Lady of Fundamentalism, she has lived an incredibly unique life as an Independent Fundamentalist. For 33 years, Anne lived as the secret second wife of Ogden Kraut, a prolific fundamentalist author whose 65 books she personally helped write and edit. From the secret history of Mormon schisms to her own spiritual journey, you won’t want to miss this fascinating conversa...

Shannon Flynn was a former close associate of the notorious Mormon forger and bomber, Mark Hofmann. Recorded before Flynn’s 2021 passing, this conversation provides a chilling, up-close look at Hofmann’s methods, his personality, and the desperate unraveling that led to two murders. We’ll get up close and personal and discuss this crazy chapter of Mormon History. https://youtu.be/9QcITtuSxLo Don’t miss our other conversations Shannon: https://gospeltangents.com/people/shannon-flynn Copyright ...

A key figure who accelerated the historical crisis for both the Tanners (who left the group in 1962) and Pauline’s church was Wes Walters, a Presbyterian minister from Marissa, Illinois. Walters was asked to write an article on Mormons for Christianity Today. His detailed research focused on testing Joseph Smith’s claims against tangible historical records, particularly those surrounding the First Vision. Walters reasoned that while you couldn’t prove whether Smith spoke to God, you could prove...

Was Hugh Nibley wrong? Is global capitalism compatible with a Zion society? And when is a Latter-day Saint actually justified in defying a corrupt, oppressive government? https://youtu.be/IWZgHZT5Q9w Don’t miss our other conversations Nathan: https://gospeltangents.com/people/nathan-oman Copyright © 2026 Gospel Tangents All Rights Reserved Hugh Nibley was wrong? First, Professor Oman challenges the popular anti-capitalist teachings of the legendary LDS scholar Hugh Nibley. While Nibley vi...

Have you wondered what’s behind the energy in the polygamy revisionist movement? Are these the same as RLDS polygamy arguments? Back in 2010, Newell Bringhurst wrote a chapter in “Persistence of Polygamy” on the evolution of RLDS thinking on Joseph Smith’s polygamy, how it got forgotten, and recycled among a new generation of LDS members who weren’t aware of the previous history. https://youtu.be/wD-ZHracUnA Are the modern arguments that Joseph Smith was a strict monogamist actually new? In th...

What do you do when your personal conscience clashes with official LDS Church positions? Why did the LDS Church transition from the fiery, anti-communist speeches of Ezra Taft Benson in the 1960s to the strict political neutrality we see today? https://youtu.be/cDExXX00Y0o Oman is the author of 2 volumes of Law and the Restoration Volume 1 and Volume 2, from Greg Kofford Books. Don’t miss our other conversations Nathan: https://gospeltangents.com/people/nathan-oman Copyright © 2026 Gospel T...