Tenth Annual Joseph Smith Lecture Now Available as Scholars & Saints Bonus Episode

University of Virginia, Mormon Studies Program

This year’s Joseph Smith Lecture with Laurie Maffly-Kipp is now available on all major podcasting platforms.

Joseph Smith Lecture 2024 – Mormonism Through an African Lens

Professor Maffly-Kipp is a distinguished scholar in American religious history, with a special interest in the religious traditions of the American West. This particular focus brought her into the field of Mormon Studies, where she has become an influential interpreter of Latter-day Saint history, and a shaper of the discipline as it begins to examine 21st Century Mormonism, especially outside of North America. In so doing, Professor Maffly-Kipp has written numerous influential works on Mormonism, religion in the American West, and African American religious history.

Her most recent publication is “‘A Marvelous Work:’ Reading Mormonism in West Africa,” a volume of the Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture Series. Her interest in African practices of Mormonism sparked her topic for the tenth annual Joseph Smith Lecture, “Mormonism Through an African Lens,” addressing the Church’s growing membership and practice within Africa.

What is Scholars and Saints?

Scholars & Saints is the official podcast of the University of Virginia’s Mormon Studies program, housed in the Department of Religious Studies. Scholars & Saints is a venue of public scholarship that promotes respectful dialogue about Latter Day Saint traditions among laypersons and academics. On this podcast, we dive into the academic study of Mormonism, engage recent and classic scholarship, interview prominent and up-and-coming thinkers in the field and reflect on Mormonism’s relevance to the broader study of religion.

Scholars & Saints Season 2 will return from hiatus in December. Be sure to follow us on X, Instagram, and Facebook to keep up to date with our upcoming episodes!

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