Scholars & Saints Season 4 Episode 3 is Live: Learn About the Oratorical Culture of Latter-day Saints
The fourth season of Scholars & Saints continues! Host Nicholas Shrum (PhD Student in American Religions at the University of Virginia), will continue to explore some of the most pressing issues, unique histories, and cutting-edge methods in Mormon Studies.
The Latter-day Saint tradition features a prodigious number of eloquent speakers and famous speeches — from Brigham Young’s sermons to Mitt Romney’s “Faith in America” address. But how does this tradition, especially with its lack of formal homiletical training, boast such a rich, deeply ingrained, and democratic culture of public address?
On today’s episode of Scholars & Saints, host Nicholas Shrum probes these questions with Professor Richard Benjamin Crosby and PhD Student Isaac James Richards, editors of Latter-Day Eloquence: Two Centuries of Mormon Oratory (University of Illinois Press, 2026). Crosby and Richards discuss the oratorical culture in which Latter-day Saints are raised, as well as the different rhetorical topics commonly employed in public addresses, such as rhetorics of exaltation, Zion, and peculiarity. They also examine the adaptation of Mormon rhetoric and public image in response to cultural assimilation, and the impact of the digital age on Latter-day Saint oratory and communication.
Richard Benjamin Crosby is Associate Professor of English at Brigham Young University, where he studies and teaches rhetorical theory and practice, with an interest in political and religious communication.
Isaac James Richards is a PhD Student in Communication Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. He studies the history and theory of writing, rhetoric, media, and communication, with particular attention to the intersection of memory, religion, and democracy.
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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.
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