We’re really excited to share this week’s episode with you—a conversation with scholar and historian, Matt Bowman.
Matt is the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies and an associate professor of religion and history at Claremont Graduate University. In this conversation, he draws on ancient scripture to explore two archetypes that show up again and again: the prophet and the priest.
The prophet, Matt says, is often a voice from the outside—someone who has had a powerful, personal encounter with the divine and is sent to deliver a message that calls the community to repent. They challenge, critique, and call us back to our spiritual roots.
The priest, by contrast, usually nurtures from within—building and sustaining community, preserving memory, and ministering through sacred ritual. The priest creates belonging, continuity, and connection.
And while these approaches may seem to contrast, they work in harmony to support and strengthen the spiritual life of a community.
Matt notes that beginning around the 1950s, we began consistently referring to the president of the church as the prophet. And he wonders if, in doing so, we may have come to sometimes undervalue the essential priestly work the President of the Church also does.
This conversation helped us see something familiar—and deeply cherished in our tradition—in a fresh and powerful way and we came away feeling more grateful for a structure that makes room for both priestly care and prophetic vision.
We’re so thankful to Matt for this conversation, and we hope you love it as much as we did.
SUBSCRIBE NOW TO GET WAYFARE ISSUE 6—THE PROPHECY ISSUE
Matt’s piece that inspired this conversation, The Prophet and the Priest, will be published in Issue 6 of Wayfare alongside poetry, stories, essays and more exploring the roles of prophets and of prophecy in our tradition. We’re putting this issue in the mail to all Wayfare paid subscribers and Friends of Faith Matters on December 1, so subscribe now if you haven’t already to be sure you get your copy!
MORE ON THIS TOPIC:
What does Joseph Smith’s legacy mean today? Join Terryl Givens and Jenny Reeder for a lively discussion on the Prophet’s enduring influence—his vision, his challenges, and the spiritual movement he helped create.
Explore questions such as:
What revolutionary new ideas, doctrines and practices emerged from Joseph’s revelations?
What could Restoration look like as the 21st century unfolds?
How can we participate in the ongoing Restoration?
In-person attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions of these remarkable speakers. It’s an opportunity you won’t want to miss!
Friends of Faith Matters will get automatic access to the livestream and subsequent recordings for free.
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Making Peace With Your Temple Journey: A New Episode of Sanctuary
In this episode, Sarah shares her surprise in being invited onto the show due to not having a particularly strong relationship with the temple—yet this was precisely why I wanted to have a conversation with her. As someone who has had my own challenges in my temple journey, and who sees and feels the struggles many around me share, it felt important to have a conversation about the reality that our temple experience doesn’t always fit our ideals.
Together we discuss the journey of making peace with your experience, how to create space for the diversity of experiences within a community, and the spiritual practice of embracing the unknown. Sarah shares about her work with Mormon Women for Ethical Government and what she has learned about peacemaking, the importance of drawing out differences, and allowing things to be unresolved.
Sarah has also written beautifully about covenants. Together we explore the “impossible task” of making promises to give your absolute all to God, and the possibility that maybe the point of making covenants isn’t to perfectly keep them, but to deepen our relationship with Christ.
Read Sarah’s essay “Covenants by Immersion” on WayfareMagazine.org.
Preorder her new book, The Bible Storybook: The Old Testament, at forlittlesaints.com
Listen to Sarah read her scripture retellings for children in Scripture Stories for Little Saints, a new podcast from Faith Matters.
