Maxwell Institute Podcast

Joseph M. Spencer examines the structure of Isaiah 1–12 and how its shape, reflected in the Book of Mormon, reveals a story of covenant, disaster, promise, and redemption.

Rosalynde Welch reflects on Psalm 102, showing how lament can become praise and deepen discipleship amid suffering.

Thomas B. Griffith reflects on Psalm 69 and the difficult psalms of complaint and vengeance, exploring how honest, inherited prayers can deepen discipleship, reshape the heart, and strengthen a believer’s relationship with God.

Kim Matheson reflects on the Psalms as prayers for every human season, showing how lament, fear, anger, gratitude, and praise can all draw us toward God.

Steve Peck reflects on Job, suffering, creation, and ancient bristlecone pines to consider how God’s world can humble, unsettle, and enlarge our search for meaning.

Rosalynde Welch reflects on Esther through a 1985 Relief Society performance by her mother, showing how scripture takes on new meaning as each generation interprets, performs, and applies it to its own time.

Morgan Davis reflects on Elijah’s encounter with the still small voice in 1 Kings 19, exploring how God’s quiet instruction challenges zeal, violence, and spiritual overconfidence. In a world often drawn to loudness and certainty, Elijah’s story invites us to listen again for the voice of perfect mildness.

Avram Richard Shannon reflects on the complex story of David, Bath-sheba, and Uriah, inviting readers to seek moral and spiritual lessons from scripture without oversimplifying the lives of real people.

In this reflection on 1 Samuel 25, Kristian Heal explores Abigail’s courageous peacemaking between David and Nabal and invites readers to consider how Christ can transform foolishness, resentment, and offense into wisdom, reconciliation, and peace.

Kristian Heal considers Saul’s calling, the Spirit’s role in shaping Israel’s leaders, and the deeper theological debate over kingship in the books of Samuel. Drawing on Deuteronomy, Judges, and later texts, he explores what Saul’s rise and decline reveal about covenant responsibility, prophetic authority, and the kind of king Israel was meant to have.

Rosalynde F. Welch explores the book of Ruth through the lens of “costly love,” considering the beautiful and complicated ways Orpah, Ruth, and Boaz each respond to need, loyalty, and covenant. The article asks what faithful self-giving looks like when sacrifice is both spiritually powerful and morally risky.

J. B. Haws examines the story of Gideon in Judges, highlighting its moral tension and unanswered questions. This reflection invites readers to consider how faith, power, and human weakness intersect—and why these ancient stories leave us longing for a higher, more Christlike way.

Scott Esplin reflects on Joshua’s calling to succeed Moses and the Lord’s promise, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” This essay explores how faith in God’s constancy helps us move beyond comparison and find courage in our own callings.

Andrew Reed reflects on Moses’s final teachings in Deuteronomy, highlighting covenant remembrance, holiness, care for the poor, prophetic succession, and trust in God’s promises.