Latter-day Landscape (formerly Mormonism Magnified) is a podcast hosted by Patrick Mason and Morgan McKeown. Our goal is to provide meaningful insights into recent Mormon news. Each episode we bring on several qualified, respectful scholars to discuss the latest headlines pertaining to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
You can find our podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher by searching for “Latter-day Landscape.”
You can email us feedback at:
About Patrick:
Patrick Mason became the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University. Prior to that, he was the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University from 2011-2019.
Professor Mason is an American religious historian and scholar of Mormon Studies who earned his PhD in US history from the University of Notre Dame. He also earned an MA in international peace studies at Notre Dame, with an emphasis in religion, violence, and peace-building. Prior to that he graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in history.
While leading the Mormon Studies program at CGU, Professor Mason also serves as Dean of the School of Arts & Humanities. Prior to joining the faculty at CGU, Mason taught US history, politics, and religion at the American University in Cairo before returning to Notre Dame to help launch an interdisciplinary research project on modern Catholicism, Islam, and secularism called “Contending Modernities.”
In addition to numerous articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries, Mason is the author or editor of several books, including: What Is Mormonism? A Student’s Introduction (Routledge, 2017); Out of Obscurity: Mormonism since 1945, co-edited with John Turner (Oxford University Press, 2016); Directions in Mormon Studies in the 21st Century(University of Utah Press, 2016); Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt (Deseret Book/Maxwell Institute, 2015); War and Peace in Our Time: Mormon Perspectives, co-edited with David Pulsipher and Richard Bushman (Greg Kofford Books, 2012); and The Mormon Menace: Violence and Anti-Mormonism in the Postbellum South (Oxford University Press, 2011). He recently completed a book manuscript for Cambridge University Press entitled The Battles of Zion: Mormonism and Violence, and is working to complete a co-authored book with David Pulsipher on a Mormon theology and ethic of nonviolence.
An expert on Mormonism and the historical role of religion in American public life, Professor Mason has often been featured in the national media, including appearances in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio, PBS, NBC News, and CNN. He is president of the Mormon History Association for 2017-18, and serves on the advisory board for the Mormon Studies Review.
About Morgan:
Morgan McKeown is an entrepreneur and businessman who has been a part of the Claremont Mormon Studies Council since 2013.
Morgan graduated from Dartmouth College in economics, and went on to earn an MBA from USC Marshall School of Business. His primary business experience has been developing, launching, and managing new medical devices. After working for over 15 years for a Fortune 500 Medical Device company, Morgan started his own consulting business, Key In Strategies, LLC, with the goal of making a meaningful difference through healthcare innovations. The products he has developed, launched, and managed have been used on millions of patients around the world.
A lifelong active Latter-day Saint and an enthusiast of Mormon scholarship, Morgan has been involved for many years with research initiatives into various aspects of Mormonism. He has served on the Claremont Mormon Studies Council for the past few years alongside Patrick.
Latter-day Landscape is not an official production of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Utah State University, or the Claremont Graduate University.