Episode 307

Ep307: Whitewashed: The Iroquois and The Book of Mormon

On this episode of Mormonish, Rebecca and Unoriginal Jim are joined by Dr. Thomas Murphy to discuss his new article "White is an Ite: The Book of Mormon's Misappropriation of the Iroquois Great Law of Peace Open Access" byThomas W Murphy (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (2025) 58 (4): 47–72.) https://doi.org/10.5406/15549399.58.4.03 "The Book of Mormon's portrayal of a great peace that followed the climatic appearance of Jesus Christ in ancient America presents a conundrum. The people of Nephi reportedly became especially “white,” a label that is described simultaneously as not an “ite.” On the one hand, the narrator Mormon represented the “people of Nephi” as “fair and delightsome.” Yet, a few verses later he declared that there were no longer “any manner of ites.” The paradox in this portrayal is that Nephites, even if they absorbed whitened Lamanites and renamed themselves the people of Nephi, remained rather literally (wh)ites. Put more bluntly, the label “white”—just like “Lamanite” and “Nephite”—remains an ite. We're excited to share this important discussion with Dr. Thomas Murphy! Thank you so much for watching Mormonish Podcast! ***How to DONATE to Mormonish Podcast: If you would like to help financially support our podcast, you can DONATE to support Mormonish Podcast here: Mormonish Podcast is a 501(c) (3) https://donorbox.org/mormonish-podcast ****WE HAVE MERCH! **** If you’d like to purchase Mormonish Merch, you can visit our Merch store here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mormonishmerch You can get your own quote to attend our Post-Mormon Celebration Cruise by visiting - https://kheskethtravel.com/post-mormon-celebration-cruise And you can get more info on the cruise by visiting - https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/post-mormon-celebration-cruise/ We appreciate our Mormonish viewers and listeners so much! Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to Mormonish Podcast! Contact Mormonish Podcast: mormonishpodcast@gmail.com #mormonish #lds #mormon #exmormon #postmormon #religion #news, #ldschurch #comeuntochrist #churchofjesuschrist #churchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints #byu #byui #josephsmith #comefollowme #polygamy #bookofmormon #becauseofhim #hearhim #ldstemple FAIR USE DISCLAIMER All Media in this video (including the thumbnail) is used for the purpose of review and critique. The images in the thumbnail are used as the primary means of visually identifying the subject matter of the video.



This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
All Episodes Previous Episode

About the Podcast

Show artwork for Mormon.ish
Mormon.ish
Living a Joyful Life on the Other Side of Mormonism

Listen for free

About your hosts

Profile picture for Rebecca Bibliotheca

Rebecca Bibliotheca

Rebecca Bibliotheca is a mother or three boys, co-founder of "The Good Book Club," a virtual reading group for post and nuanced Mormons, cohost of "Mormon Media Reviews," and leader of the "Mormon Stories Book Club." She has a Masters of Library and Information Science from BYU and worked for many years at the BYU Library. She and her husband, Tom, also founded a youth theater program that is in its 19th year. Rebecca loves the theater, reading, film, spending times outdoors, church watching and iced coffee!
Profile picture for Landon Brophy

Landon Brophy

Landon Brophy is the proud father of four children, two grandchildren, three ATVs and a boat. He's a former military officer, the co-founder of The Good Book Club, a reading group for post and nuanced Mormons, ann international manager for a global defense contractor, and a worldwide traveler. He and his wife founded "Utah Wanderers," an online travel guide to exploring Utah. Landon loves the outdoors, ATVing, boating, flying, reading, observing the "ongoing restoration" and second Saturdays!

Support Mormon.ish

A huge thank you to our supporters, it means a lot that you support our podcast.

If you like the podcast and want to support it, too, you can leave us a tip using the button below. We really appreciate it and it only takes a moment!
Support Mormon.ish
A
Anonymous $10
M
Mary and Matthew Melton $25
Love your work! Thank you!
L
Laura $25
Congrats on the Brodie Award Rebecca!
S
SB $10
Dating on Missions: the change hurts. Lost my love while on her mission. Her locked heart tricked me, I moved on. 25 years later it still hurts.
K
Kathleen Wilson $50
A
Anonymous $30
L
Lynette & Arnold Oliphant $8000
Thank you!!
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
J
Jennilyn Romano $5
I especially want to thank you, Rebecca. Ex-Mormon women can have a hard time sharing their perspective confidently. You inspire and are amazing!
A
Anonymous $1
M
Mike $100
Thank you so much! I love your topics, your guests, and your tone. It's a perfect balance and a much-needed part of the ex-Mormon podcast world!
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
M
Ms O $100
Donating in the memory of Elizabeth Fairchild and every other young girl who lost her youth to the deplorable and abusive practice of polygamy
E
Eve $50
Thank you! In addition to the podcast epsisodes, I love the shorts! Rebecca nails it every time! Its a great to highlight some news items!
A
Anonymous $1
K
Kolob Choir Queen $50
Your work in Fairview deserves some cheesecake for sure! Keep up the good work Rebecca and Landon! Kolob Choir Queen
L
Laurel $25
A cheesecake for Rebecca!!
F
FoolMeOnce $25
The podcast with Rebecca,Randy Bell, RFM and Landen was a home run for me. Excellenti reporting and content. Rebecca’s awesome!
A
Anonymous $5
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $5
G
Greg Johnson $25
G
Greg Johnson $25
Please tell me how to automate my monthly donations. :)
D
David Rogers $75
keep up the great work
A
Arnold&Lynette Oliphant $8000
Thank you for your excellent reporting and your book club.
J
Joseph and Barbara Bingham $50
Thanks for all you do. We learn so much from you.
A
Adam Martin $50
Keep up the good work.
G
Greg Johnson $25
K
Kathleen Wilson $50
L
Laurel $50
Thank you for so many great podcasts! FYI if you do donorbox you can convince people to do recurring monthly donations ;) that was my original plan!
C
Ceci $50
Love you guys. Keep up the good work.
L
Lee Anderson $25
Love the show
A
Anonymous $25
Thank you for providing post-Mormon experience from a middle-aged (like me!) perspective.
A
Anonymous $1
G
Greg Johnson $25
My reminder to donate monthly to you got deleted/lost. You really need automatic monthly donations.
P
Peter Ayers $100
Enjoy your podcasts. Looking forward to participating in the Good Book Club.
A
Anonymous $25
A
Anonymous $100
HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBECCA!!!! Buy yourself a flask!!!
A
Anonymous $60
A
Anonymous $10
G
Greg Johnson $25
Is there a way to donate automatically?
C
Carol Lamberti $25
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
S
Sam Tue £10
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
A
Anonymous $1
D
Dave and Nanette Merrill $100
My husband I are so grateful for all you do. We never miss an episode. And we have green shirts!
G
Greg Johnson $25
Please set up automatically recurring donations. It'll make it easier on us, make use less likely to stop donating, & will help you budget over time.
E
Ev $25
Thank you for educating me in so many ways.
R
Richard Kirkham $50
Love your podcasts! Thanks!
A
Anonymous $5
Love your hosting and humor. Keep the one-liners coming!
B
Beth Somerton Young $10
So proud, thrilled, and happy with the Fairview TX coverage and the light you've shown on the Nauvoo-level machinations of the church. Well done, you!
A
Anonymous $10
Thanks so much for your content! I love, love all your shows. Keep up the good work!
G
Greg Johnson $25
A
Anonymous $100
Amazing content. I enjoy it so much.
O
Orlene $100
R
Robin Netto $10
Thank you all the work to educate us on how the church has treated the towns and disrespecting the zoning laws.
R
Robin Netto $25
Thank you so much Rebecca.
N
Nolan $25
Love y’all. Thanks for making this transition less lonely. Operating as “other sheep” to protect my parents who are 88, and have their golden tickets
J
Jim $25
Thank you for your amazing work! Love your show!
M
Mike Harris $25
A
Anonymous $25
A
Anonymous $25
E
Ellen Ashcraft $100
I really enjoy your podcast. Your insights are spot on. Thank you for all you do!
L
Landon $10
A
Anonymous $50
C
Carol Lamberti $100
B
Bill and Mary Ellen Hickman $500
Thanks for all your efforts. We truly appreciate all your efforts