John Dehlin
Encyclopedia
John P. Dehlin is the creator of several Mormon
-themed podcast
s, blog
s and web sites. John worked for several years in various positions at Microsoft
, and served for a few years as the Director of the OpenCourseWare
Consortium for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. He was an influential early participant in the Mormon blogging scene (often called the Bloggernacle
). John is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical/Counseling Psychology from Utah State University
.
and raised in Katy, Texas
. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), he served as a missionary
in Guatemala
in the late 1980s. He then attended Brigham Young University
in Provo, Utah
, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts
in political science
in 1993.
Dehlin briefly dated Renee Zellweger
in high school.
After graduation, Dehlin worked for five years in software and as a consultant for Bain & Company
, Arthur Andersen
, Citicorp, Heidrick & Struggles, and the LDS Church. He then worked at Microsoft
for seven years in programs for developers
, marketing
, speech technologies, and product demos
.
Dehlin's brother, Joel Dehlin
, also worked at Microsoft, and became the CIO
of the LDS Church in 2004.
In 2004, Dehlin moved to Logan, Utah
to begin work under Dr. David A. Wiley
at Utah State University
(USU) on OpenCourseWare
-related projects. Dehlin would serve as USU's OpenCourseWare Consortium Coordinator and Director of Outreach for the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning Director of Outreach for two years, where he promoted OpenCourseWare to other universities. While at USU, Dehlin also completed a Master of Science
degree in Instructional Technology
in 2007. In January 2007, MIT hired Dehlin as the Director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium.
John is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Utah State University.
in Guatemala
from 1988 - 1990, Dehlin's mission
began baptizing up to 700 "converts" per month. To accomplish this, many missionaries were using deceptive methods which were taught and supported by some mission leaders. Dehlin was disturbed and reported these activities to his mission president
who did not share Dehlin's concern and sent him home early (normally a disciplinary action). After reporting on this to a sympathetic Apostle Dallin H. Oaks
and completing his two-year missionary term in the Arizona Tempe mission, Dehlin remained an active, faithful member of the LDS Church for the next 20 years, but began to study church administration, history, doctrine and theology more in depth.
While living in the Seattle area, Dehlin was called to be an early-morning LDS Seminary teacher. In preparation for the next year's class, he began studying LDS Church history
in greater depth which led to his discovery of several controversial issues such as Joseph Smith's practice of polyandry
, DNA and archeological issues with the Book of Mormon, etc. With shaken faith, he didn't find many informed or sympathetic local church members and therefore contemplated leaving the church. On the Internet he found communities antagonistic toward the LDS Church which didn't encourage him to stay either. Eventually he discovered publications such as Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
and Sunstone Magazine
which acknowledged LDS controversies but provided thoughtful responses/solutions to the problems. These resources helped Dehlin decide to stay in the church for several years after his initial discoveries.
, intellectual, gay
, black, fundamentalist, feminist
, and dissenting. Several notable Mormon figures were guests on Mormon Stories, including Gregory Prince
, Todd Compton
, Grant Palmer, Darius Gray
, Margaret Blair Young
, Richard Bushman
, and Margaret and Paul Toscano. To date, listenership at times exceeds 25,000 downloads per episode. Mormon Stories has been featured in many venues, including being broadcast on KVNU
in Logan, Utah
. In June 2007 John Dehlin was quoted for stories by The New York Times
and Good Morning America
, discussing Mitt Romney
and Mormonism.
At times personally conflicted about continuing Mormon Stories, Dehlin stopped and restarted the project a few times. In January 2010 Dehlin resumed the blog and podcast, focusing on faith crises, mental illnesses, and notable guests, beginning with interviews of Joanna Brooks and John Hamer. Two other regular hosts joined Dehlin in conducting interviews for the podcast: Dan Wotherspoon, former editor of Sunstone magazine; and Natasha Helfer Parker, a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist.
In 2011 Dehlin reported going "inactive" from the LDS church for a period of months, citing an inability to believe some of the church's fundamental truth claims. After being exonerated from a series of investigations into his Internet activities (led by his LDS bishop and stake president), Dehlin has returned to the LDS church as a semi-active member, attending approximately once or twice a month . Today, Dehlin refers to himself as an "Unorthodox Mormon," "Uncorrelated Mormon," and an "Open Mormon" .
Dehlin is also the co-founder of the Mormons for Marriage website (a pro-gay marriage site) and Stay LDS, a community dedicated to helping unorthodox Mormons stay in the LDS church if that is their desire.
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
-themed podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
s, blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s and web sites. John worked for several years in various positions at Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, and served for a few years as the Director of the OpenCourseWare
OpenCourseWare
OpenCourseWare, or OCW, is a term applied to course materials created by universities and shared freely with the world via the internet. The movement started in 1999 when the University of Tübingen in Germany published videos of lectures online in the context of its timms initiative...
Consortium for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. He was an influential early participant in the Mormon blogging scene (often called the Bloggernacle
Bloggernacle
The Mormon blogosphere is the Mormon portion of the blogosphere...
). John is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical/Counseling Psychology from Utah State University
Utah State University
Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....
.
Biographical background
Dehlin was born in Boise, IdahoBoise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
and raised in Katy, Texas
Katy, Texas
Katy is a city located in Harris, Fort Bend and Waller Counties in the U.S. state of Texas, within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area...
. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), he served as a missionary
Missionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
in the late 1980s. He then attended Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
in Provo, Utah
Provo, Utah
Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...
, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
in 1993.
Dehlin briefly dated Renee Zellweger
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...
in high school.
After graduation, Dehlin worked for five years in software and as a consultant for Bain & Company
Bain & Company
Bain & Company is a global management consulting firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Bain is considered one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the world, with 47 offices in 30 countries and over 5,500 professionals on staff globally...
, Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations...
, Citicorp, Heidrick & Struggles, and the LDS Church. He then worked at Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
for seven years in programs for developers
Software developer
A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...
, marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, speech technologies, and product demos
Tech demo
A tech demo is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a product, put together with the primary purpose of showcasing the idea, performance, method or the features of the product...
.
Dehlin's brother, Joel Dehlin
Joel Dehlin
Joel Dehlin is the Chief Technology Officer for iQor, a business process outsourcing company. Formerly, he was the Chief Information Officer for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joel left this position effective August 1st, 2011...
, also worked at Microsoft, and became the CIO
Chief information officer
Chief information officer , or information technology director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals...
of the LDS Church in 2004.
In 2004, Dehlin moved to Logan, Utah
Logan, Utah
-Layout of the City:Logan's city grid originates from its Main and Center Street block, with Main Street running north and south, and Center east and west. Each block north, east, south, or west of the origin accumulates in additions of 100 , though some streets have non-numeric names...
to begin work under Dr. David A. Wiley
David A. Wiley
David A. Wiley is an Associate Professor of Instructional Psychology & Technology at Brigham Young University. He is also Chief Openness Officer of Flat World Knowledge and founder of the Open High School of Utah...
at Utah State University
Utah State University
Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....
(USU) on OpenCourseWare
OpenCourseWare
OpenCourseWare, or OCW, is a term applied to course materials created by universities and shared freely with the world via the internet. The movement started in 1999 when the University of Tübingen in Germany published videos of lectures online in the context of its timms initiative...
-related projects. Dehlin would serve as USU's OpenCourseWare Consortium Coordinator and Director of Outreach for the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning Director of Outreach for two years, where he promoted OpenCourseWare to other universities. While at USU, Dehlin also completed a Master of Science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
degree in Instructional Technology
Instructional technology
In education, instructional technology is "the theory and practice ofdesign, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning," according to the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Definitions and Terminology Committee...
in 2007. In January 2007, MIT hired Dehlin as the Director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium.
John is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Utah State University.
Crises of faith
As an LDS missionaryMissionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
from 1988 - 1990, Dehlin's mission
Mission (LDS Church)
A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...
began baptizing up to 700 "converts" per month. To accomplish this, many missionaries were using deceptive methods which were taught and supported by some mission leaders. Dehlin was disturbed and reported these activities to his mission president
Mission president
Mission president is a priesthood leadership position in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . A mission president presides over a mission and the missionaries serving in the mission...
who did not share Dehlin's concern and sent him home early (normally a disciplinary action). After reporting on this to a sympathetic Apostle Dallin H. Oaks
Dallin H. Oaks
Dallin Harris Oaks is an American attorney, jurist, author, professor, public speaker, and religious leader. Since 1984, he has been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
and completing his two-year missionary term in the Arizona Tempe mission, Dehlin remained an active, faithful member of the LDS Church for the next 20 years, but began to study church administration, history, doctrine and theology more in depth.
While living in the Seattle area, Dehlin was called to be an early-morning LDS Seminary teacher. In preparation for the next year's class, he began studying LDS Church history
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is typically divided into three broad time periods: the early history during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, Jr...
in greater depth which led to his discovery of several controversial issues such as Joseph Smith's practice of polyandry
Polyandry
Polyandry refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered...
, DNA and archeological issues with the Book of Mormon, etc. With shaken faith, he didn't find many informed or sympathetic local church members and therefore contemplated leaving the church. On the Internet he found communities antagonistic toward the LDS Church which didn't encourage him to stay either. Eventually he discovered publications such as Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought is an independent quarterly journal of "Mormon thought" that addresses a wide range of issues on Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint Movement....
and Sunstone Magazine
Sunstone Magazine
Sunstone is a magazine published by the Sunstone Education Foundation, Inc., a 501 nonprofit corporation, that discusses Mormonism through scholarship, art, short fiction, and poetry. The foundation began the publication in 1974 and considers it a vehicle for free and frank exchange in The Church...
which acknowledged LDS controversies but provided thoughtful responses/solutions to the problems. These resources helped Dehlin decide to stay in the church for several years after his initial discoveries.
Sunstone
Finding limited internet presence for constructive Mormon intellectual sources, Dehlin approached the Sunstone Education Foundation and presented to its Board of Directors about the importance of participating in developing internet communities through blogging and podcasting. The Board accepted his offer to initiate these programs and, in September 2005, Dehlin joined the Board of Directors and began a Sunstone podcast as well as SunstoneBlog. In July 2007, he also became executive director of the Sunstone Education Foundation, in which he was to focus on strategic initiatives to strengthen Sunstone's position as an open forum for Mormon issues. In that role, he tried to increase the organizational focus on its longstanding motto, "faith seeking understanding", and to attract new and younger membership. Dehlin resigned from Sunstone in January 2008.Mormon Stories
In September 2005, after finding reasons to stay a member of the LDS Church, Dehlin created the Mormon Stories podcast as an open discussion of Mormon issues with the intention of giving listeners reasons to remain in the church. Through interviews, Mormon Stories focused on varying Mormon experiences and perspectives, including antagonistic, apologeticMormon apologetics
Mormon apologetics is the systematic defense of Mormonism against its critics. Notable Latter-day Saint apologists include early church leaders such as John Taylor, B. H. Roberts, James E. Talmage and modern scholars such as Hugh Nibley, Orson Scott Card, and Jeff Lindsay...
, intellectual, gay
Homosexuality and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Homosexual acts are prohibited by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Law of Chastity, as well as other sexual acts outside the bonds of marriage. Violating the Law of Chastity may result in excommunication...
, black, fundamentalist, feminist
Women and Mormonism
The status of women in Mormonism has been a source of public debate since before the death of Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1844. Various denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement have taken different paths on the subject of women and their role in the church and in society...
, and dissenting. Several notable Mormon figures were guests on Mormon Stories, including Gregory Prince
Gregory Prince
Gregory A. Prince is an American pathology researcher, businessman, author, and historian of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Biography:Prince was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. After graduating as valedictorian from Dixie College Gregory A. Prince (born 1948) is an American pathology...
, Todd Compton
Todd Compton
Todd Merlin Compton is an American historian in the fields of Mormon history and Classics.- Biographical background :Compton is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who lived for a number of years in Santa Monica, California. He has served an LDS mission to Ireland...
, Grant Palmer, Darius Gray
Darius Gray
Darius Gray is an African-American Latter-day Saint speaker and writer.Gray was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the mid-1960s and then attended Brigham Young University for a year...
, Margaret Blair Young
Margaret Blair Young
Margaret Blair Young is an American author, filmmaker and writing instructor affiliated with Brigham Young University.- Biography :Young is married to English professor Bruce Young...
, Richard Bushman
Richard Bushman
Richard Lyman Bushman is an American historian and Gouverneur Morris Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University. He is currently the Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University...
, and Margaret and Paul Toscano. To date, listenership at times exceeds 25,000 downloads per episode. Mormon Stories has been featured in many venues, including being broadcast on KVNU
KVNU
KVNU is a news talk radio station in Logan, Utah, USA. The call letters stand for "the Voice of Northern Utah". The station was started in 1938 by Reed Bullen, who owned the station until 1996 when it was sold to the Cache Valley Radio Group...
in Logan, Utah
Logan, Utah
-Layout of the City:Logan's city grid originates from its Main and Center Street block, with Main Street running north and south, and Center east and west. Each block north, east, south, or west of the origin accumulates in additions of 100 , though some streets have non-numeric names...
. In June 2007 John Dehlin was quoted for stories by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, discussing Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
and Mormonism.
At times personally conflicted about continuing Mormon Stories, Dehlin stopped and restarted the project a few times. In January 2010 Dehlin resumed the blog and podcast, focusing on faith crises, mental illnesses, and notable guests, beginning with interviews of Joanna Brooks and John Hamer. Two other regular hosts joined Dehlin in conducting interviews for the podcast: Dan Wotherspoon, former editor of Sunstone magazine; and Natasha Helfer Parker, a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist.
In 2011 Dehlin reported going "inactive" from the LDS church for a period of months, citing an inability to believe some of the church's fundamental truth claims. After being exonerated from a series of investigations into his Internet activities (led by his LDS bishop and stake president), Dehlin has returned to the LDS church as a semi-active member, attending approximately once or twice a month . Today, Dehlin refers to himself as an "Unorthodox Mormon," "Uncorrelated Mormon," and an "Open Mormon" .
Other blogs
In June 2007, Dehlin started Mormon Matters as a blog and weekly podcast, with the intention of eventually becoming a radio show. The format was a discussion panel on events, culture, politics and spirituality within Mormonism. Panelists were to represent different sides of each issue, although the show later struggled to retain regular conservative LDS panelists. In early 2008, Dehlin converted Mormon Matters into a group blog and lessened emphasis on new podcast episodes,. Dehlin resumed the Mormon Matters podcast on March 5, 2011 with Dan Wotherspoon as the host, and Joanna Brooks as a frequent co-host.Dehlin is also the co-founder of the Mormons for Marriage website (a pro-gay marriage site) and Stay LDS, a community dedicated to helping unorthodox Mormons stay in the LDS church if that is their desire.
See also
- BloggernacleBloggernacleThe Mormon blogosphere is the Mormon portion of the blogosphere...
- Blogs about Mormons and Mormonism
- Sunstone MagazineSunstone MagazineSunstone is a magazine published by the Sunstone Education Foundation, Inc., a 501 nonprofit corporation, that discusses Mormonism through scholarship, art, short fiction, and poetry. The foundation began the publication in 1974 and considers it a vehicle for free and frank exchange in The Church...
- Stay LDS
External links
- Official site
- Mormon Stories, Dehlin's most well-known blog and podcast
- Dehlin's list of episodes for Mormon Stories, Sunstone, and Mormon Matters
- "5 Questions After 5 Years – From A Longtime 'Nacle Wannabe," by John Dehlin
- Ldspsychology.com, one of Dehlin's blogs, started in 2009