Start here.
Standard of Truth is a podcast about Church history and doctrine. Historian Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat and Dr. Richard LeDuc take listeners’ questions and answer them from the sources, with plenty of laughs along the way. Listeners call themselves Litners. This site, SOT Litner, puts every episode in one place so you can find what they said.
Ask the Crack Research Staff
On the show, Richard’s “crack research staff” looks things up between episodes. (It’s Richard and a laptop. Don’t tell anyone.) Here, the staff searches every episode for you.
Or tap a topic
On every result and every episode
Why all the jokes?
Gerrit and Richard joke around. A lot. The answers are in there, sometimes after a story about a Sticky Finger burger. The Crack Research Staff and its “Listen from” buttons skip ahead to the substance, and each episode page has the chapters, the sources they read on air, and a short quiz. If you like the jokes, the lore explains every running gag.
Good first episodes
Each one answers a listener’s questionCan Satan Repent?
A non-member brother-in-law asks a question nobody in elders quorum was ready for, and Gerrit answers it in only 40 minutes.
Worshiping a Different Jesus
An Instagram comment section asks whether Latter-day Saints are Christian, and the answer takes in Samaritans, Texas fire ants, Trinitarian math and a squeaky-voiced Lemuel.
Multiple Accounts of the First Vision Part 1
Guest Jonathan Oliver asks why Joseph Smith's First Vision accounts don't match, and Gerrit explains that if they did match, a historian would be worried.
Translation of the Gold Plates Part 1
Gerrit explains why seer stones should not surprise anyone who has read the Book of Mormon, and why the hat is not Frosty the Snowman's.
Saved by Grace
A couple emails mid-labor to ask how the Church's view of grace has changed since Joseph Smith, and the answer comes with Samuel Smith, Webster's 1828 dictionary and a forensic analysis of their hospital selfie.
Was Hyrum Smith Called as an Apostle?
In D&C 124 Hyrum Smith was made a prophet, seer and revelator alongside Joseph, a role Gerrit says is hard to compare to anything in the Church today.
General Conference
For General Conference, Richard’s other site, What Did They Say?, summarizes every talk, with the themes, every invitation in the speakers’ own words, a six-month plan, and lessons to teach. Searches here show the matching talks too.
Go to What Did They Say? →Just for fun
Four short daily games built from the show: guess who said it, a word game, a grouping puzzle, and finish the quote.
Play today’s games →Know someone with a question?
Search it, then press Send to a friend. They’ll land on the exact spot. Or send them this page.
Listen to new episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at standardoftruth.com.