Carol Gnade’s remarkable journey from Wisconsin to the center of many of Utah’s recent civil liberties battles began when, on a Utah skiing vacation, she chanced to hear a news report about how the Utah state legislature had just outlawed abortions for any reason. Surprised, she called the local ACLU office to ask if they …
Event: Salt Lake Symposium 2002
Body, Parts, and Passions: Representing the Divine Feminine in the Mormon Church
Body, Parts, and Passions: Representing the Divine Feminine in the Mormon Church This paper examines why Mother in Heaven has been progressively eliminated from institutional discourse. Viewing Mother through the lens of iconography, I suggest that the Church’s move to designate her as “sacred” is an iconoclastic act that dissociates her from Mormon collective memory. …
Devotional: A Listening Heart
And God said to Solomon, “Ask what I shall give thee.” After pondering, Solomon said, “Give your servant a listening heart . . . that I may discern between good and bad” (1 Kings 3:5-9). What a fitting response. And fitting for all of us, for we all must discern, judge, perhaps debate between obedience …
Is Progressive Political Activism Supported by Mormon Theology?
Is Progressive Political Activism Supported by Mormon Theology? Mormons for Equality and Social Justice (mesj) is a grassroots organization of Latter-day Saints that are working towards economic and social justice. A panel of mesj participants will speak about how LDS teachings or their experiences confronting the suffering of others have inspired them to become “anxiously …
The Soul is Dead That Slumbers
The high rate of depression and prescription drug use in Utah strongly suggests some form of social pathology may exist that contributes to widespread emotional problems. These statistics seem incongruousin in the light of the positive correlation between Church affiliation, individual happiness, and family stability. This paper explores the questions,“is there such a pathology?” and …
Eternal Love: The Biblical Model of Marriage
Latter-day Saints are promised that marriage can be eternal, but what does eternal love look like? While not usually thought of as a book of great romance, the bible provides answers, presenting an ideal for love so astounding that right now we don’t dare imagine it. Beginning with God’s intent in creation and elaborating on …
A Calvinist Compares Mormonism and Calvinism
The men who have led the LDS and RLDS churches have the dual and often contradictory roles of “prophet” and “president.” W. Grant McMurray, RLDS (now Community of Christ) president since 1996, has suggested that his denomination should think of itself as a “prophetic church” and not merely a “church with a prophet.” This paper …
Temple Square Iconography: A Photographic Tour
Temple Square has recently undergone a major facelift. With the purchase of Main Street and the construction of the Conference Center, the square has more than doubled in size, and radically different displays have been placed in both visitors centers. Join us for a photographic tour of the new Temple Square. How do the changes …
How Joseph Smith Found Thirty Women to Marry Him and How This Changed His Life
Researchers who have tried to determine which and how many women Joseph Smith married agree on one thing: he had at least thirty plural wives. But how does a young man, a husband and father of three children, in the space of three years, find thirty women to marry? And how would the LDS community …
Anniversary Looks at Two Feminist Books
Anniversary Looks at Two Feminist Books Panelists will explore the paradoxical role of Mormon feminism on the anniversary of two feminist books, Women and Authority (1992) and A Daughter of Zion (1972). These books were avidly received by women, yet the books’ creators encountered Church disapproval. Still, the books have continued to have an impact. …