Recent scholarship on early Christianity has created new perceptions about women’s roles: did Jesus treat men and women as equals, and did women have leadership and priesthood roles in the early Christian community? What were women’s real roles in the early Christian movement, and how does that affect or prescribe the nature of a Christian …
Event: Southwest Symposium 2004
WHERE HAVE ALL THE MORMON FEMINISTS GONE?
In October 2003, religion writer Peggy Fletcher Stackassessed the current state of Mormon feminism in anarticle, entitled, “Where Have all the Mormon Feminists Gone?” Her article noted the passing of feminist activism into history and the arrival of a more moderate feminism in the institutional or Church setting, particularly at BYU. When the article appeared …
100 YEARS OF MORMON NOVELS
More than one hundred years ago, Nephi Anderson published what is considered to be the first Mormon novel, Added Upon. It was an interesting attempt to encompass the entire gospel plan, from pre- mortality to the afterlife. there was a long dry period for LDS novels after that, with the form resurfacing in the 1940s …
SIR THOMAS MORE AND WILLIAM TYNDALE DEBATE MORMONISM
In the 1530s, the two greatest English minds spent a million words in vicious, humorous debate. The man for all seasons, author of Utopia, Sir Thomas More defended Catholicism and attacked Lutheran heretic William Tyndale, the brilliant linguist who single-handedly translated most of the Bible. Interestingly, many of their topics are the very issues many …
IN SEARCH OF HER: WOMEN AND DIVINE FEMININE
Renewed interest in women’s spirituality has caused many to turn their hearts again to the search for Heavenly Mother, the Goddess, or any number of faces of female deity. In this session, two prominent authors and lifelong sojourners in the quest to know the female face of God will share their experiences along this journey …
PANEL. DEALING WITH FAMILY CRISIS IN 1886: THE DEATH OF CHARLEY WHITNEY AND THE MARRIAGE OF GEN WHITNEY
The diaries of Helen Mar Whitney contain many prosaic days. But they also include moments of high drama, starting with the grueling, beautifully described death of Helen’s husband by dropsy in 1884. When Charles Whitney, Helen’s teenage son, shot himself in 1886, Helen again recorded the event in detail in her journal, a harrowing few …
IMAGINING MORMON STUDIES AS PART OF A WIDER RELIGIOUS STUDIES CURRICULUM
Claremont Graduate University has recently established the Council on the Study of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hosted several lectures by prominent scholars of Mormonism, and is hosting a conference this October to further study ways Mormon Studies might take shape at Claremont and in the wider academic world. and Claremont isn’t …
WHORING, POLYGAMY, OR FRIENDSHIP? MORMONISM AND THE OTHER RELIGIONS
Recent discussions of the diversity of religions have centered on three stances toward another’s religion—exclusivity, inclusivity, and plurality—and I have found examples of Mormons who approach other religions through each of those lenses. But my larger goal in this paper is to outline a new approach to interacting with other religions that suggests ways that …
PURSUING THE ‘PROPHET PUZZLE’–RECENT EFFORTS TO EXAMINE JOSEPH SMITH
Over the course of the past year or so, several important scholarly works have been published carefully examining the life and career of Joseph Smith, namely Grant Palmer’s An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins, Dan Vogel’s Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet, and Clyde Forsberg’s Joseph Smith, Masonry, and the Advent of Mormonism. My …
SUFFERING, SACRIFICE, OBEDIENCE, AND AUTHORITY: THE LESSONS OF ABRAHAM FOR THE LDS CHURCH
The LDS Church officially condemns the abuse of women and children. If one considers such crimes as being related to a community’s socialization to obedience and sacrifice, it is important to examine the shared LDS myths that reinforce members’ understandings and expectations regarding these elements of belief and practice. The Church claims to be a …