Neylan McBaine’s recent book, Women At Church: Magnifying LDS Women’s Local Impact, explores ways in which the Church can better use the talents of women and include them more fully in local congregations without ordaining them to priesthood offices or changing anything in the structure of Church governance. This panel will discuss the ideas in …
Speaker: Janice Allred
EXERCISING DOMINION: SECTION 121 AND THE ABUSE OF POWER
The feminist slogan, “the personal is political,” calls attention to the profound relationship between power structures and personal life. Personal problems are often rooted in political, economic, cultural, and religious systems. Section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants warns us that even divinely ordained power can be abused. This panel will look at power structures …
HEAVENLY MOTHER AND THE LETTER OF THE LAW
President Hinckley has told us that Jesus Christ forbids our praying to Heavenly Mother. But heavenly parents who refuse communication with their children seem unworthy of their status as gods, and a mother who will not hear or acknowledge her children is not a helpful role model for Latterday Saints. Therefore, there must be some …
THE SWORD OF CHRIST: THE HUNGER GAMES AND THE PARABLES OF JUDGMENT
The parable is to human life what the mathematical equation is to the physical world. It abstracts certain features and enables us to see hidden realities. In her popular trilogy, The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins gives us a parable that reveals the hidden face of evil. This paper will compare The Hunger Games to Jesus’ …
Panel: The Message of Christ, the First Christian
This panel will discuss Christ’s messages to his historic and contemporary followers and explore the impact of Christ’s teachings on the individual, the family, the tribe, and the human power structures in which we all operate. Jacob Baker, Janice Allred, Mark Thomas, Michael J. Stevens, moderator Paul Toscano
Embodying Gender: How Mormon Material Culture Reflects And Shapes Gender Perceptions
Mormonism defines both gender and embodiment as fundamental. Beliefs about gender are embodied in the physical objects, resources, spaces, and structures which Mormons create and use to carry out the work and life of the Church. Mormon material culture not only reflects gender beliefs but also influences the ways in which gender is perceived. This …
Either/Or: Parables Of The Kingdom
Embodiment is essential to Mormon ontology. Even God has a body, and eternal life is lived in a physical body in a physical environment in social relationships with other embodied beings. Nevertheless, Mormon salvation discourse has not fully recognized the importance of the physical in salvation. Focusing on the kingdom of heaven opens up questions …
Material Improvement: Explicit Statements On The Matter Of Heavenly Mother
The Spring 2011 issue of BYU Studies includes a “survey of historical teachings about Mother in Heaven” by David L. Paulsen and Martin Pulido entitled “‘A Mother There’: A Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven.” The article documents statements about Heavenly Mother by Mormon leaders and demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, Mormon …
SL10162: Whose Wife Will She Be? Marriage, Embodiment, and Salvation
The relationship between faith and works provides the framework for much theological reflection on the Christian doctrine of salvation. Although Mormon writers address salvation from this perspective, they usually do so in dialogue with the larger Christian community. Within contemporary Mormonism, discourse about salvation tends to focus on teachings about eternal marriage and the eternal …
SL10175: Eternal Perdition? Bureaucratic Limbo? The Theological Ramifications of Excommunication
The Church Handbook of Instructions explains in detail the mechanics of excommunication but says little about its theological import. Our panelists, several of whom have been excommunicated, will explore the theological and spiritual ramifications of this ultimate Church sanction. Why does excommunication not require a ritual? If blessings are “restored” to an excommunicated person who …