CONTENTS & AUTHORS

Women and Authority

Re-emerging Mormon Feminism

Edited by Maxine Hanks

Signature Books Salt Lake City 

1992

To Ourselves

CONTENTS & AUTHORS

Preface & Acknowledgements
Maxine Hanks  p. vii
The Preface provides a brief overview and context for the book's role in feminist theology in Mormonism and religion in 1992.  It discusses the need and arrival of this exploration of Mormon feminism and feminist theology.

Introduction
Maxine Hanks  p. xi

The Introduction defines and contextualizes Mormon feminism & feminist theology as an inherent tradition and movement within LDS history and religion. It reviews Mormon feminist waves within American and Mormon cultures and explores LDS women's own tradition of feminism and feminist theology.  It discusses at length the book's three main topics -- feminism, divine feminine, and female priesthood. 

Maxine Hanks spent 5 years researching, compiling, editing, and writing material for Women and Authority (1987-92) while majoring and lecturing in Women's Studies as TA at the Univ. of Utah (1988-98).  She is a feminist theologian and historian (B.S. Gender Studies, U. U; MA work History, ASU; Fellow in Theology Harvard Divinity School). She has authored many articles, and edited, authored or co-authored many books. She was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1993 for this book, along with co-author Mike Quinn, as part of the "September Six". She later returned to full LDS membership in 2012.

Prologue
Sherry Ruth Anderson and Patricia Hopkins   p. xxxi

Hopkins and Anderson are Jewish feminist theologians who authored the popular book The Feminine Face of God  (1991). Their work evokes theological elements that are deeply parallel and relevant to Mormon feminist theology. The authors allowed W&A to reprint their Prologue from their book to share and illustrate the cross-cultural parallels of their feminism with Mormon feminists.

Section I. RE-EMERGING MORMON FEMINISM 

I. The Mormon Concept of a Mother in Heaven 

Linda P. Wilcox  p. 3 

This chapter features an historic groundbreaking article of feminist theology, the first scholarly work to explore and recover historical perspective on the Mother God in Mormon tradition and from a feminist approach. It was first published in Sunstone (1980) and republished in Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective (1985) and again in Line Upon Line: Essays on Mormon Doctrine.(1989).   The article was updated and expanded for inclusion in W&A.

Linda Wilcox is a writer and historian (MA History, University of Utah, MA English, Stanford) who has authored several articles about Mormon history and Utah history as well as women's and social issues. She has won awards for her work.

II. The Historical Relationship of Mormon Women and Priesthood 

Linda K. Newell p. 23 

This chapter combines material from two utterly epic watershed articles of Mormon feminist theology--- the first scholarly feminist works to recover the history of Mormon women's spiritual practices of blessings, healings and female exercise of priesthood. These articles were "The Historical Relationship of Women and Priesthood" (1985 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought)  and "Gifts of the Spirit: Women's Share" (in Sunstone,1981 and Sisters in Spirit, 1985)  This chapter uses material from both articles in a composite version.

Linda Newell was an accomplished historian (BA Utah State University) who has authored several major articles and books on Mormon and Utah history. She also co-authored the momentous and shattering first scholarly biography of Joseph Smith's wife and Mormonism's co-founder -- Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (1986).  Linda was also the co-editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.  Linda passed away in 2023.


III. Empowerment and Mormon Women’s Publications 

Vella Neil Evans p. 48

This chapter thoroughly evaluates and discusses women's own authentic voice within official LDS Church publications, and how they expressed themselves with authority in LDS discourse. It traces the rise and fall of women's own publications and what was lost when they were discontinued.  This article was excerpted from the doctoral dissertation, "Women’s Image in Authoritative Mormon Discourse: A Rhetorical Analysis"  by Vella N. Evans. It was published for the first time in W&A. 

Vella N. Evans (PhD. Univ. of Utah) was a pioneering feminist professor of Gender Studies in Communications and Women's Studies at the University of Utah for 20 years, in the 1980s-1990s. She created and taught one of the first two Mormon Studies courses and the very first Mormon Women's Studies course at the University of Utah in 1982-1998 -- "Women in LDS Culture" (with Maxine Hanks as TA).  Vella passed away in 2021.

IV. Historic Mormon Feminist Discourse--Excerpts 

Maxine Hanks   p. 69

In this chapter, Hanks compiled and excerpted LDS women's historic writings that exhibited feminist views, agency or resistance within Mormon tradition and texts. Hanks researched every issue of every LDS women's publication from the 1840s to 1990s to extract samples of feminist views and writings.  LDS women exhibited feminisms typical of 19th-century liberal & cultural feminism, and later of 20th-century social, radical, eco- and post-modern feminisms.  Space was limited allowing excerpts only from the Woman's Exponent, Exponent II, Mormons for ERA Newsletter, Algie Ballif Forum, Mormon Women's Forum Quarterly, and VOICE at BYU. (Not included were excerpts from Minutes of the Women's Relief Society of Nauvoo and the Relief Society Magazine, due to lack of space).

Section II. MORMON WOMEN AND AUTHORITY 

V. An Expanded Definition of Priesthood? Some Present and Future Consequences    

Meg Wheatley p. 151 

This chapter astutely questions and broadens notions of LDS Church authority and priesthood as features that also operate organizationally beyond the theological norms and male, linear, and hierarchical forms. It explors reasons why notions of authority have been limited to those theological forms only and how to move beyond them to examine authority and priesthood as organizational and behavioral aspects. It was first presented at Sunstone (1983) then published in Dialogue (1985). The article was updated for publication in W&A.

Margaret Wheatley is an accomplished and distinguised consultant and professor in management (MA Com, ED Social Policy) who taught at BYU and Cambridge College.  She lectures and consults globally and has written many articles.
Her 1992 book Management, Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organizations from an Orderly Universe was an extremely influential bestseller.

VI. Mormon Women as 'Natural' Seers: An Enduring Legacy 

Ian G. Barber  p. 167 

This chapter employs an anthropological lens to reveal fresh new perspectives and insights into the "natural" gendered and cultural role of female seers in LDS origins. It considers women's unique gendered charismatic experiences, practices and and spiritual authority in LDS religious rituals of blessing and healing. This groundbreaking study of female spirituality and female religious practices was commissioned and prepared exclusively for publication in W&A. 

Ian Barber is an energetic and accomplished professor of anthropology in New Zealand (PhD U. of Otago) who researches, writes & lectures on both Mormon studies and primarily on Maori culture and studies. He was a visiting Mormon Studies fellow at U. of Utah in 2018, and Fulbright scholar at BYU in 2011.  He has authored many articles on both Maori and Mormon cultures. 

VII. Non-Hierarchical Revelation  

Todd Compton   p. 185 

This chapter offers an innovative theological and historical deconstruction of traditional notions of LDS revelation as a hierarchical top-down practice only.  Instead, it considers charismatic experience and non-hierarchical forms of revelation among lay members and women -- as a valid LDS practice that influenced the Church, as well as hierarchical revelation. It was first published in Sunstone (1991) then updated and enhanced for publication in W&A.  

Todd Compton is a classics scholar (PhD UCLA, MA BYU) who has published articles in classics journals and Mormon Studies journals, and was a fellow at the Huntington Library. He works as a law researcher, and independant historian. He authored Victim of the Muses: Poet as Scapegoat, Warrior and Hero in Greco-Roman and Indo-European Myth and History. and the groundbreaking historical excavation of Joseph Smith's polygamous wives-- In Sacred Lonliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith.

VIII. Let Women No Longer Keep Silent in Our Churches: Women’s Voices in
Mormonism    
Dorice Williams Elliott  p. 201 

This chapter offers an innovative, empowering feminist and literary analysis of female voice within Mormon religion as valid and authoritative for itself. It considers and reframes Mormon women's voices as vital and central in religious tradition and community and discourse, rather than marginal or less valid than male voices.  It was presented at Sunstone (1980s) and was updated and published for the first time in W&A. 

Dorice W. Elliot is a professor of British literature (PhD English, Johns Hopkins) who studies and writes about women's voice, writings and literatures. She has given many presentations and authored several articles on women voice in Mormonism and women's voice in British literatures. 

IX. The Grammar of Inequity

Lavina Fielding Anderson  p. 215 

This chapter deconstructs the sexist norms of language and the ways that it disempowers women in Mormon discourse.  It prescribs feminist editing and inclusive language as the corrective to remedy sexist language in LDS culture and discourses. It was first published in Dialogue (1990) then updated for publication in W&A.  Its author, Lavina F. Anderson was excommunicated from the LDS for her feminist work.

Lavina F. Anderson is a distinguished, accomplished, and prolific professional editor (PhD English, U. of W., MA, BA English BYU) in Mormon Studies for over 40 years. She previously edited the LDS Church publication The Ensign, as well editing as Dialogue and the Journal of Mormon History  for many years.  She co-edited the landmark feminist anthology, Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical & Cultural Perspective (1987) and she has edited countless articles, books, and publications in Mormon Studies.

X. Healing the Motherless House 

Carol Lynn Pearson  p. 231 

This chapter offers a compelling feminist lament about the tenuous presence of the divine Mother in LDS theology and Her absence in the Church. It describes the deep yearing and need for Her spiritual and theological role in Mormon culture and in women's lives. This article was commissioned especially for first-time publication in W&A, along with Pearson's unpublished poem, "The Motherless House" which appears here for the first time. It also includes material from two speeches given by Carol Lynn in 1989 and 1991 at the Mormon Women's Forum.

Carol Lynn Pearson (MA theater, BYU) is a widely-known published poet, author, actor, playwright, and popular speaker who has written countless books from a woman's perspective in Mormon culture since the 1970s. Her groundbreaking feminist theological theatre play "Mother Wove the Morning" was performed hundreds of times around the U.S. and the world in the 1980s to the 2000s.  She continues to speak and publish new works in her 80s.

XI. Personal Discourse on God the Mother 

Martha Pierce  p. 247 

This chapter deeply analyzes LDS women's personal descriptions or expressions of the divine Mother, via a variety of women's experiences or texts that envision Her in their own terms.  It combines insights from the work of feminist writers who engage the sacred feminine, and examples from various womens writings, then also uses and analyzes excerpts from the following chapter of LDS women's voices on the Divine Feminine.  It was first presented as a paper at Mormon Women's Forum (1989), and later on a Sunstone panel for W&A (1990). It was revised, expanded and prepared especially for first-time publication in W&A.  

Martha Pierce is a feminist attorney (J.D. Univ. of Utah, MA English, Linguistics BYU) practicing law in Salt Lake. She served a mission in China, and she has studied feminism as it relates to language and to the law. She has published essays and articles on gender, the law, and language, as well as done research for local and national media projects.

XII. Emerging Discourse on the Divine Feminine 

Maxine Hanks   p. 257

This chapter compiled the first-ever collection and publication of LDS women's personal views, visions, or experiences of the Divine Feminine or Mother God. These courageous voices share personal and spiritual visions or experiences of the female God -- a daring, controversial act in Mormon culture in the 1980s.  Hanks invited submissions, used surveys and questionaires and gathered interviews conducted in 1987-1992, to compile this chapter. She also excerpted writings from independent Mormon publications.  Many women opted not to risk publishing their views, so some material gathered wasn't included for publication.  Part of this chapter along with an introductory discussion first appeared in the Mormon Women's Forum Quarterly as a feature entitled "Thea-logy" in 1991.

Section III. MORMON WOMEN AND PRIESTHOOD 

XIII. Mormonism’ s Odd Couple: The Priesthood-Motherhood Connection
Sonja Farnsworth  p. 299 

This chapter deconstructs the popular Mormon folk doctrine that "men have Priesthood and women have Motherhood" which traditionally asserts these as equivalent terms and eternal partners.  This offers a rhetorical deconstruction revealing their coupling as propeganda that uses asymmetrical terms and inaccurate premises that disempower women's ecclesiastical status.  It was presented at Sunstone and first published in the MWF Quarterly, then updated and revised for publication in W&A.

Sonja Farnsworth teaches Communication Studies at the University of Phoenix (BA English BYU, MA Comm. Studies SJSU) and she lectured as TA in Communication at San Jose State University.  She specializes in rhetorical analysis of propaganda and family-breakdown rhetoric and has delivered and written papers for Sunstone magazine and the Mormon Women's Forum, as well as presenting at Comm. Studies conferences.

XIV. Sister Missionaries and Authority
Maxine Hanks  p. 315 

This chapter examines female authority and equality within the ecclesiastical Church role of full-time LDS missionary. It reconsiders four key aspects of the female missionary role  -- the calling, setting apart, ministerial license, and temple endowment.  It deconstructs the notion of missionary Sisters as non-ministers, revealing the missionary role as a formal ministerial office of authority in the Church, which women hold as well as men. It notes the only difference between the authority of male and female missionaries is the ordination of men to the office of "Elder" while also noting that preaching the gospel requires ordination as defined in the Doctrine and Covenants, thus suggesting that all missionaries are ordained to preach.  This article was created especially for W&A and is published here for the first time.  

Maxine Hanks served a full-time LDS mission (1978-80) and taught at the LDS Missionary Training Center (1980-83). She is a feminist theologian and historian (B.S. Gender Studies U. of U; MA work in History ASU, Harvard Fellow in theology).  She specializes in LDS women's history and in feminist theology in Mormon and Christian traditions and liturgies.

 

XV. Reconciliation 

Edwin Brown Firmage  p. 335 

This chapter was a stunning public call for the ordination of Mormon women and their inclusion in the highest leadership positions of the LDS Church. It garnered a great deal of publicity when it was first presented as a lecture at the Salt Lake Cathedral of the Madeleine in 1989.  No one in Mormon culture had ever made such a public effort.  This paper was prepared and published for the first time in W&A, by using material from three papers: "Restoring the Church” (1989) "On Being Human” (1990), and "Religious Discrimination Against Women" (1989).  

Edwin B. Firmage was a distinguished attorney and Professor of Law at the University of Utah, as well as a very prominent speaker and oft-published author of articles, essays or books. He was an energetic advocate for minorities, women, and the underpriveleged, and prominent activist for the environment as well as nonviolence and peace.   Ed Firmage passed away in 2020.

XVI. Why Shouldn’t Mormon Women Want This Priesthood? 

Marian Yeates   p. 353

This chapter offers a radical feminist view of female priesthood as a premise and practice utterly different and entirely apart from male authority and priesthood. It advocates "setting out on an unmarked path" to find an essentially female-identified, female-defined spiritual power or priesthood and authority.  It calls for women to find their own direct access to God and their own priesthood via female knowing and being. It was first presented at Sunstone (1989) then revised and updated for W&A where it was published for the first time.  

Marion Yeates (PhD Indiana) is a feminist writer and university lecturer who specializes in women's literatures and women's studies (M.A., B.A. English, minor Women's Stds, Univ. of Utah) She has written articles and essays about feminist  issues and women's literatures, for feminist and Mormon venues and publications. 

XVII. Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843

D. Michael Quinn  p. 365 

This chapter was a shattering excavation and deconstruction of the traditional belief that LDS men have priesthood but women do not have priesthood. It revealed instead that LDS women did receive priesthood along with men in early Mormon history, particularly in the 1843 temple rites.  The article cites a wealth of historical sources and evidence for women's acquisition and exercise of priesthood, clearly indicating that the women and men themselves understood and experienced women's access to and exercise of priesthood powers or privileges. This article was commissioned and written specifically for W&A, and published here for the first time. It caused Quinn's expulsion from the LDS Church in Sept. 1993.

D. Michael Quinn was a prolific and controversial historian of Mormon Studies (MA, U of U., PhD Yale). He taught at BYU and lectured widely at other universities. He authored several groundbreaking books, articles, and studies of Mormon history, including The Mormon Hierarchy series and Early Mormonism and the Magic World View.. He was a fellow at the NEH, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and Indiana University-Purdue.   Quinn passed away in 2021.

XVIII. Put On Your Strength O Daughters of Zion: Claiming Priesthood and Knowing the Mother
MARGARET M. TOSCANO   p. 411 

This chapter innovatively explored possible terms and titles for LDS women's priesthood and the divine feminine, by suggeting names for female priesthood offices and the Heavenly Mother herself. It was conceived and commissioned specifically for W&A, and was published here for the first time.  This article and other feminist writings caused Toscano's excommunication from the Church in 2000. 

Margaret Toscano is a professor of classics and ancient languages at the U. of Utah (PhD U. of U., MA BYU). She formerly taught classics and humanities at BYU and has authored articles and books on topics in classics, as well as in Mormon theology. She co-authored with her husband Paul, Strangers in Paradox: Explorations in Mormon Theology. 

XIX. Women as Healers in the Modern Church

BETINA LINDSEY  p 439 

This chapter offers a groundbreaking and courageous assertion of Mormon women's reclamation of historic spiritual practices of blessing and healing by the laying on of hands. It cites examples in LDS history as precdent and justification for women's recovery of blessing practices in contemporary LDS culture. It offers examples of women accessing spiritual power and authority to bless and heal. It was first published in Dialogue, and in The Wilderness of Faith (1991), then was revised and expanded for publication in W&A.  

Betina Lindsey is a healer, mystic, writer, novelist, and nature lover who hosts women's retreats and leads nature workshops in Utah (B.A. English BYU).  She lives, writes, and teaches healing in Springdale, near the mouth of Zion Canyon.