W&A: Notes on Introductory Material
[Hanks, Maxine, ed. Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism. Salt Lake City, Ut.: Signature Books, 1992.]
The contents of the Preface and Acknowledgements, Introduction, and Prologue were thoroughly summarized almost four years ago when HeatherP first attempted to lead a weekly discussion on this book (see links at bottom), so I won’t waste too much time on summary and will go straight to my own notes on the text.
Superficial Remarks
- I always liked the cover design for this book, featuring a fifth century BCE Roman marble relief known as “The Birth of the Goddess.” You can read more about it here.
- Footnotes are from Jesus, endnotes are from Satan. However, this book at least has the sense to put the endnotes at the back of every chapter instead of the back of the book, so I guess these endnotes are only from Wormwood.
- Seventeen different authors contributed essays to this volume, four men and thirteen women. The book also contains two lengthy sections compiling Mormon feminist discourse from all kinds of writers. Jan Shipps and Claudia L. Bushman are among the writers quoted in these sections.
- I know that at least four of the people who contributed essays to this book have been excommunicated (Lavina Fielding Anderson, Maxine Hanks, D. Michael Quinn, and Margaret Toscano). Three of them were among the September Six. Margaret Toscano was not among the September Six, but her husband Paul was.
Preface & Acknowledgements
- In the opening paragraph, Hanks expresses her hope that “more books will further elaborate on the themes contained in this compilation.” How sad that books expanding on this topic have been so few in number.
- Hanks writes, “I want to stress that this discourse is not about a power struggle; it is about women finding identity . . . This is the kind of book I wish had been available when I was a young woman or a sister missionary; it could have made a significant difference in my struggle for identity within a male-identified religion and society” (viii). I was certainly grateful to have found it when I was a teenager.
- “I would call this collection a conservative Mormon feminist theology” (ibid). Does such a thing really exist?
Introduction
- “Antithetical to feminism is ‘republican motherhood,’ the eighteenth-century doctrine of motherhood as patriotic duty to bear and raise children. As feminism encouraged housewives to explore the public sphere, republican or compulsory motherhood redirected women’s newfound political consciousness back into the home” (xii). While the notes on republican motherhood are interesting, I’m not completely sure that the motherhood emphasis of the LDS church really comes from there. I have several texts from antiquity in my files talking about how a woman’s place is in the home raising the children. The idea that a woman’s duty is to stay home and bear children is a very, very old one and I’m not really sure we can say that the LDS ideal comes from republican motherhood specifically.
- Hanks claims that in 1850, Sarah Kimball was setting apart women as “teachers” and “deaconesses” (xiv). She does not list a reference for this. I would really like to know the source.
- In describing the rise of correlation, Hanks claims that it “caused the demise of female priesthood. This gave birth to two binary-oppositions in the church: priesthood holders (men) versus non-priesthood holders (women); and feminism versus (republican) motherhood” (xv). I think she is overstating her case for the existence of female priesthood prior to the conception of correlation in 1908. Women were already being referred to as non-priesthood holders long before then.
- I find it interesting that she acknowledges that the reason for correlation was that women were outperforming men “in nearly every area of church activity.” Joseph F. Smith complained, “The priesthood quorums . . . have become lax in their work and let loose their hold. While the auxiliary organizations have taken the right of way, the priesthood quorums stand by looking on awe-struck” (xiv). Seems like ammunition for certain Defenders of the Status Quo™ who like to argue that if women got the priesthood, they would quickly take over everything so that the poor men would have nothing to do.
- The story of Heber J. Grant’s insistence on releasing Emmeline B. Wells (the first RS president to be released instead of serving until death) is just heartbreaking. If only they would apply a little consistency and start releasing apostles and prophets due to “frailty and age.” (xv)
- She lays out three different types of authority: formal authority (apostle, bishop, etc.), informal authority (such as the wife who influences the apostle or bishop), and personal authority. “Denying women formal authority while encouraging their indirect authority sends a clear message of inferiority and invalidation.” It’s amazing how many DotSQ arguments were completely shut down by this book, and yet they just keep making them.
- “Our authoritative discourse shows a lack of feminine theology; yet feminine deity is implicit in Mormon theology.” (xxv)
- “Mormon theology establishes the existence of a mother in heaven equal in glory and power to a father. Linda Wilcox notes that ‘little if any theology has been developed to elucidate her nature and characterize our relationship to her.’ For Mormon women, this gap between a dual-gender theological blueprint and an exclusively male theological construction communicates an authoritative omission of femaleness in our religion. This has translated into a multitude of social, psychological, religious, and emotional problems for Mormon women’s identity. Freud saw only two options for female identity within male discourse: powerlessness (‘castration complex’) or male identification. Expecting women to worship only male deity is asking them to identify with the male body. To escape being defined by a male body and perspective, women seek female/feminist theology.” (ibid)
- She notes that while there may be an undeniable need for female and feminist theology to emerge, people are undecided on how this could or should happen. Coming from the leadership, it would have to mean new revelation and scripture. Coming from women’s consciousness and the laity, it would have to mean “developing concepts of women’s priesthood and Mother in Heaven within historic theological frameworks” (xxvi). My recent decision to care less about what the church officially teaches and more about what Mormons themselves believe has elevated my view of the second option.
- As one possible theological approach toward helping Mormon women reclaim their identity, Hanks describes “a view of God and Christ as having both male and female qualities, transcending gender. Some see Jesus as an androgynous being, simultaneously male and female; others see a feminized male Christ who inscribes feminine feelings within a male body” (xxvii). That’s more or less my own approach toward remedying the problem of androcentric religion as an evangelical Christian.
- Hanks lays out a list of ways in which Mormon women receive priesthood power (defined as power of God): through the exercise of giving blessings, healing and prophecy; through the priesthood keys that were given to the Relief Society in 1842; through the endowment; through the charge to proclaim the gospel; and through temple marriage. “Put simply, the church conveys priesthood power to women yet insists that women do not have it and cannot use it.” (ibid)
- “Sometimes women feel they must choose between church approval and spiritual growth. Women reclaiming priesthood power tend to look outside church structure for contexts that support them, such as women’s blessing circles, retreats, and feminist organizations . . . Ultimately, the reactivation of women’s priesthood powers may not be a matter of ordination but of women reclaiming their own authority.” (xxviii)
- “Feminism is trying to balance culture by altering male dominance to create an inclusive society.” (ibid)
- “Mormon women are trying to have a voice in a male conversation” (xxiii)
Prologue
- It’s a nice narrative and a good way to kick off the book. I’m particularly fond of the first three paragraphs.
Next week will be Chapter 1: “The Mormon Concept of a Mother in Heaven” by Linda P. Wilcox.
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