Without apology, Mormons proclaim their belief that both God the Father and Jesus Christ are embodied beings with separate identities. While a belief in a Heavenly Mother is also an official doctrine of the LDS Church, her nature and divine status are less clear. In addition, the introduction of a Heavenly Mother raises the troubling …
Speaker: Margaret M. Toscano
SL09131 Panel. Is Priesthood Necessary for Women to Have Full Equality in the LDS Church?
The issue of women and priesthood inevitably emerges in discussions about women’s roles in Mormonism since the priesthood is the organizing principle for everything in the LDS Church from ordinances to missionary work. If women do not have access to priesthood, can they have full equality or fully utilize their gifts in the Church? We …
SL09172 Panel: Big Love’s Temple Episode: What the Controversy Shows about the World, the Church, and Ourselves
On 15 March 2009, HBO’s series Big Love depicted parts of the LDS temple endowment ceremonies. Although Deseret News editor Joel Campbell called the portrayal “religious pornography,” and a campaign was launched to boycott HBO, some Mormons felt the depiction was in good taste—even inspiring. We will shift away from the HBO depiction to explore …
“ARE BOYS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GIRLS?”: THE CONTINUING CONFLICT OF GENDER DIFFERENCE & EQUALITY IN MORMONISM, BY MARGARET TOSCANO
“ARE BOYS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GIRLS?”: THE CONTINUING CONFLICT OF GENDER DIFFERENCE & EQUALITY IN MORMONISM,’ BY MARGARET TOSCANO In the June 2007 SUNSTONE, Margaret Toscano’s article, “ JANA BOUCK REMY, KRISTINE HAGLUND, WENDY DEMANDANTE, LISA TENSMEYER HANSEN, MARGARET M. TOSCANO
MIND OVER MATTER, SPIRIT VERSUS FLESH: THE PROBLEM OF EMBODIMENT, THE DIVINE FEMININE, AND THE POSITION OF LDS WOMEN
MIND OVER MATTER, SPIRIT VERSUS FLESH: THE PROBLEM OF EMBODIMENT, THE DIVINE FEMININE, AND THE POSITION OF LDS WOMEN When I have argued over the years for the importance of the Heavenly Mother in LDS theology, I am often met with the response, “Why think of God as gendered at all? Isn’t that somewhat literalistic …
REAL GODDESSES HAVE CURVES (AND IDENTITIES)
This panel invites Mormon women to talk about how they find meaning and inspiration in images of divine female power drawn from other religions and traditions. What do we learn about ourselves as women and as agents of the divine by studying the stories or representations of goddesses such as Shakti, Kali, Rhiannon, Venus, Athena, …
WHAT’S BEHIND THE DA VINCI CODE CRAZE? UNCOVERING THE DIVINE FEMININE
This panel will be a roundtable exploration of important questions raised both by Dan Brown’s book, The Da Vinci Code, and by its enthusiastic reception in the national and LDS markets. What makes the book so popular? The desire for the divine feminine? The possibility of Jesus being married? The connection between Mary Magdalene and …
Panel. The Love Affair of Body and Soul: Infusing the Erotic into a Life of Spiritual Growth?
SL03091, This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the March on Washington, at which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and the thirty-fifth anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. It also marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the revelation reversing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ policy of …