Today’s Stacks comes to us from EmilyCC, today’s guest for The Exponent and Doves and Serpent Blog Swap.
Every so often, the bloggernacle has a discussion about the essential texts of Mormon Feminism. I figured it might be time to have another one. I’m listing the books that have most influenced me in my Mormon feminism. Please share your favorites-I’ll have my Goodreads account open and ready to start adding to my “to-read” collection.
History
Women and Authority: Re-Emerging Mormon Feminism edited by Maxine Hanks
If you’re going to call yourself a Mormon feminist, make sure you’ve read this excellent compilation. Maxine has gathered such a variety including excerpts from Mormon women’s publications throughout history, deep theological writings by well-known Mormon scholars about Heavenly Mother, priesthood, and authority in the Church. Whenever I’m preparing a talk or paper on Mormon feminism, this is the first book I go to.
Women of Covenant: the Story of Relief Society by Jill Mulvay Derr, Janath Russell Cannon, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher
This book is full of valuable information, so I would advise anyone reading it to take it nice and slow (it took me a year and a half to read it). Women of Covenant is full of important, well-researched, and fascinating history, and it has so many wonderful vignettes, perfect to share in a Church lesson setting. Whenever I want to bring Mormon women into a Church lesson I’m preparing, this is the first book I go to.
Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery
Some people have said this book led them to a crisis of faith. I loved how real it made Emma and Joseph seem to me. And, I felt like I learned some Church history that I never quite absorbed in Seminary or Institute because of the male-centered focus in those settings.
Theological/Philosophical
God the Mother and other Theological Essays by Janice Allred
I’m not sure what I would have done with my questions about Heavenly Mother if I hadn’t had a trailblazer like Janice Allred to look to. And, to see a woman doing such beautiful theology helped me feel more confident in my choice to attend divinity school as a college student.
Strangers in Paradox by Margaret Merrill and Paul Toscano
I feel the same way about Margaret and Paul’s work as I do about Janice’s. During times when I have struggled with the Church, I have been profoundly grateful for the thoughtful, theological work Margaret and her husband have done here.
Personal Essays, Memoirs, and Fiction
All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Emma Lou Thayne
I feel like this is a book I can give to a post-Mormon friend and my Relief Society president and make them both happy. Don’t miss Emma Lou’s “Seeing Without Seeing” and “On the Side of Life” or Laurel’s “A Pioneer Is Not a Woman Who Makes Her Own Soap” and “Lusterware.”
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
Doesn’t have a lot about Mormonism or feminism, but it’s beautiful, both in Terry’s descriptions about her mother dying of cancer and in her descriptions of the Utah desert.
Mother Wove the Morning by Carol Lynn Pearson
Who doesn’t love Carol Lynn? I love the interfaith approach in this play as she imagines the different ways women throughout history and across faiths have a relationship with the Divine Feminine. (I’d like to also note the Freudian slip I have made twice today when I have typed the title as Mother Wove the Mourning.)
Books on Feminism and Religion
When Women Were Priests by Karen Jo Torjesen
I picked this book up as an undergrad browsing Barnes and Noble. I got shivers the whole time I read it and couldn’t believe that there was a whole group of scholars studying and writing about the scriptures and history in this way.
Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kid
I could barely read this book at times. It so mirrored my own experience. Of course, Sue tells it much more eloquently than I could have ever hoped to. When people have a difficult time understanding the pain of a feminist awakening, I tell them about this book.
Women in Scripture: a Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, Apocryphal/Deutercanonical Books, and the New Testament edited by Carol Meyers
Carol and her substantial team went through the Old and New Testaments and found every woman in the Bible (named and unnamed), then, wrote short encyclopedia-like entries about each. Whenever I prepare a Gospel Doctrine lesson, this is where I go if I see that I get to cover a woman in my assigned passage.
Want more excellent suggestions? Check out these posts (and the comments):
Caroline at The Exponent
Kaimi at Times and Seasons
Heather P at Explorations
Great list! I’ve read many of these — Mother Wove the Morning and Refuge are particular favorites — but there are a few I need to add to the list, thank you for the suggestions.
Great list, Emily!!
What does it say about me that I have very little interest in reading the titles listed under “History” and “Philosophical/Theological” but a lot of interest in reading the “Personal Essays”? I do have Dance of the Dissident Daughter on my shelf and have been meaning to read it.
When I think about reading books about Mormonism + feminism + history, I just get tired. Feels like banging my head against the wall.
Dance of the Dissident Daughter is one of the books that I feel most fueled my feminism and ability to feel validated in all those feelings I had had for years that I mattered. That book is on my top ten, for sure!
Sounds like a blog post waiting to happen, Kendahl . . . for Doves & Serpents, of course. None of this Exponent business . . . ;)
Lol! I guess I’ll just have to do some more swapping :)
Just ordered When Women Were Priests–thanks for a great list!
A book which doesn’t directly address feminism but presents two strong role models in dialogue with each other is All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Emma Lou Thayne.
Heidi, I felt funny putting Refuge in there because it isn’t explicitly feminist or Mormon, but I love it so much I couldn’t leave it out!
Heather, I SO agree with you. I always want people to tell me a story :)
Ed S, I hope you enjoy it…it’s the first religious feminist history book I read (how’s that for a genre?) and it’s still one of my favorites in terms of readability and solid information.
Course Correction, I love that book! I don’t know how many times I’ve reread some of those essays and still get teary.
I’m familiar with Junia the female apostle already–how absurd to have “mistranslated” this for so many years as Junias the male apostle! After I read it I may end up reviewing it here at D&S sometime in the future.
That’s a great list, Emily. To bad the powers-that-be didn’t recommend “Women of Covenant: the Story of Relief Society” for general reading by all LDS women, instead of coming up with the bland, abridged version of RS history they recently distributed.
I agree. Those two books don’t even compare.
Thanks for the pointers, Emily!