The Mormon Conception of Women’s Nature and Role
A Feminist Analysis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14948802 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Caroline Kline (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 186-202 |
| Publication date | 2014-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Feminist Theology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0966-7350 • E-ISSN: 1745-5189 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0966735013507856 |
| OpenAlex | W2326559924 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
This paper explores the ways in which women’s nature has been defined as different from men’s in Mormonism. Unlike many mainstream Christian traditions, Mormons have a positive view of the Fall and of Eve, do not embrace the doctrine of original sin, and reject dualities which assign women to lower bodily categories in opposition to men’s higher rational ones. However, women in Mormonism are subordinated to men. This subordination is due, not to a sense that men are superior to women, but to a sense that man’s distinct role is to be leader in church and family. This sense of the propriety of role differentiation coexists with romantic notions of women’s greater natural spirituality and altruism. In the last section of the paper, I discuss the ways in which feminist Mormons have critiqued the notions of gender role differentiation and women’s greater spiritual capacities
Doctrine · Mainstream · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spirituality · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Gender Studies · Law · Mormonism, Religion, and History · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment · Social Psychology
| Highly cited | No |
|---|