On Women and Priesthood (YetAgain!)

[_Gaia]

GAIA:

Hello Everyone!

I’ve written several different articles on Women and LDS Priest(ess)hood over the years; this particular version was posted to the "Feminist Mormon Housewives" Group, some time ago -- http://www.feministmormonhousewives.org/?p=113

I hope someone here might find it helpful /interesting -- And i'd be delighted if it launched a whole discussion on the topic --

WOMEN And PRIEST(ESS)HOOD

(c) 2004 By Gaia_d@yahoo.com – Please don’t reproduce without permission.

A perennially fascinating and controversial topic, i can’t resist offering my entry: hope someone finds it interesting and helpful. Please don’t hesitate to make any comments, ask any questions, clarifications, or whatever –

I think we may all be so accustomed to negative, confusing, contradictory, bewildered or bewildering statements regarding women and Priesthood, that perhaps it would be fun to start with a quote that’s sure to shake everyone awake –

“The sisters were also apostolic in a priestly sense. They partook of the priesthood equally with the men. They too “held the keys of the administration of angels.”… Woman also soon became high Priestess and prophetess. She was this officially…The genius of a patriarchal priesthood naturally made her the apostolic helpmeet for man. If you saw her not in the pulpit teaching the congregation, yet was she to be found in the temple, administering for the living and the dead! Even in the holy of holies she was met. As a high priestess she blessed with the laying on of hands! As a prophetess she oracled in holy places! As an endowment giver she was a Mason of the Hebraic order, whose Grand Master is the God of Israel and whose anointer is the Holy Ghost. She held the keys of the administration of angels and of the “sealings” pertaining to the heavens and the earth” –
([i]Women of Mormondom 22-23 )[/i]

First, i think it’s important to put this discussion in context with LDS doctrine on the Priesthood, as revealed by Joseph Smith, the head of the Dispensation and the one who restored the Fulness of Priesthood and educated the saints on it.

THREE GRAND ORDERS OF PRIESTHOOD:

Joseph Smith said there are Three Grand Orders Of Priesthood (from "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" (from now on, TPJS) 322:

“There are three grand orders of priesthood referred to here. 1st. The King of Shiloam (Salem) had power and authority over that of Abraham, holding the key and the power of endless life. …What was the power of Melchizedek? ‘Twas not the Priesthood of Aaron which administers in outward ordinances, and the offering of sacrifices. Those holding the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood are kings and priests (or “Queens and Priestesses“) of the Most High God, holding the keys of power and blessings.”
This Third Order of Priesthood is perhaps the least discussed, but most important — it is the “perfected order in which man could receive a fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and be exalted as a priest and a king in eternity.”
(Hyrum L. Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1973], 157.)


A “King” (or “Queen”) in the Kingdom of God, is one who disseminates temporal blessings to others; while a “Priest” or “Priestess” is one who disseminates spiritual blessings.

The kind of Priestesshood we’re talking about refers specifically to this Third Order of Priesthood. Joseph Smith recorded a promise which he gave to the Relief Society regarding the priesthood in his instructions to the Relief Society on 28 Apr 1842:

“....gave a lecture on the priesthood shewing how the Sisters would come in possession of the privileges & blessings & gifts of the priesthood & that these signs should follow them, such as healing the sick, casting out devils &c. & that they might attain unto these blessings….”
(Book of the Law of the Lord, (Joseph Smith’s journal) 28 April 1842; also in Dean Jesse, ed “The Papers of Joseph Smith", Vol 2, 378-79.)


The conferral of priesthood on individual women occurred through the Temple Endowments and other advanced Temple rituals; and the exercise thereof, through what Joseph Smith called "the Holy Order" or “Anointed Quorum” (men and women who had received the priesthood endowment and were members of the elite Quorum).

Joseph and Emma became the first couple to receive the Second Anointing (by which they both made their Calling and Election Sure and thus received the Second Comforter) or “fullness of the priesthood.” By this ceremony they were *each* “anointed & ordained to the highest & holiest order of the priesthood.”
PLEASE NOTE: “They were each anointed and ordained”, not just Joseph.
(”Meetings of the Anointed Quorum- Journalizings,” 28 Sept 1843, also slightly different entry in Joseph Smith diary, 28 Sept 1843, in Faulring, “An American Prophet’s Record” p 412.)


Sidney Rigdon, First Counselor in the First Presidency, testified years later that “Emma Smith was the one to whom the female priesthood was first given,” [Emphasis added.]
(Sidney Rigdon to Stephen Post, June 1868, LDS archives (Rigdon had left the church more than 20 years earlier), quoted in Ehat, “Joseph Smith’s Introduction of Temple Ordinances,” 103; Buerger, “The Fullness of the Priesthood,” 23; HC 6:363, 392. Also Ian G Barber, “the Ecclesiastical Position of Women in Two Mormon Trajectories,” _Journal of Mormon History_ 14 (1988): 63-97; Meetings of Anointed Quorum-Journalizings, 28 Sept 1843, Joseph Smith papers, microfilm at Special Collections, Harold B Lee Library, BYU).


The ordinance by which Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith received their Second Anointing is recorded as “My brother Hyrum and his wife were blessed, ordained and anointed.”
PLEASE NOTE: “[b]and his wife were blessed, ordained and anointed.”[/b]
(Wilford Woodruff, “Historian’s Private Journal,” 26 Feb 1867, LDS archives; LDS Millennial Star 22 (7 April 1860): 214; HC 6:46.)


When Brigham Young’s own wife received the endowment on 1 Nov 1843, he wrote, “Mary A Young admitted to the hiest order of the Priesthood ” [sic] [emphasis added]
PLEASE NOTE: It does not say that her husband was admitted, it says that SHE “was admitted” to the "hiest order of the Priesthood." She did not receive the Second Anointing with him until three weeks later.
(Brigham Young Diary 29 Oct, 1 Nov 1843, copies in Donald R Moorman papers, ARchives, Weber State University; “Meetings of anointed Quorum - Journalizings,” 29 Oct 1843; Faulring, “An American Prophet’s Record,” 444; Ehat, “Joseph Smith’s Introduction of the Temple Ordinances,” 103.)


The popular idea that women receive priesthood only through their husbands was *not* the view expressed by the Anointed Quorum’s original members, who learned about the endowment directly from Joseph Smith.

Brigham Young’s 1843 diary associated the endowment of women with their receiving priesthood. For example: On 29 Oct 1843, he noted that Thirza Cahoon, Lois Cutler, and Phebe Woodworth were “taken into the order of the Priesthood.” That was the day those three women individually received their endowments. They did not join with their husbands to receive the Second Anointing until 12 and 15 Nov 1843, respectively.


On 3 Feb 1844, William Clayton’s diary noted that Jane Bicknell Young was also endowed and received “into the Quorum of the Priesthood.”
(William Clayton diary, 3 Feb 1844, 7 Dec. 1845; in Smith, “An Intimate Chronicle,” 125, 193; “Meetings of the anointed quorum” Joseph Smith diary, 3 Feb 1844, in Faulring, “An American Prophet’s Record,” 444; Ehat, “Joseph Smith’s Introduction of Temple Ordinances,” 103; Buerger, “The Fulness of the Priesthood,” 23.)


Joseph Smith’s uncle John Smith, a special member of the First Presidency since 1837, member of the Anointed Quorum since 28 Sep 1843, received four months of special instruction from the Prophet about the Holy Order of the Priesthood during the frequent meetings of the Anointed Quorum –
(Deseret News 1991-1992, “Church Almanac” 46; HC 6:173; Faulring, “An American Prophet’s Record” 416; “Meetings of the anointed Quorum,” 28 Sept 1843; Ehat, “Joseph Smith’s Introduction of Temple Ordinances,” 102);
–Patriarch Smith pronounced a patriarchal blessing on Maria Turnbow which specified that it was through the Endowment ceremony that women receive Priesthood: “Thou shalt have an Endowment in the Lord’s house [and] be clothed with the Power of the Holy Priesthood….." (John Smith patriarchal blesing to Maria Louisa Turnbow, 7 Nov 1845, in William S Harwell, “The Matriarchal Priesthood and Emma’s Right to Succession as Presiding HIgh Priestess and Queen” 7.)


In fact after his ordination as patriarch to the church in 1849, John Smith also described an *ancient* dimension to this female Priesthood. In his blessing to Caroline Cottam in Mar 1853, he referred to the “Priesthood which Abraham sealed upon his daughters.”

He also blessed Elizabeth Bean in May 1853: “I seal upon you all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the Priesthood that was sealed upon the daughters of Jacob in the land of Egypt…”
(John Smith patriarchal blessing to Caroline Cottam, 26 Mar 1853, LDS archives; John Smith blessing to Elizabeth Bean, 1 May 1853, Goerge Washington Bean journal, Book 1, 79-80, Archives, Lee Library, BYU, and his blessing to Sophia Pollard, 9 Nov 1853; all are quoted in Irene May Bates, “Transformation of Charisma in the Mormon church , Ph.D. diss., UCLA 1991, 281-82.)


For more information on this ancient dimension of Women’s Priest(ess)hood, please see the following:

- Antony Hutchinson, “Women and Ordination: Introduction to the Biblical Context,” in _Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought_ 14 (Winter 1981): 58-74;
- Melodie Moench Charles, “Scriptural Precedents for Priesthood,” _Dialogue: A JOurnal of Mormon Thought_ 18 (Autumn 1985): 18-20;
- Savina J. Teubal, "Sarah the Priestess" and "Ancient Sisterhood"
- Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, “Women in the Early Christian Movement,” in Carol P Christ and Judith Plaskow, ed. _WomanSpirit Rising_, 84-92;
- Toscano and Toscano "Strangers in Paradox", 167-78.
NOTE: Please be aware that these are *not* all by LDS authors, nor are they necessarily considered official LDS doctrine.

* * * *

Years later, Bathsheba W Bigler Smith (plural wife of Joseph Smith) testified publically:

“I have always been pleased that i had my endowments when the Prophet lived…he gave us everything, every order of the priesthood….he said he had given the sisters instructions that they could administer to the sick and he wanted to make us, as the women in Paul’s day, ‘a Kingdom of priestesses.’”
(Bathsheba Smith Statement, 9 June 1905, Pioneer Stake Relief Society minutes, LDS archives, quoted in part by Derr, Cannon, and Beecher, “Women of Covenant,” 53-54; Ehat, “Joseph Smith’s Introduction of Temple Ordinances,” 103.)


In Feb 1844 stake patriarch John Smith told Louisa C Jackson that she had a *right* to priesthood from her birth:

“...Thou art of the blood of Abraham through the loins of Manasseh & lawful heir to the Priesthood,“(John Smith patriarchal blessing to Louisa C Jackson, 6 Feb 1844, RLDS archives).


Even Brigham Young — that total paragon of women’s rights — (and yes, that was just to make sure you’re paying attention! *g*) referred to the fact that women did indeed hold the Priesthood when in a discourse he told the Saints:
“Now Brethren, the man that honors his priesthood, the woman that honors her priesthood, will receive an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of God.” (JD 17:119)


Apostle Orson Hyde read and distributed to the Saints in the Nauvoo Temple a revelation which he had received that morning:
“The Priesthood holds the power and all have been ordained or ought to be. It is necessary that it should rest upon all, not upon men only but upon women also that ye may be all one. …”
(Bullock Minutes, 15 March 1846, BYU Studies Vol. 31, No. 1 p 61.)


So if this is the history, WHAT HAPPENED to Women’s “Priestesshood”??? Why is it so thoroughly and consistently denied by the Brethren?


There are several answers to this.

1. First -- By the end of the early 1880’s, death had taken all the General Authorities who had specifically been taught the nature of Priesthood by the Head of the Dispensation — Joseph Smith; and those who had themselves taught that the endowment conferred Priesthood upon women.

2. Second, By 1888, Mormon misogyny was linked with denials of women’s authority,which resulted in a public comment by Apostle Franklin D Richards:
“Every now and then we hear men speak tauntingly of the sisters and lightly of their public duties, instead of supporting and encouraging them….There are also some who look with jealousy upon the moves of the sisters as though they might come to possess some of the gifts, and are afraid they [LDS women] will get away with some of the blessings of the gospel which only men ought to possess.”
Because of this “envy and jealousy,” Apostle Richards said some LDS men “don’t like to accord to [the sisters] anything that will raise them up and make thier talents to shine forth as the daughters of Eve and Sarah.”
(”LDS Women’s Exponent” 7 (1 NOv 1878): 86.)

Elder Richards is the only General Authority to publically acknowledge that jealousy and fear are the basis for the opposition of some LDS men against the spiritual authority and power of women.

3. Thirdly, It is also likely that (at least some of ) the women, themselves, may have been responsible (to some degree) for this diminishment of their power and authority — by constantly *asking the men* if it was *allright* for them to use their power. Such doubt and insecurity could not have bolstered confidence on either side, and may well have undermined women’s authority.

4. Fourthly, the Book of Mormon warned that Gifts of the Spirit would die out (only) through unbelief. (Moroni 10:8, 11, 19, 26)

5. And finally, In 1946, then-Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith wrote the letter to the Relief Society Presidency, which ended the era during which women freely exercised the Gifts of the Spririt, including Healing — to which they’d always had access and which Joseph Smith had approved.
Instead of women continuing to exercise this Gift, Elder Smith said that women should “send for the elders of the Church to come and administer to the sick and afflicted.”
(Joseph Fielding Smith Letter to Belle Spafford, Marriane C Sharpe and Gertrude R Garff, 29 July 1946, in Clark, _Messages of the First Prsidency_ 4:314; also Derr, Cannon, Beecher, _Women of Covenant_ 220-221.)

NOTE: Healing is one of the Gifts of the Spirit (Moroni 10, 1 Cor 12) , to which *all* are supposed to have access, by virtue of their being faithful sons and daughters of Christ, in the Rebirth of the Spirit.
Yet women have been discouraged from exercising this Gift. One cannot help but wonder why -- it's been said that it's to encourage men to fulfil their Priestly duties, but discouraging women from exercising the Gifts of the Spirit in order to encourage men to "step up" to their responsibilities, is a bit like cutting off the legs of the women, to make the men appear taller. Isn't the Gospel to encourage ALL to "be all they can be"???

* * * * *

ON PRIESTHOOD, WOMEN, and “AUTHORITY” : (From D MIchael Quinn's “Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843″, in _Women And Authority_ edited by Maxine Hanks.)

“Authority” means both power and permission. In the first sense authority is the priesthood power of God. Through the Temple endowment, both men and women receive God’s authority or POWER of the Priesthood. Men also receive priesthood power through ordination to specific office.

The second sense of authority is the *permission* of the church. Neither males nor females can exercise their priesthood without permission of the church. However, both males and females have received such permission from the church in various ways:For LDS males, conferral of power and the permission to exercise priesthood in the church come in stages.
There are two ways in which the LDS church gives formal authority for males to exercise the pristhood they receive by ordination and the endowment:

1) First, through the ordinance of being “set apart” — as a missionary, temple ordinance worker, or church presiding officer, such as stake president or auxiliary president.

2) Second, church leaders give verbal “authority” for males to use their priesthood for specific occasions or ordinances such as administering the sacrament, baptism, confirmation, and administering to the sick.
But For LDS women the priesthood comes not in stages of ordination, but in the temple endowment — which gives today exactly what it gave in Joseph Smith’s time.


Historically, women also have received church authority to exercise their priest(ess)hood power in behalf of others: they receive the ordinance of being set apart as missionaries, temple ordinance workers, and presiding officers such as auxiliary presidents. And as already discussed, LDS leaders have given verbal and written authority for LDS women to perform ordinances including blessings and healings. Church POLICY revoked that permission in 1946 but could reinstate it at any time.

In today’s church, a woman who has received the temple endowment has more priesthood POWER than a boy who holds the office of Priest. However, the priest has more PERMISSION to exercise his priesthood than does the endowed woman to exercise hers.

Priesthood power has always been independent of the offices of the LDS church. LDS women already have God’s priesthood of spiritual POWER. Without asking permission, they may draw on the POWER of the Priesthood that is theirs by birthright and by divine endowment.

However, it is necessary for endowed women to receive PERMISSION of the church to use their priesthood in specifically *church* settings. Without ordination to priesthood OFFICES, each endowed woman already has the opportunity to fulfill in her life Joseph Smith’s promise: “I now turn the key to you in the name of God.”
(D MIchael Quinn, “Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843″, in _Women And Authority_ edited by Maxine Hanks.)


REFERENCES:

- Hanks, M. ed. _Women and Authority_
- Schussler-Fiorenza, E. _In Her Name_
- “Women in the Early Christian Movement,” in _WomanSpirit Rising_ Carol P Christ and Judith Plaskow, ed.
- Scott H. Faulring, ed., An American Prophet’s Record: The Diaries & Journals of Joseph Smith, 2nd ed.
- Ehat, A. “Joseph Smith’s Introduction of Temple Ordinances,”
- Buerger, David John. “‘The Fullness of the Priesthood’: The Second Anointing in Latter-day Saint Theology and Practice,” Dialogue 16 (Spring 1983):10-44.
- Buerger, David John. “The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony,” Dialogue 20 (Winter 1987):33-76.
- Harwell, William G. “The Matriarchal Priestesshood and Emma’s Right to Succession as Presiding High Priestess and Queen”
- Quinn, D Michael. “Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843,” in _Women and Authority_ by Maxine Hanks, ed.

On FEMALE PRIESTHOOD in Biblical times:

- Antony Hutchinson, “Women and Ordination: Introduction to the Biblical Context,” in _Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought_ 14 (Winter 1981): 58-74;
- Melodie Moench Charles, “SCriptural Precedents for Priesthood,” _Dialogue: A JOurnal of Mormon Thought_ 18 (Autumn 1985): 18-20;
- Savina J. Teubal, _Sarah the Priestess_ and _Ancient Sisterhood_
- Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, “Women in the Early Christian Movement,” in Carol P Christ and Judith Plaskow, ed. _WomanSpirit Rising_, 84-92;
- Toscano and Toscano. _Strangers in Paradox_


* * * * *

Again, i hope this is helpful to someone -

Blessings to All –
~Gaia

[_subgenius]

It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. - Robert Southey


Good things, when short, are twice as good. - Baltasar Gracián

[_Gaia]

It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. - Robert Southey


Good things, when short, are twice as good. - Baltasar Gracián

GAIA:

Hi Subgenius -

Believe me, i do understand <rueful grin>.

The problem is that with some topics, my desire to be thorough overwhelms my knowledge of the limitations of human attention.....(and i guess i figure that a reader can always stop reading after they've had enough). I do apologize if i strained yours.


Blessed Be ~ Gaia

[_Fence Sitter]

Thanks Gaia,

I enjoyed reading the whole thing.
Length does seem to be an issue for some of the priesthood brethren.

[Guest]

Thanks Gaia,

I enjoyed reading the whole thing.
Length does seem to be an issue for some of the priesthood brethren.

I am thankful you distinguished the priesthood brethrens' point of view from the priestesshood sisters' point of view.

Blessings,

jo

[_jo1952]

Again, i hope this is helpful to someone -

Blessings to All –
~Gaia

Hello Gaia!

What an awesome study! This is extremely helpful. Thank you for being so thorough in your research and presentation.

These are additional Truths taught by Jesus to the ancient church, which those who jockeyed for both position and power in the absence of the Apostles in the ancient church managed to identfy as heresy. These Truths were Restored in these latter days through Joseph Smith. Fortunately, there were remnants of Believers throughout the Christian era who managed to hold on to these Truths taught by Jesus. Today we are able to compare those Traditions with what was revealed to Joseph Smith. More importantly, the Holy Ghost continues to lead us to All Truth. Unfortunately, this is yet more (like reincarnation) which the LDS Church has abandoned teaching.....sigh.

You have no idea how glad I am that you have joined us here on Mormon Discussions!!!

Blessings,

jo

[_subgenius]

GAIA:

Hi Subgenius -

Believe me, i do understand <rueful grin>.

The problem is that with some topics, my desire to be thorough overwhelms my knowledge of the limitations of human attention.....(and i guess i figure that a reader can always stop reading after they've had enough). I do apologize if i strained yours.


Blessed Be ~ Gaia

i understand, no real strain, just becomes distracting....(that darn digital age) ...but i am reminded of how Lincoln would apologize to people for writing a "long" letter because he did not have that much time otherwise it would have been a much shorter letter.
The Gettysburg address is quite short after all...but the point is well made.

[_subgenius]

Thanks Gaia,

I enjoyed reading the whole thing.
Length does seem to be an issue for some of the priesthood brethren.

celestial?
especially on this thread?

[_Albion]

Since in reality the Mormon Church wields neither the Levitical or the Melchizedec priesthoods the subject is moot.

[_jo1952]

Since in reality the Mormon Church wields neither the Levitical or the Melchizedec priesthoods the subject is moot.

.....according to the doctrine of men.