Emma Smith and the Church

This week’s thought comes from D&C 25. This is what is known to my D&C teacher as a proto-patriarchal blessing or a (PPB for short). (A Patriarchal blessing is something that we receive to help us understand that God has a plan for us, and declares our Abrahamic lineage, blessings, and warnings.) This revelation by Joseph is to Emma Smith. But what we don’t know are the background behind it and what it means for women generally. First there were two feminist groups around that wanted to liberate women. The first are the Shakers. The Shakers are some of the people that were the most vocal critics of mormon women’s liberation because not only do they not believe in marriage, they don’t believe in procreation. I wanted to ask how they got new members, but I didn’t. Then the Oneida group believed in liberation with free love. No marriage, no exclusive partners, no responsibility. Additionally, it’s important to mention that women were considered the property of their fathers and then their husbands. That means they never had any personal responsibility. If they were to be punished, their husband was punished publickly and then they were punished in the home. We learned of a court case wherein a husband beat his wife to death. He was tried by a jury of 12 men because women weren’t able to vote so couldn’t be citizens. He was exonerated. He didn’t mean to, and she deserved it. Taken in that context, D&C 25 is pretty interesting: there’s a ton of good, women-friendly doctrine. Like you’re responsible for yourselves, husbands are supposed to help around the house, and women are allowed to speak to the whole body of the church. That was at a time when women were only allowed to teach the other women and the children. Our church was a vanguard for women’s rights. The first female mayor, state senator, and somebody else important – they were all LDS. And when you think about it, Emma was given responsibility for probably one of the most important scriptures we have – the hymnal. Prof H. pointed out that we have meetings without quoting the book of mormon or the bible or the D&C. When was the last time we had a meeting without singing a hymn? Can’t remember it? Neither can I.