Conversations about the religious and spiritual life on the other side of fundamentalism
 
Category: <span>Women, Feminism, Religion and Spirituality</span>

286: Abducted in Plain Sight: The Broberg Women Speak Out

When the crime documentary ‘Abducted in Plain Sight’ was released on Netflix, Jan Broberg (the woman at the centre of this seemingly bizarre story of multiple kidnappings, an alien mission and sexual assault while a …

283: We Hold Your Name: Joanna Brooks and Kalani Tonga

Joanna Brooks and Kalani Tonga join me to discuss their book of women’s blessings and poetry, ‘We Hold Your Name’ (2019) From the jacket: “A collection of blessings and poetry written by Mormon women responding …

275: Spiritual Formation through the Liturgical Year: Maxine Hanks

When Maxine Hanks returned to the LDS Church after being excommunicated with the September 6 in 1993, she returned to the LDS Church having taken a spiritual formation pathway in the Gnostic tradition.  One of her …

268: What Do Your Temple Garments Mean to You?: Nancy Ross and Jessica Finnigan

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there’s often a very large gap in the theological or doctrinal understanding of the garment, and the lived experience with wearing one.   Predictably, Mormons will …

264: I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar: Jan Tyler

Jan Tyler has been an active campaigner for women’s rights since the early 1970’s. Her first job was at Weber State University as the Women’s Dean.  It was there that she met the incoming President, …

254: When a Woman Leads the Church: Women’s Ordination in the USA: Benjamin Knoll & Cammie-Jo Bolin

Benjamin Knoll and Cammie-Jo Bollin discuss their new book, ‘She Preached the Word:  Women’s Ordination in Modern America.’ Their study uses novel survey data that reveals a surprising relationship between political orientation and an acceptance of …

252: ‘It wasn’t God’s Will’: Reflections on the 4th Anniversary of Kate Kelly’s Excommunication

In June 2014 Kate Kelly, the vocal spokesperson for Ordain Women was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for apostasy. Kate Kelly had led a high profile campaign including two actions …

251: Impasse: When your ward turns on you: Sabine

Sabine (name changed) had served faithfully in the church for years.  Then several incidents involving her children occurred causing her to act swiftly to protect them from bullying and shaming.   The result was a fall-out …

243: Listening For God: Prof. Nancy Ross

“There’s no point at which we can say, ‘I’ve got it.’   Always and forever, mystery gets you.  Our searching for God is a search for symbols, analogies and metaphors.  All theological language is an approximation, offered tentatively in holy awe.  That’s the best human language can achieve.

We must, absolutely must, maintain a fundamental humility before the great mystery.  If we do not, religion always worships itself and its formulations, and never God.”

So says Fr. Richard Rohr, and thus contemplates art historian and medievalist Professor Nancy Ross.  Nancy reflects on the place of art as an approximation of the Christian faith in the West.  She offers a heartfelt reflection on how art has shaped her own understandings of the divine and her faith development.

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240: A Feminist Response to Church Sexual Abuse: Staheli-Hanks & Brown Edmunds

Mormon feminist writers and commentators Sara Katherine Staheli-Hanks and Tresa Brown Edmunds respond to the MTC President sex-scandal, and generally to the problem of sexual abuse in the LDS Church.