Like street philosopher Eric Hoffer, whose years as a longshoreman informed his keen observations of life and society, Janice Allred interprets Mormon theology from her perspective as a housewife and mother of nine. But for writing about the traditional, though recently controversial, LDS belief in a Mother in Heaven, she was excommunicated just after Mother's Day 1995 and thereby catapulted into the public spotlight. "Jesus taught us to pray to the Father, " Allred writes, "not to set up barriers between us and God, but to remove them. (God is also) our Mother, a Mother who knows our needs before we can express them, a Mother who is here before we called out to her." LDS church leaders forbid speculation about or praying to the Goddess, but they have stopped short of repudiating her outright. Whether or not one agrees with the author's views, one has to acknowledge her skill in stimulating thought-provoking possibilities that empower women -- which is what she intended.

Excerpt from The Sinless Conception of the Mother of God: A Theological Essay Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, sin only except, from which He was clearly void, both in His flesh and in His spirit. He came to be the Lamb without spot, who, by sacrifice of Himself once made, should take away the sins of the world; and sin, as St. John saith, was not in Him. But all we the rest, although baptized and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things and if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. There is no need to enter here into the curious and perhaps complex question as to how many or how few of the Articles of Religion may or may not comprise or embody articles of Faith. Nor whether certain theological opinions current in England when they were set forth, are nowof any authoritative value or theological im portance. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This anthology will explore the new directions of conversations occurring in relation to feminism and religion, as well as the technological modes being utilized to continue dialogue, expand borders, and create new frontiers in feminism. It is a cross generational project bringing together the voices of foremothers with those of the twenty-first century generation of feminist scholars to discuss the changing direction of feminism and religion, new methods of dialogue, and the benefits for society overall.

This is the first-ever collection of classic writings and speeches from four decades of the modern Mormon feminist movement. A definitive and essential guide for anyone who wants to understand the unique and often controversial history of gender in Mormonism, Mormon Feminism makes available in one place, for the first time, the groundbreaking essays, speeches, and poems of the Mormon feminist movement.

In Mystics and Messiahs--the first full account of cults and anti-cult scares in American history--Philip Jenkins shows that, contrary to popular belief, cults were by no means an invention of the 1960s. In fact, most of the frightening images and stereotypes surrounding fringe religious movements are traceable to the mid-nineteenth century when Mormons, Freemasons, and even Catholics were denounced for supposed ritualistic violence, fraud, and sexual depravity. But America has also been the home of an often hysterical anti-cult backlash. Jenkins offers an insightful new analysis of why cults arouse such fear and hatred both in the secular world and in mainstream churches, many of which were themselves originally regarded as cults. He argues that an accurate historical perspective is urgently needed if we are to avoid the kind of catastrophic confrontation that occurred in Waco or the ruinous prosecution of imagined Satanic cults that swept the country in the 1980s. Without ignoring genuine instances of aberrant behavior, Mystics and Messiahs goes beyond the vast edifice of myth, distortion, and hype to reveal the true characteristics of religious fringe movements and why they inspire such fierce antagonism.

Boris Jakim here presents two major theological essays by Russian Orthodox theologian Sergius Bulgakov in English translation for the first time. "On Holy Relics," a 1918 response to Bolshevik desecration of the relics of Russian saints, develops a comprehensive theology of holy relics, connecting them with the Incarnation and showing their place in sacramental theology. The second essay, "On the Gospel Miracles," written in 1932, presents a Christological doctrine of miracles, focusing on how human activity relates to the works of Christ. Both essays are suffused with Bulgakov's faith in Christian resurrection and with his signature "religious materialism," in which the corporeal is illuminated by the spiritual and the earthly is transfigured into the heavenly.