Heavenly Mother

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Mother Goddess. (Discuss)

In some religions, Heavenly Mother (also referred to as Mother in Heaven) is the wife and feminine counterpart of God the Father.

Contents

[edit] Latter Day Saint movement

Belief in Heavenly Mother within the Latter Day Saint movement is diverse. Some denominations disavow a belief in Her, some do not make Her a part of the official doctrine, and others openly acknowledge Her existence.[1][2]

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the theology implies the existence of a Heavenly Mother, which many members believe exists. She is not referred to in doctrine, scripture, or other Church canon; however, there is some support for Her existence.[3] She is not the object of prayer, as members are instructed that prayers are to be addressed to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ.[4][5]

[edit] Origin of the Heavenly Mother theology

The theological underpinnings of a belief in Heavenly Mother is attributed to Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, who shortly before his death in 1844 outlined a controversial view of God that differed dramatically from modern Christian consensus.[6] Smith's new theology included the belief that God would share His glory with his children and that we, both men and women, might become exalted beings, or gods and goddesses, in the afterlife (see Exaltation).

Although there is no clear record of Joseph Smith teaching of Heavenly Mother publicly, several of Smith's contemporaries attributed the theology to him either directly, or as a consequence of his new theological stance. An editorial footnote of History of the Church, 5:254, presumably quotes Joseph Smith as saying: "Come to me; here's the mysteries man hath not seen, Here's our Father in heaven, and Mother, the Queen." In addition, a second-hand account states that in 1839, Joseph Smith had told Zina Diantha Huntington, one of Smith's plural wives, after the death of her mother, that "not only would she know her mother again on the other side, but 'more than that, you will meet and become acquainted with your eternal Mother, the wife of your Father in Heaven'."[7]

In addition, members of the Anointed Quorum, a highly select spiritual organization in the early Church that was privy to Smith's teachings, also acknowledged the existence of a Heavenly Mother.[8] Also, the Times and Seasons published a letter to the editor from a person named "Joseph's Specked Bird" in which the author stated that in the pre-Earth life, the spirit "was a child with his father and mother in heaven".[9]

In 1845, after the murder of Joseph Smith, the poet Eliza Roxcy Snow, published a poem entitled "My Father in Heaven", (later titled "Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother", now the popular Latter-day Saint hymn "O My Father"), acknowledges the existence of a Heavenly Mother.[10] This hymn contained the following language:

In the heavens are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare.
Truth is reason: truth eternal
tells me I've a mother there.

Some early Mormons considered Eliza Snow to be a "prophetess",[11] and Latter-day Saint President Wilford Woodruff believed that Snow had obtained this understanding though her own revelation.[citation needed] Later, however, LDS President Joseph F. Smith (a nephew of Joseph Smith, Jr.) explained his own belief that "God revealed that principle that we have a mother as well as a father in heaven to Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith revealed it to Eliza Snow Smith, his wife; and Eliza Snow was inspired, being a poet, to put it into verse."[12]

[edit] Prayer to the Heavenly Mother

Some feminist Mormons have adopted the practice of praying to the Heavenly Mother. However, the LDS Church has rejected this practice, saying that Mormons should not pray to the Heavenly Mother.[13] A feminist professor was fired from Brigham Young University for teaching prayer to Heavenly Mother in her class.[14] Reform Mormons[1] and the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ[2] are the only Mormon denominations in which the Heavenly Mother is addressed in prayer on an equal basis with the Heavenly Father.

[edit] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

[edit] Acknowledgement of the theology

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not formally acknowledge the existence of a Heavenly Mother until 1909, in a statement on evolution by the First Presidency marking the 50th anniversary of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species[15] The Church also later acknowledged the theology in the 1995 statement The Family: A Proclamation to the World, where the Church officially stated that each person is a "spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents". Other references to Heavenly Mother can be found in Latter-day Saint speeches and literature.[16]

[edit] Elaborations on Heavenly Mother

In general, Heavenly Mother "is a shadowy and elusive [belief] floating around the edges of Mormon consciousness".[17] Though the belief is held by most Mormons, the doctrine is not advertised by the LDS Church. Heavenly Mother is sometimes mentioned in the LDS Sunday School classes, and these discussions are most often consistent with the theology discussed above. The lack of focused teaching and more information about Her may be to avoid drawing attention to her and to preserve the sacredness of Her existence or it may be that her role, unlike those of Jesus Christ and God the Father, does not impact eternal salvation.[citation needed]

[edit] Unification Church

In the Unification Church some members occasionally address God as "Heavenly Mother" when emphasizing the divine attribute of femininity, but not indicating a distinct person. Unificationists consider God a unified being of masculine and feminine characteristics, but they nearly always address God (in prayer) using masculine references and refer to Him as "Father" or "Heavenly Father."

[edit] African Hebrew Israelite Movement

A growing segment of the African Hebrew Israelite Movement in America and abroad, founded by Kohan Shalomim Y. Halahawi espouses a belief in the Ruwah-Qodesh (Hebrew for Holy Spirit) as the eternal wife of Yahwah. They believe her name (the Holy Spirit) is Chockimah, also known as Wisdom, mentioned as co-creating with Yahwah in Proverbs chapter 8; Proverbs chapter 3:13-19 Yahwah founded the Earth by Chockimah (a female). Wisdom of Solomon 7:1-12, calls her the Mother and verses 22 reveals her as the Holy Spirit, as well as other biblical, psudepigrapha and apocraphal books of ancient Israel.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Converting to Reform Mormonism. reform mormonism. Retrieved on 2006-07-17.
  2. ^ a b The Role of Women in the Church. Restoration Church of Jesus Christ. Retrieved on 2006-07-17.
  3. ^ O My Father, LDS hymn #292, refers to a mother in heaven. The Family: A Proclamation to the World mentions "heavenly parents". Various LDS curriculum materials refer to a Heavenly Mother, for instance see the conclusion of The Latter Day Saint Women, Lesson 9.
  4. ^ Guide to the Scriptures: Prayer. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved on 2006-07-23.
  5. ^ “Pray unto the Father in My Name”. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved on 2006-07-23.
  6. ^ See King Follett Discourse; Smith 1844.
  7. ^ Wilcox 1987, p. 65.
  8. ^ Wilcox 1987, pp. 65-67; Orson Pratt 1876, p. 292; Wilford Woodruff 1875, pp. 31-32.
  9. ^ Joseph's Specked Bird 1845, p. 892.
  10. ^ Snow 1845. See also Derr 1996-97; Pearson 1992.
  11. ^ Abstract of “Poems, religious, historical, and political”. Harold B. Lee Library/Online Collections at BYU. Retrieved on 2006-07-23.
  12. ^ Wilcox 1987, p 65.
  13. ^ Hinckley 1991, pp 97-100.
  14. ^ (September-October 1997). "Academic Freedom and Tenure: Brigham Young University" (PDF). American Association of University Professors. Retrieved on 2006-07-20.
  15. ^ Smith et al. 1909.
  16. ^ See, for example, Hinckley 1991, encouraging Latter-day Saint women not to pray to the Heavenly Mother.
  17. ^ Wilcox 1987, p. 64.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Bickmore, Barry R., "Mormonism in the Early Jewish Christian Milieu", http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/conf/1999BicB.html#en112 (1999).
  • Derr, Jill Mulvay, "The Significance of 'O My Father' in the Personal Journey of Eliza R. Snow", BYU Studies 36, no. 1 (1996-97): 84-126.
  • Hinckley, Gordon B., "Daughters of God", Ensign, November 1991: 97-100.
  • Joseph's Specked Bird, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons 6: 892 (May 1, 1845).
  • Jorgensen, Danny L., "The Mormon Gender-Inclusive Image of God", Journal of Mormon History, 27, No. 1 (Spring 2000): 95-126.
  • Origen, Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John: Book II, ¶6. Included in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols. (Buffalo: The Christian Literature Publishing Company, 1885-1896) 10:329-330.
  • Pearson, Carol Lynn, "Mother Wove the Morning: a one-woman play" (October 1992) (ISBN 1-56236-307-7) (depicting, according to the video's description, Eliza R. Snow as one of "sixteen women [who] throughout history search for God the Mother and invite her back into the human family").
  • Pratt, Orson, Journal of Discourses 18:292 (Nov. 12, 1876).
  • Smith Jr., Joseph, King Follett Discourse, April 7, 1844, published in Times and Seasons 5 (August 15, 1844): 612-17, and reprinted in the History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, edited by B. H. Roberts, 2d ed. rev. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, (1976-1980), 6:302-17; see also "The Christian Godhead--Plurality of Gods", History of the Church, 6: 473-79.
  • Smith, Joseph F. et al., "The Origin of Man", Improvement Era (November 1909): 80.
  • Wilcox, Linda P., "The Mormon Concept of a Mother in Heaven", Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective, edited by Maureen Ursenbach Beecher and Lavina Fielding Anderson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987), 64-77.
  • Woodruff, Wilford, Journal of Discourses 18:31-32 (June 27, 1875).

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../h/e/a/Heavenly_Mother_4261.html"