Heavenly Mother (Mormonism)

alt=A pamphlet reprint of John Hafen's painting, depicting a mother figure hugging a daughter figure while standing in the middle of a path that cuts through a verdant field under a clear sky. Hafen painted this as an illustration of the hymn "O My Father", by Eliza R. Snow, which describes humanity having "a Mother There" in heaven, a divine companion to God the Father.|thumb|I've a Mother There by [[John Hafen]]

In the Latter Day Saint movement, Heavenly Mother, also known as Mother in Heaven, is the mother of human spirits and the wife of God the Father. Collectively Heavenly Mother and Father are called Heavenly Parents. the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ, and branches of Mormon fundamentalism, such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The doctrine is not generally recognized by other denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement, such as the Community of Christ, where trinitarianism is predominant.

In the LDS Church, the doctrine of "Heavenly Mother" or "heavenly parents" is not frequently discussed; however, the doctrine can be found in some church hymns and has been briefly discussed in church teaching manuals and several sermons.

Origin of the theology

The theological underpinnings of a belief in Heavenly Mother are attributed to Joseph Smith, who shortly before his death in 1844 outlined a controversial view of God that differed dramatically from traditional Christian consensus. Smith's theology included the belief that God would share his glory with his children and that righteous couples might become exalted beings, or gods and goddesses, in the afterlife.

Although there is no known record of Smith explicitly teaching about Heavenly Mother, several of Smith's contemporaries attributed the theology to him either directly, or as a natural consequence of his theological stance. An editorial footnote of History of the Church 5:254, quotes 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 secondhand account states that in 1839, Smith had told Zina Diantha Huntington, 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. The Times and Seasons published a letter to the editor from a pseudonymous person named "Joseph's Speckled Bird", in which the author stated that in the pre-Earth life, the spirit "was a child with his father and mother in heaven". The apostle Parley Pratt even taught in an official church periodical that God may have had multiple wives before Christ's time, and that after the death of Mary (the mother of Jesus) she may have become another eternal wife.

In 1845, after the death of Smith, the poet Eliza Roxcy Snow published a poem entitled "My Father in Heaven" (later titled "Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother", now used as the lyrics in the Latter-day Saint hymn "O My Father"), which acknowledged the existence of a Heavenly Mother. Later, church president Joseph F. Smith (a nephew of Joseph Smith) 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."

The doctrine is also attributed to several other early church leaders. According to one sermon by Brigham Young, Smith once said he "would not worship a God who had not a father; and I do not know that he would if he had not a mother; the one would be as absurd as the other."

Multiple Heavenly Mothers

Polygamy has played an important part in Mormon history and multiple Mormon denominations have teachings on the existence of a polygamous Heavenly Father married to multiple Heavenly Mothers. Brigham Young taught that God the Father was polygamous, although teachings on Heavenly Mothers were never as popular and disappeared from official rhetoric after the end of LDS polygamy in 1904 (although existing polygynous marriages lasted into the 1950s). Top leaders used the examples of the polygamy of God the Father in defense of the practice and this teaching was widely accepted by the late 1850s. Apostle Orson Pratt taught in an official church periodical that "We have now clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives," and that after her death, Mary (the mother of Jesus) may have become another eternal polygamous wife of God. Another denomination, the Apostolic United Brethren, believes in multiple Mothers in Heaven.

Worship and prayer to Heavenly Mother

Orson Pratt, an early apostle of the LDS Church, opposed worshiping a Heavenly Mother, because, he reasoned, like wives and children in any household, Heavenly Mother was required to "yield the most perfect obedience to" her husband.

Early leader George Q. Cannon thought that "there is too much of this inclination to deify 'our mother in heaven, arguing that she is not part of the Godhead and that to worship her would detract from the worship of Heavenly Father. However, early 20th-century church leader Rudger Clawson disagreed, arguing that "it doesn't take away from our worship of the Eternal Father, to adore our Eternal Mother ... [W]e honor woman when we acknowledge Godhood in her eternal prototype." When a feminist professor was fired from Brigham Young University in the 1990s, it was revealed that one of the reasons was her public advocacy of praying to Heavenly Mother. Other Mormon women have been excommunicated for similar publications such as teaching that Heavenly Mother is the Holy Ghost.

Acknowledgment by the LDS Church

One early authoritative statement from the entire First Presidency on the subject is the "origin of man" letter on the 50th anniversary of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species. The church also later implied 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". Similarly, the 2019 version of the Young Women Theme reads, "I am a beloved daughter of heavenly parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny." Other references to heavenly parents can be found in Latter-day Saint speeches and literature. In 2015, an official essay was published on the church website which surveyed 171 years of statements about a Mother in Heaven and confirmed that it is part of church doctrine.

Statements by church leaders

Various LDS Church leaders throughout the history of the church have spoken openly about the doctrine of a Heavenly Mother.

Brigham Young stated about Adam and Eve: "I tell you more, Adam is the father of our spirits ... [O]ur spirits and the spirits of all the heavenly family were begotten by Adam, and born of Eve. ... I tell you, when you see your Father in the Heavens, you will see Adam; when you see your Mother that bore your spirit, you will see Mother Eve." (Since the LDS Church has formally denounced since the 1970s the Adam–God doctrine as taught by Young, today this statement is doctrinal only to certain groups of Mormon fundamentalists.) Young also preached that resurrected "eternal mothers" would "be prepared to frame earths like unto ours". A 1925 First Presidency statement included the lines "All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother. ... [M]an, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents . ... [and] is capable, by experience through ages and aeons, of evolving into a God."

Spencer W. Kimball in 1978 described Heavenly Mother as "the ultimate in maternal modesty" with "restrained queenly elegance".

There has also been some more recent discussion of Heavenly Mother by LDS Church leaders. In a speech given at BYU in 2010, Glenn L. Pace, a member of the LDS Church's First Quorum of the Seventy, said, "Sisters, I testify that when you stand in front of your heavenly parents in those royal courts on high and look into Her eyes and behold Her countenance, any question you ever had about the role of women in the kingdom will evaporate into the rich celestial air, because at that moment you will see standing directly in front of you, your divine nature and destiny."

Controversy

According to historian Linda Wilcox, Heavenly Mother "is a shadowy and elusive belief floating around the edges of Mormon consciousness".

Margaret Merrill Toscano writes that "[w]hile no General Authority has made an official statement denying belief in a Heavenly Mother nor stating that her existence is too sacred to discuss, several factors may influence the current trend that sees even a mention of Heavenly Mother as treading on forbidden ground. Members take their cues about what is acceptable doctrine from talks of General Authorities and official church manuals and magazines". However, Brigham Young University professor David L. Paulsen has argued that such a belief finds no official backing in statements by church leaders, and that the concept that the Heavenly Mother is consigned to a "sacred silence" is largely the result of a relatively recent cultural perception. Krishna pushed back against the idea of sacred silence by saying, "Not once ... did a general authority ever say that we cannot speak of her because of her supposedly fragile nature. She is a goddess in might and dignity. And to consider her otherwise, I think, is disrespectful to Her." She further said that current teachings ignore transgender, non-binary, and intersex people, and further deny exaltation and godhood to non-cisgender individuals. Mormon scholar Margaret Toscano said LDS teachings frame Heavenly Mother not as an individual, but subsumes her into the Heavenly Parent patriarchal family. The Heavenly Parents doctrine has been taught by the LDS Church, and branches of Mormon fundamentalism, such as the Apostolic United Brethren. In 1845, after the death of Smith, the poet Eliza Roxcy Snow published a poem now used as the lyrics in the Latter-day Saint hymn "O My Father", which discusses heavenly parents.

Top LDS leaders in the 1800s seemed to accept the idea of a Heavenly Father and Mother pairing as common sense. In 1995 top LDS leaders released "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", which outlined key teachings on family and gender, and which affirms, "All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny." Since 2019, the LDS church's theme for its Young Women's program says: "I am a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny." The LDS Church teaches that humanity's Heavenly Parents want Their children to be like Them, and that through the process of exaltation all humans have the potential to live eternally in Their presence, continue as families, become gods, create worlds, and have their own spirit children over which they will govern as divine parents.

References

External links

"Mother in Heaven", churchofjesuschrist.org