Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Book of Morma, a feminine reading of the Book of Mormon

Excerpts of The Book of Morma, A Feminine Reading of the Book of Mormon, by Flora Walker

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...The narratives and teachings of the Book of Mormon are, arguably more so than the Bi ble, male-dominated and patriarchal.  Female characters that do make appearances in the text usually do so in supporting roles (e.g. wives and mothers,) as traditional female icons (e.g. Mary and Eve,) or in instances of deus ex machina (e.g. Abish and Morianton's maid-servant.) ...
This book, The Book of Morma, is the feminine counterpart of the Book of Mormon—a protracted "role reversal" composition derived from the Book of Mormon text.
It is the product of an imaginary universe, mirroring our own, in which genders have been inverted.  In this imaginary parallel universe, a female Goddess has established a plan of salvation and ordained her only begotten Daughter to be the Savioress of the world.  Priestesses and prophetesses bring the heavenly messages to the people through a matriarchal order.  Women strive to build the queendom of Goddess, and to serve their Lady with all their hearts.
Furthermore, The Book of Morma is a full-length meditation on the questions of: What if?  What if we lived in a world where females dominated the leadership in society and religion?  What if we lived in a world where our language equated "women" or "womankind" with the entirety of humanity?  What if our religious traditions and our scriptures presented men as simply incidental elements of the various narratives and teachings?  What if men were required to approach prophetesses, priestesses, and matriarchs to connect with the divine?  What if the divine feminine was at the forefront of the interface with humanity, and the divine male was all but erased from collective consciousness?  What if the gifts of prophesy, revelation, and authority were reserved for righteous women?  What if the Restoration and the Book of Mormon had been brought to the world by means of a prophetess and her female assistants?
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