McDannell, “Sister Saints – Mormon Women Since the End of Polygamy” (reviewed by Catherine C. Peterson)

Review

Title: Sister Saints – Mormon Women Since the End of Polygamy
Author: Colleen McDannell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Genre: Religious/Social History
Year Published: 2019
Number of Pages: 291
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN13: 9780190221317
Price: $29.95

Reviewed by Catherine C. Peterson for the Association for Mormon Letters

In her book, Colleen McDannell presents the story of Mormon women from the dwindling end of polygamy through the introduction of recently introduced policies and current trends. Colorful stories and examples salt the history. McDannell’s perspective is fair and unbiased. Sister Saints is the story of women who were instigators of change and victims of change, who were quiet soldiers and strident challengers within their religion and society. She relates how they have survived stigma, derision, underestimation, and marginalization within and out of the Church. She also shows how sister saints have continually adapted to, partnered with, and participated in progressive movements in the broader culture of the times. Ongoing changes in Church policies continually impact sisters in the United States and have included consideration of saints and women throughout the world.

Over the course of their history, LDS women have proven to be resilient and resourceful as they navigate their lives. They have striven to walk a Christlike way of life while reconciling some personal beliefs that have bumped against some cultural mores and challenges within the Church. Her footnoted facts detail the influence of broader American culture on LDS women as they managed home, professional and educational needs. McDannell documents charitable works, the fight for the female vote, female empowerment within the home and workplace, and global outreach. She has carefully laid out the path traveled by women by interweaving religious and cultural components, McDannell’s thorough research traces the impact of societal change within and outside the LDS women’s milieu.

Throughout this book, it is observed how faithful Mormon women would largely accept, albeit occasionally grudgingly, the teachings and admonitions from the pulpit. Discerning women recognized the differences and sometimes the conflicts between gospel truth and contemporary expediency proffered by priesthood leaders. Obedience was not blind, but often well-informed and patiently endured, or positively framed. McDannell presents many of the ways Mormon women maneuvered through history, surviving and adjusting to the environment’s continual changes of status for LDS women.The author includes the experiences of sisters whose being “right” at the wrong time led to banishment from the Church, while others enlarged their influence within the ever-changing administration of Church offices and priesthood-aligned religious callings and positions.

McDannell recounts how Utah women were leaders in the suffrage movement and were the first women to vote. When Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony came to Utah they found women who were united in the cause with differing views. They advised women to become educated and independent enough to be self-supporting and be equals with the man at her side socially, civilly and politically. At that time, for Mormons, polygamy was viewed as a means to build the kingdom and a constitutional right to practice religion. Familial polygamist relationships, though out of the mainstream, could be advantageous to wives such as when Mrs. Orson Smith was quoted: “I loved the woman as well as I loved the man.” Mostly frowned upon by the outside world as degrading and immoral, societal forces pushed against the fiercely independent members of the Church.

When the Edmunds-Tucker Act was passed in March of 1887, outside pressure forced the Church to either cease the practice of polygamy or endure unbearable censure and loss of economic means of survival by forfeiture of property, factories, banks, rights of inheritance, self-governance, etc. Polygamy was officially ended, compelling sister saints to reformulate living situations. Those updated ways included civic activism, productivity, and modern business practices embraced by the Relief Society women’s organization. At that time the Relief Society became much like a club, collecting dues, publishing its own magazine, acquiring real estate, fighting against society’s ills, and studying Gospel-related subjects. Women were expected to raise large families, learn home economics, follow intellectual pursuits. Some were sent to medical school and others participated in politics. Spiritual practices of the earlier period were ended when it was declared that ritual healings and blessings given by women would cease, and become the province of male priesthood holders. Relief Society autonomy ceased and the “scaling back of the Relief Society’s activities put an end to conflicts between reform-directed, nationally connected Latter-day Saint women and tradition-oriented, inward-looking men.” Some sisters were rankled when Relief Society funds, properties and goods were combined with other Church assets in the name of efficiency and egalitarianism.

With modernization, industrial pursuits and wars, the whole society shifted to a kind of retrenchment where heart and family turned inward to home. LDS women gave committed priorities to values and inculcated them in their large biological and church families. A monumental collective of sister saints served in the Church, did charity work, worked on family history, and participated in church activities, all the while attempting to maintain beautiful, well-organized homes and raise beautiful and well-educated children. Eventually, church growth would come more from convert baptisms than fertile mothers.

Changes were afoot when feminist activism screamed onto the scene. It was met with skepticism and some dismay, as it seemed to devalue motherhood and women who chose to stay home. As feminism became more militant, LDS women generally followed a gentler path, becoming educated formally and informally as they ventured away from the Zion of Utah, wholeheartedly raising families and serving the Church in congregations near and far, but absorbing more secular influence. Eventually, increasing numbers of sister saints joined the workforce and entered government and public service. Also, as a result of missionary work, new members brought in women of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. Churchwomen historians and researchers began to closely study earlier Church history and uncovered serious problematic events. They became canaries in the mine, calling out rifts between facts and culturally transmitted histories. These facts may have been suppressed to protect the reputation of the Church, but sister saints were some of the members who influenced the latest open-book policies where the whole history is available, warts and all.

Some women, questioning why women may not hold the priesthood, Church policies on sexuality, intellectual expression or the faults in the BYU honor code have engaged in protests and may choose to disengage from the Church. Others feel empowered by using social media and networking to share their concerns in blogs, podcasts, etc. Enlarging women’s positions in the Church closely parallel priesthood works and purposes as leaders embrace the immeasurable influence and power of women in the Church.

McDannell finishes her book with this sentence; “It will be women who determine whether the next generation remains committed to the faith – and precisely what shape that faith will take.”

The topic of this book is not an easy one to cover, and I enjoyed the anecdotes and examples. I think it would have been helpful to include how the current culture of self-reliance, cooperation and leadership, driven by Christian values, leads to personal accomplishment and satisfaction. Mention should be made of how young sisters are taught important values and leadership skills in Young Women, which equip them for the future. Worthy of note are women such as a university president, a governor, judges, writers, musicians, scientists, Olympians, scholars, humanitarians, philanthropists, educators, doctors, performers, artists, and businesswomen. Of course, good mothers, who teach their daughters to use their God-given gifts to bless others are of prime importance in perpetuating the culture that is within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If, what the Savior says; “By their fruits ye shall know them,” is applied, one may project “precisely what shape that faith will take.”

I recommend this book for its timeliness, scholarship and thoughtful inquiry.

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