Mormonism and Same-Sex Marriage: Towards a Mormon Theology of Gender

Abstract

From its beginning, a key part of Mormonism’s general appeal was its accessibility; its ability to make abstract conceptions of divinity tangible, systematic, and readily understood. Joseph Smith Jr., Mormonism’s founder and first prophet, rejected the creeds of wider Christendom as “[teaching] for doctrines the commandments of men [while] having a form of godliness, but [denying] the power thereof.” Throughout his prophetic career, Joseph Smith consistently “eternalized” temporal concepts as his emerging theology transformed early Mormonism from a mostly-Protestant form of Christianity into what Jan Shipps has called a new “full-scale religious tradition.”Perhaps the most poignant and most significant example of this process can be seen in Joseph Smith’s evolving conception of God. While it would be difficult to argue that Smith ever held strict Trinitarian views, it is clear that in Smith’s first prophetic act – the purported “translation” of the Book of Mormon by dictation to a scribe between 1827 and 1830 – Smith’s views were at the very least, modalistic. By 1838, however, Smith had completely rejected both Trinitarianism and modalism and began to teach the complete and distinct separation of members of the Godhead. In 1843 Smith taught that “the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit.” In essence, Smith had stated that man is of the same species as God; that God the Father was quite literally, an “exalted” man.In this paper, I briefly examine the implications of this teaching on modern Mormonism’s conception of God and gender; two ideas which within Mormonism’s systematic theology, are inexorably intertwined. Given this context, I will then explore how this conception has lead directly to modern Mormonism’s moral opposition to homosexuality generally and its subsequent political opposition to same-sex marriage specifically. I will also argue that the modern Mormon dogmas used to justify this political and moral opposition may in fact, represent a significant departure from the original teachings of Joseph Smith.