Jonathan Stapley on Women, Ritual, and Authority

Jonathan Stapley will delve into “Women, Ritual, and Authority” as the featured speaker at the Miller-Eccles Study Group this weekend.
DATES: October 21 (Villa Park) and October 22 (La Canada – Flintridge).
TIME: 7:30 p.m.

From the Miller-Eccles site: “We are pleased to announce that our October 2011 Miller Eccles speaker will be Jonathan Stapley, who will speak on the topic “Women, Ritual and Authority.” A man for many seasons, Jonathan is a chemist and executive at a startup firm, a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Mormon History, a contributor to Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia, and a permablogger at By Common Consent.
THE TOPIC:
Jonathan Stapley is the co-author (with Kristine Wright) of an important recent article in the Journal of Mormon History titled “Female Ritual Healing in Mormonism.” Following up on that article, Jonathan will discuss the general dynamics of Mormon ritual evolution. Using the example of female participation in healing rituals and last rites, he will highlight important shifts in how rituals were transmitted and developed throughout Mormon history as well as the major external and internal forces that shaped current ritual performance.
In researching their JMH article, Stapley and Wright were given unprecedented access to documents from the LDS Church Archives and were able to shed much light on this almost forgotten practice. This presentation promises to be of great interest to any student of Mormon history.” Click in to read even more about the event!