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<\/a>Wikimedia Commons public domain image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I share some takeaways here from an article that I\u2019ve just read in BYU Studies Quarterly<\/em>: \u00a0John Hilton III, Jesse Vincent, and Rachel Harper, \u201c\u201cLast at the Cross\u201d: Teachings about Christ\u2019s Crucifixion in the Woman\u2019s Exponent<\/em>, the Relief Society Magazine<\/em>, and the Young Woman\u2019s Journal,<\/em>\u201d BYU Studies Quarterly<\/em> 61\/3 (2022): 31-58.<\/a><\/p>\n The Woman\u2019s Exponent,<\/em> which was published from 1872 to 1914, was evidently one of the earliest periodicals for women published in the United States \u00a0(32), which seems difficult to reconcile with hostile claims that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> is simply oppressive to women and misogynistic. \u00a0The Relief Society Magazine<\/em> was published from 1914, when it replaced the Woman\u2019s Exponent<\/em>, until the new unified Church magazines were introduced in 1970. The Young Woman\u2019s Journal<\/em> appeared between 1889 and 1929. \u00a0In all three cases, the editors were exclusively female and the authors were primarily female (32)<\/p>\n One recurring theme in the materials surveyed by the authors, appearing twenty-one times, was the idea that women were the last and the first, in ways that demonstrate their devotion to Jesus Christ\u2014particularly that women were \u201clast at his cross, and earliest at his grave.\u201d This phraseology seems to be based upon a poem titled \u201cWoman\u201d by Eaton Stannard Barrett that is quoted and paraphrased more than once in the three magazines (where Eaton Stannard Barrett is, at least once, confused with Elizabeth Barrett Browning). In the poem, Barrett writes, \u201cNot she with trait\u2019rous kiss her Master stung, \/ Not she denied Him with unfaithful tongue; \/ She, when apostles fled, could danger brave, \/ Last at His cross, and earliest at His grave.\u201d [\u201cWoman\u201d (London: Cox and Baylis, 1819), 34.]<\/p>\n Here, cited from page 43, are passages from Latter-day Saint authors in the three magazines surveyed that speak of the faith and devotion of women:<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cWomen were last at the cross and first at the sepulchre, and it was to a woman that He first revealed Himself after His resurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cFirst to greet lovingly man at his birth, Last to forsake him when dying, \u2022 \u201c\u2018Do to others as ye would they should do to you,\u2019 that is ever helpful. It is that element which made her last at the cross and first at the sepulchre.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n As I\u2019ve suggested in at least a few public presentations and perhaps also in print, I think it very significant that the first witnesses of the empty tomb and of the resurrection were women.<\/p>\n In 1904, a panel of judges that included James E. Talmage awarded Kate Thomas first prize for her poem \u201cFor Christmas.\u201d I thought it a worthwhile find, and seasonally appropriate. \u00a0So I share it with you here:<\/p>\n O beautiful mother Mary, O mother of croonings low, His baby step she taught him, she put him gaily down O beautiful mother Mary, O Woman of women wise, She watched him grow into boyhood, with innocent eyes like his own [Kate Thomas, \u201cFor Christmas,\u201d Young Woman\u2019s Journal<\/em> 15\/12 (December 1904): 532; \u201cPrize Christmas Poems,\u201d Young Woman\u2019s Journal<\/em> 15\/12 (December 1904): 570.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ve recently read two other articles in this same issue of BYU Studies<\/em>:<\/p>\n And I\u2019ve already called these two very worthwhile articles to your attention:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Posted from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 I share some takeaways here from an article that I\u2019ve just read in BYU Studies Quarterly: \u00a0John Hilton III, Jesse Vincent, and Rachel Harper, \u201c\u201cLast at the Cross\u201d: Teachings about Christ\u2019s Crucifixion in the Woman\u2019s Exponent, the Relief Society Magazine, and the Young Woman\u2019s Journal,\u201d BYU Studies Quarterly 61\/3 (2022): 31-58. The Woman\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":32821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4985,380,3037,36962,743,2201],"class_list":["post-102944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-first-vision","tag-joseph-smith","tag-mary","tag-psalm-14","tag-religion","tag-women"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
\nFirst to make sunshine around his hearth, Last to lose heart and cease trying.
\nLast at the cross of her crucified Lord, First to behold him when risen,
\nFirst to proclaim him to life restored; bursting from death\u2019s gloomy prison,
\nFirst to seek knowledge, the God-like prize, Last to gain credit for knowing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDid you know more bliss in each fond kiss
\nThan we common mothers know?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nAnd laughed with pleased, low laughter when his fingers clutched her gown.
\nShe taught him his first \u2018Our Father,\u2019 and as he lisped the prayer,
\nShe bended her face till her lips found place
\nIn the soft sheen of his hair.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nDid you see the End? Or did Father send
\nA kindly veil for your eyes?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nThat wept when He came into manhood and the Load He must carry alone.
\nFor the way of the Hill was heavy, and the Cross on the Hill was high,
\nAnd \u2019twas hard to look where whose sins He took
\nWere lusting to see Him die!<\/p>\n<\/a>\n
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