202 - Joseph Smith Promised Female Priests | Church History Matters I Women & Priesthood Series

Church History Matters

Scripture Central

Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2026

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, hosts Scott Woodward, Casey Griffiths and Lisa Tait explore the powerful and often overlooked theme of Joseph Smith’s vision of women as part of a “kingdom of priests.” From the earliest days of the Restoration in 1830, Joseph Smith taught expansive ideas about spiritual authority, inviting women into sacred spaces like the temple and organizing the Relief Society with language that echoed priesthood power, purpose, and covenant identity. Women in the early Church blessed the sick, participated in temple ordinances, and understood themselves as active contributors in building God’s kingdom—not just as supporters, but as partners in a divine work rooted in shared access to heavenly power. As the Church grew and developed through the 19th and 20th centuries, the way these teachings were interpreted and practiced shifted, leading to a more formal distinction between priesthood office and women’s roles. Yet the original vision of a covenant community—where women and men alike are endowed with spiritual power—continues to shape conversations today. This episode traces that journey from Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo teachings to the present, highlighting both the continuity and the tension in how Latter-day Saint women relate to priesthood authority, and inviting viewers to reconsider what it means to truly become a “kingdom of priests” in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a topic maybe more than any other where people come to it with the baggage of their own gendered experience.
0:08.0	Priesthood at this point starts to be more now as the authority or power of God itself.
0:13.0	As well, where we start to get the idea of priesthood motherhood, the idea that men have priesthood,
0:18.0	women have motherhood, and somehow that's parallel. If the aim of
0:22.4	priesthood is to make us more like God, in a lot of ways, priesthood is a fatherly or a motherly
0:27.8	occupation. We are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority of the priesthood in their
0:32.8	church callings, but what other authority can it be? But there are still only some who are ordained to hold the priesthood keys.
0:39.3	It seems like the goal of Jesus' gospel is to get us all here.
0:43.3	The priesthood is something that we belong to.
0:45.3	Most people can't see past plural marriage to see the other things that were happening in Navu.
0:50.3	This is a real change. This is a real change.
0:53.3	Hello, Casey and Lisa. This is a real change. This is a real change.
0:58.6	Hello, Casey and Lisa. Hey, guys.
1:00.0	Hello, hello.
1:08.8	We are back for our final episode of women and priesthood. And guys, I got to say this has been a blast to do this with you.
1:11.5	Yeah, it has. Thanks for the opportunity.
1:14.5	Yeah, we have covered a lot of ground.
1:25.8	So much so, but I think we were discussing this and said, we kind of need a, let's put it all together episode where we sort of review and then summarize.
1:29.9	Because, boy, we've gone down a lot of paths and learned a lot,
1:36.3	but we also want to have some good take homes for our audience out there that have been with us on this journey.
1:37.2	Yeah.
1:44.7	And before we get too deep down in that vein, I think, Casey, you and I just need to just give the biggest shout out to Lisa,
	...

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