Hi, my wife, religion friends. Welcome to another great episode of the podcast, Professor Anthony Sweat here from the Department of Church History and Doctrine at BYU.

This past month, my wife and I crossed a major life milestone.

In June, our oldest daughter gave birth to a beautiful little brand new baby boy, and we became grandparents. Yes, what a great thing to have happened.

He's been marvelous, and from what I understand, by those who are a little further down the road of life than I am, it will become even more sweet as the years go on in this new role.

What has also been marvelous to me, however, is to watch my daughter mother a child.

Even before the child was born, the worry, the work, the prayers, the cautions, the preparations, and during his birth and since then, the pain, the sacrifices, the dedication, the joy,

all to give and sustain life. It really is miraculous, and I don't use that word lightly.

In my life, I have been blessed to have been surrounded by many other women who modeled the strength and power and influence of motherhood.

My wife, Cindy, of course, of whom I cannot say enough. My own angel, mother, to whom I owe my own very life, and also my amazing mother-in-law, my grandmothers, the women that I grew up in around my neighborhood and ward,

who also helped to care and guide me in my boyhood in teenage years.

The women teachers I've had in church and in school. The women I am currently surrounded with in my community and ward family.

Each of them, distinct in their own way and role, have nurtured and taught and led and guided and cared for and shown me the way, the truth, and the life.

Mothering takes on many forms and appearances as women guide the human family.

And that's what today's episode is all about. Models of motherhood. Only this time, not from the current women who have induced surrounded us, but the great women of the past,

specifically some of them from the Old Testament, and the differing mothering roles that we find therein.

Aubram Shannon, from BYU's Department of Ancient Scripture, and Aubram's wife Thora Shannon,

have co-authored and recently published an article called Models of Motherhood, expansive mothering in the Old Testament.

I think it shows we're all part of this patchwork that comes together and both mothering, fathering, parenting of a community,

and we all have this place to play when we fulfill our callings. Even those tiny things you don't think like holding a baby or teaching your primary class or whatever it is,

those add up together and create this mosaic of experiences that raise the future members of the church as they grow up.

In today's episode we look specifically at three types of mothering in the Old Testament, and how these women shaped and blessed the whole human family

and the house of Israel, just as rights as mothers do today. This is why religion.

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