Maxine Hanks discusses mormon feminism, excommunication, and finding her way back to the LDS church

Come Back Podcast

Ashly Stone

Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"I'm a feminist theologian who was excommunicated and I'd been a Gnostic Christian for 15 years. I didn't know where to start. We let Christ, the living bridge be the bridge between us. We didn't presume to come from our own perspectives. You know, I was saying things like. "Well, you know, I was excommunicated. Do we need to go back and revisit all of that?" And they said, "No, no. All we care about is your relationship with Christ. Tell us about your faith and your relationship with Christ and with God." And so I did and we just turned it over to God and prayed and then it was beautiful. This is what's hard for a lot of my friends and a lot of feminists to understand. Like, was I recapitulating? Was I surrendering? Was I giving up my feminism? No. They never asked me to recant or give up anything. We were exploring a new relationship between feminists and church leaders. I saw them as my brothers. They were like pillars. They were so loving and so kind, and it was just utterly healing."

00:00 Excommunicated over Women's Studies

04:39 Maxine's Historical and Theological Journey

15:00 Excommunication and Its Impact

20:26 Exploring Other Faiths and Gnostic Christianity

32:10 Divine Feminine in LDS Doctrine

35:03 Returning to the Church

38:09 Feminism and Healing

46:58 Experiencing the Body of Christ

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Come Back Team:

Director, Founder, & Host: Ashly Stone

Editor: Cara Reed

Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson

Assistant Editor: Michelle Berger

Assistant Editor: Britt Smallze

Art Director: Jeremy Garcia

Production Director: Trent Wardwell

Transcript

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0:00.0	And so we were teaching about women's history and women's texts.
0:03.7	And so I compiled that book as an academic text to use in our women's studies class.
0:10.5	And so we were using it in the class.
0:12.5	And then the church leader saw it.
0:14.4	And I think it was just so much in one book and it was so controversial that they reacted and Michael and I were both
0:24.6	disciplined by the church and excommunicated for our work in that book.
0:28.6	You know, and if the book was published today, there'd be no problem.
0:32.6	This is Ashley Stone and you're listening to The Comeback Podcast.
0:46.7	Hey friends, I want to introduce you to someone that I absolutely love, Amy Seal,
0:51.1	the world's leading LDS professional matchmaker for the Latter-day Saint community.
0:55.6	So many of the people I interview on this podcast share stories of feeling disconnected from
0:59.6	the church, and not because they didn't believe, but because they felt left out or forgotten,
1:04.1	especially when marriage and family didn't come in the way that they had hoped.
1:07.8	Amy works with those exact kinds of people.
1:10.3	She's helped so many Latter-day Saints who've
1:12.1	struggled with loneliness, heartbreak, or even crisis of faith, not only find their eternal
1:16.1	companion, but also rekindle their testimony and feel close to the Savior again. If that resonates
1:21.1	with you or someone you love, please check out their events and services at Latterday Matchmaker.com.
1:29.3	Amy's work is all about healing hearts and bringing people back to love and back to Christ. This episode is brought to you by a very,
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1:41.9	designed for one simple purpose, which is to help us always
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	...

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