Motherhood

In The Priesthood Power of Women, motherhood is presented as divine — the nurturing counterpart to the priesthood role of “preside.” The book quotes President Hugh B. Brown: “Jesus honored womanhood when he came to this earth as a little child through the sacred and glorious agency of motherhood; thus motherhood became akin to Godhood,” and cites the First Presidency calling motherhood “the highest, holiest service … assumed by mankind.” The argument responds to the worry that “nurture” feels demeaning beside “preside”: the book’s reply is that “according to the Lord, however, motherhood, and thus nurturing, is divine.” This sits within the book’s larger case that men and women endowed in the temple receive “the same power, which by definition is priesthood power,” and that home and family — not Church office — are the eternal institution the Church exists to “support” (President Russell M. Nelson’s “paradigm shift”).

Context: In Latter-day Saint teaching, motherhood is frequently framed as a sacred and exalting role complementary to priesthood, tied to doctrines of eternal family, Heavenly Parents, and the divine potential of women. This page reflects how The Priesthood Power of Women develops that theme.

Where this appears

• The Priesthood Power of Women — treats motherhood as divine, “akin to Godhood,” and the counterpart to the priesthood role of “preside.”