About This Book...

The doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that we have a Mother in Heaven, as well as a Father in Heaven, is both distinctive and cherished. But many Saints yearn to know more about her. Most will be pleasantly surprised to learn that there is already a wealth of knowledge about Heavenly Mother in the standard works of the Church. We typically do not recognize this information because ancient scribes intentionally altered the scriptures to obscure her. The idea that the scriptures were altered is not new to Latter-day Saints. The Lord told Moses that “the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which thou shalt write” (Moses 1:41). 

 

Another reason we miss references to Heavenly Mother is that we are quite far removed from the traditions and languages of the scriptures. Yet a remarkably consistent set of symbols and images is woven densely through the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation as well as through other writings  ancient Saints considered to be scripture. Taken together, these writings present a remarkably coherent picture of ancient beliefs about Heavenly Mother. These ideas then passed into later Christianity and Judaism in distorted but unmistakeable forms. What may be most surprising to modern Saints is that many of these same strands of Heavenly Mother imagery are woven through Restoration scripture as well. 

 

Though scholars have recognized a wealth of such echoes of Heavenly Mother, most Latter-day Saints are unaware of these insights. In this book, we seek to bring these sources together in a way that is accessible to Church members generally. Our hope is that what ancient Saint believed about Heavenly Mother can become part of a more vibrant conversation about her as we faithfully and patiently wait for God to reveal more.