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

"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 Latter day MatchMaker Serve Clothing code COMEBACK for 15% offhttps://serveclothing.com/memor jewelry - 10% Discount code: COMEBACKhttps://memorjewelry.com/ Serve Clothing code COMEBACK for 15% off https://serveclothing.com/ If you have a story to share please contact ashly.comebackpodcast@gmail.com For inquiries contact info.comebackpodcast@gmail.com 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