Lavina Fielding Anderson (13 April 1944 – 29 October 2023) was a

Latter-day Saint The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded b ...

scholar, writer, editor, and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. Anderson held a PhD in English from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. Anderson was one of the original trustees of the Mormon Alliance, founded in 1992 to document allegations of spiritual and ecclesiastical abuse in

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church). In 1993, Anderson published a chronology documenting over 100 cases of what she regarded as spiritual abuse by LDS Church leaders during the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. This article became grounds for her

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...

on charges of apostasy in September 1993, as one of the

September Six The September Six were six members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who were Excommunication#The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, excommunicated or disfellowshipped by the church in September 1993, alleged ...

. Anderson remained as active in the LDS Church as her excommunicant status allowed; in 1996, she was described by Levi S. Peterson as exemplary of an emerging "church in exile" composed of faithful excommunicants. In the late 1990s, she published three volumes of ''Case Reports of the Mormon Alliance'' co-authored with Janice Allred, documenting sexual and ritual abuse by lay clergy and calling for improvement in the institutional treatment of victims. In 2019, her local stake leaders reconvened her disciplinary council, in which she affirmed her faith but also expressed multiple views contrary to church teachings. The council recommended her rebaptism to the First Presidency; this was rejected without explanation, and without reiterating her conditions for reinstatement. As mentioned below, ''Mercy Without End'' contains eighteen of her essays reflecting on her twenty-five years attending church as an excommunicant. She was married to Paul L. Anderson from 1977 until his death in 2018. She died at home from complications of pulmonary hypertension on October 29, 2023.

Works edited

Her editing credits include ''Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective'' (1987) and ''Tending the Garden: Essays on Mormon Literature'' (1996). She worked as an editor at journals including the ''

Ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...

'' (the official LDS magazine), '' Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'', ''

Journal of Mormon History The Mormon History Association (MHA) is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and understanding of all aspects of Mormon history to promote understanding, scholarly research, and publication in the field. MHA was founded in ...

'', ''Mormon Women's Forum Quarterly,'' and ''Case Reports of the Mormon Alliance.'' In 2001, Anderson published a critical edition of

Lucy Mack Smith Lucy Mack Smith (July 8, 1775 – May 14, 1856) was the mother of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. She is noted for writing the memoir, ''History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Pr ...

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

, ''Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir'' (Salt Lake City:

Signature Books Signature Books is an American press specializing in subjects related to Utah, Mormonism, and Western Americana. The company was founded in 1980 by George D. Smith and Scott Kenney and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is majority owned by t ...

, 2001). In 1995, Anderson and Eugene England co-edited ''Tending the Garden: Essays on Mormon Literature'' (Salt Lake City:

, 1995).This book-length collection of fifteen essays on Mormon literature discusses such classic narratives as Joseph Smith's first vision and Parley P. Pratt's autobiography, more recent experiments such as Levi Peterson's ''The Backslider'', and Terry Tempest Williams's ''Refuge''; it also addresses the question of what constitutes Mormon aesthetics. In May of 2020, her collection of essays, ''Mercy Without End: Toward a More Inclusive Church'' (

, 2020) was published, highlighting her concerns about and reflections on issues of inclusiveness in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Selected works and references

* * * * * * * * * (An article by Anderson about her fellow September Six excommunicant and friend D. Michael Quinn) * *

References

External links

The Mormon Alliance
June 2014 (from April 2010 scrape by Archive.org)

edited by Lavina Fielding Anderson {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Lavina Fielding 1944 births 2023 deaths People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Editors of Latter Day Saint publications Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement People from Shelley, Idaho Historians from Idaho Mormon studies scholars Latter Day Saints from Idaho American Latter Day Saint writers University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni American women historians Critics of Mormonism 21st-century American historians Mormon feminists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American women academics 20th-century American academics 21st-century American women academics 21st-century American academics Association for Mormon Letters people

Works edited

Selected works and references

See also

References

External links