When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone
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Book Reviews of When God Was a Woman
Book Review: God: The Mother
Summary: 5 Stars
Modern Christianity, Judaism and even Islam, have long regarded God as a man. In the wake of the Women's Liberation Movement, new waves of thought on the subject have come forward. It's not fair to blame feminists for delibarately revising and rewriting the Bible to appeal to liberated women of today's 21st century Western world The truth of the matter is that for centuries men have taken advantage of the fact that only men wrote the Bible and attributed maleness to God. The Bible on the whole is gender-biased and sexist. Women in the Bible are either submissive and obedient (like Sarah, Abraham's wife who called him "My Lord") or virtuous women like Mary, Jesus' mother or the wanton, decadent and "evil" women like Jezebel, Delilah or Eve, who by empowering themselves met with a dire fate. There is never much to say about "The Bride" who is in fact Mary Magdalene, who is re-cast as a prostitute in the New Testament. But Mary Magdalene, who was either Jesus' wife or a very special female Apostle, wrote her own Gospel which never made it to the Bible curiously enough. The Roman Catholic Church did all it could to alter the Bible, changing names and lingusitics so as not to reveal the importance of God's female half, the Goddess.In Kabbala tradition, the Goddess is the Shekinah, or the Latin Sophia "Wisdom". She is the Holy Spirit and the source of inspiration and wisdom for God himself. In the early days of Judaism, when the Israelites wandered the desert like nomads, the practice of male-and-female union sexual consummation for fertility and for divine inspiration was very common. But the Bible omitted this later on so as not to disclose the Shekinah. This information has resurfaced in many ways. The best-selling book "The DaVinci Code" re-inforces the value and spiritual significance of The Goddess. There is no need for feeling bad about it. The truth is that God has to have a female side. Everyone does really. We are male and female in spirit though male and female individually in physical body. The female side is the nurturing Mother. For this reason we call Earth "Mother Earth" or "Mother Nature"- for she nourishes the life that lives upon it, animal and human. The reason more women are spiritual and more active in Church is the same reason that God's female half is equally as strong. This book is helpful in its detail about the Goddess worship of ancient Israel and the Middle East. It's living proof that at one point...God was a woman. Think about it. He has to be both male and female because we are either male and female. How can a single male God even fathom the females in his creation ? He would only relate to the males. He has to be both male and female in order to adequately rule over and look after all of his creation. This book was really a blessing, even for a former Christian like myself. Merlin Stone writes well and convincingly, eventhough this book was made in the early 70's. Perhaps this is why this book is so passionate in its theme. At that time in America and other parts of the West, the Women's Lib movement and the rising growth of feminism was much stronger than it was today. I hope some day men can let go of their male egos, not feel threatened by powerful women and share the fruits of labor and the government with women. What is in store in the future for able women ? The first and hopefully not last female President ? Female Pope ? The possibilities are endless.
Book Review: intelligent and important work
Summary: 5 Stars
The history of our society, our religions, and our gender roles is vital to understanding ourselves and our world. Things are not the way we have been told they were. The truth may well shock and anger you.We are becoming used to conspiracy theories and revisionist history surfacing in an almost constant stream these days. Much real history has been destroyed or distorted, and much we simply never knew. Spin doctors throw an immense amount of PR garbage in our faces to try and manipulate us into their camps. It is difficult to know whom to trust, particularly regarding emotionally loaded issues like religion and sex.
Merlin Stone has written a very good book about the history of gender roles in Western society and the part religion plays in forming these roles. She also gives us insight into the nature of laws regarding sexual behavior and marriage, a subject of considerable interest right at the moment.
The book is very well documented with quotes attributed and citations listed in the bibliography. While the subject of populations in remote historical times can be quite dry when treated in detail, Stone manages to mantain a high degree of academic depth while remaing very readable and accessible.
The book is well organized and leads one through the evidence to her very rational conclusions. She draws on vast amounts of archelogical and historical data, and her arguments are convincing. The information in this book correlates well with information I have seen from other sources in my investigation of why religions and governments put so much time, money, and energy into criminalizing sexual behavior.
The basic theme of the book is that gender roles, the nature of sexual expression, and the rights of women changed drastically when the Aryan-driven patriarchal religions took over in the Middle East. While we have been told that this was an inevitable "progression" as we moved to a "modern" society, the truth is that it was more a matter of physically superior forces destroying any opposing points of view. The changes studied here were not the progress of people thoughtfully moving to new ideals, but of vanquished peoples crushed by violent and greedy religious fervor. The evidence, even from the religious sources themselves, is undeniable. The bias in favor of the triumphant religious structure is shown to still exist today and to reach even into the halls of Science, which exists supposedly to free us from superstitious nonsense.
This is not a book about male-bashing, nor does it promote a particular feminist stance. Stone is not as strident as I sound in this review, but very logical and even-tempered. The conclusions and information in this book shed light on oppression and global violence that effect us all; male, female, or otherwise. When you see that sexual laws and supposed "morals" are actually twisted excuses for oppression and control, it might open your eyes to a new understanding of the debates about sex and marriage happening as I write this (March 2004). I sincerely hope so. We must grow beyond the twisted neuroses of sexually maladjusted, oppressive superstition if we want to make the Earth a safe, warm, loving home for all. Read this book if you want to grow in your understanding of our history, our present, and our future.
Book Review: I was sceptical at first.....
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a really good book. ... having read quite a bit of other stuff on proto-Jewish, pre-monotheistic religions, I confirm that the author does stick to pretty well-known facts. She bases her arguement primarily on a few (pretty-well established) facts, namely:
- that (visibly female) goddess images are *the* oldest religious imagery to have been discovered,
- that animistic religions with large local pantheons abounded for most of human history,
- that the Jewish pentatuch was written in the context of other contemporary religions, and
- that it is an easy jump to believe that prior to the advent of animal domestication/husbandry the relationship between men and pregnancy was probably not well understood/known.
She uses these main pieces of evidence as well as scholorship on pre-historic religions to build a (very convincing) argument that once upon a time when people thought women possessed some magic ability that allowed them to reproduce alone (via parthenogenesis and sans l'homme), femaleness was worshipped. So, people had no clue where babies came from, men were seen as pretty much useless and inheritance was a purely matrilineal affaire. Then, ta da, a big bad monotheistic religion (proto-judaism) came along and said "Forget this stuff about men being useless! No,in fact, the Man is the creator of ALL!And what's more, the woman is born of the man -- contrary to all appearances. And we've got proof, just read this book we wrote called Genesis!"
So, her book is about this; how did we get to this impasse? How did men manage to turn the common sense of the preceding millenea on its head? And how has this situation managed to persist for thousands of years (3 thousand to be exact)? Where did monotheism come from? Where did the notion of male gods come from, for that matter? Were there some groups worshiping male gods and others worshiping female gods which existed concurrently? How did a major female figure of divinity manage to acquire, first, a son, then a consort, then a husband/father? And after she acquired all of these celestial relatives, how did they manage to metaphysically dominate and eventually eclipse her entirely -- making feminity utterly un-associable with divinity until well into the 10TH century (with the cult of Mary)?
So, those sound like pretty good questions, huh? I have read quite a bit on religions, but I would say that this is one of those rare books, where you don't actually have to know anything about the subject to be able to be consistently engaged by the authors reasoning. If you really think the author is totally off the wall, as far as historical facts, then read some other stuff too. But as an arguement, this book is up there with any plausible historical theory.
Book Review: A Rib is not a Woman, It's Just a Bone!
Summary: 5 Stars
For those who have ears to hear and eyes to see and a mind that is open, imagine the world through the feminine soul, of woman born we are; not man! When one begins to read the bible, it becomes obvious rather quickly, the Agenda of the male hagiographer: The knowledge of the fruit of the tree[of the Goddess] of Good and Evil is Overpowering. This knowledge is the power of sexuality and abundance. We cannot have the women running rampant with their desires. We must control sexuality by controlling women and their children. We have been living with these belief systems for over 2000 years! Throughout the old testament, the authors routinely condemn and curse women. There must be a reason for this, unless you are purely a misogynistic fundatmentalist and believe in the rib myth. The reason the authors in the bible write about women in such a derogatory manner is their attempt to eliminate completely any allegiance to the so-called fertility 'cults'i.e. Goddess Worship. Many women even after the time of Christ were still practicing some of the old ways of Diana. The bible authors wanted to retell the story of creation so as to firmly implant in the minds of the people that women were to be restricted and controlled or else they would corrupt nations! Why this great repression of the feminine? Just as any conqueror rewrites his/herstory, the bible authors[men]needed to insure their victory. This is political propaganda at its best. When you tell someone long and loud enough that they are unworthy of ruling,they are unclean, and they are only here to serve their masters[MEN]over time they will believe it. The Goddess embraces all sexuality and abundance. Many women had children as part of offering their sexuality to the Goddess in the temple[Esphesus]. Paternity was not an issue. All children were nurtured and reared by the community. The children took their mother's name. And these same children succeeded their mother to the throne. It is important to note that males were not oppressed or dominated by females in the Goddess Rites. Only under partriarchy, does the notion of domination take place"rule of the fathers." The overthrow of the Goddess Religion was an economic and political victory for the followers of Yahweh. It was important to have the father rule the family, the city, and the nation. And paternity was vital to maintaining that power. If you dare to explore these truths you will need to let go of what you thought was truth! Without courage, we cannot grow. Without growth, we die. Be a Warrior and conquer ignorance and oppression. Do not hide your light under a bushel,go tell it on a mountain and everywhere. Eat of the fruit!Book Review: An insightful and stunning read...
Summary: 5 Stars
In the beginning God was a woman...
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I remember picking up the Bible as a young girl, and knowing that something was wrong with the content, especially the lowly status assigned to women. For this reason, I never connected with the Bible. Now I know why. Even without the extensive archaeological evidence that Ms. Stone discovered on the Goddess religion, I know this to be the truth--for thousands of years the Goddess reigned as Queen of the Heaven until Indo-European invaders, who worshiped a thunderbolt wielding war god, wiped it out. Everyone should read this book. Is our world a better place without the Goddess?
The final assault on the Goddess religion by the Levite priests was the most horrifying event in history. The mass murder of women, children and anyone who refused to denounce the Goddess-whole towns were slaughtered-it's all recorded in the Bible. Ask yourself-would a kind and loving God allow that to happen? The civilization that worshiped the Goddess for thousands of years, bringing with them in the earliest times knowledge of agriculture, medicine, architecture, metallurgy, wheeled vehicles, ceramics, textiles and written language were gradually stamped out because the northern invaders wanted to control the paternity of children, and land that the priestesses of the Goddess temples controlled. The legends were re-written to disgrace the sacred sexual customs of Goddess worship, and because of that, all females were regarded as sinful and blamed for the downfall of man in the Bible.
The key to a harmonious world is for both sexes to respect each other and not place one sex above the other-what we need in the world is balance.
I highly recommend this well-researched and well-written account of the murder of the original deity-the Goddess. Ms. Stone did a wonderful job of organizing the information so that it is easy for everyone to understand.