When God Was a Woman
by Merlin Stone
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History. Religion & Spirituality. Nonfiction. Here, archaeologically documented,is the story of the religion of the Goddess. Under her, women’s roles were far more prominent than in patriarchal Judeo-Christian cultures. Stone describes this ancient system and, with its disintegration, the decline in women’s status.Tags
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Member Reviews
It's obvious that a lot of research went into this book. Unfortunately, most of the time it feels like Stone is simply recounting stories rather than using them to pull together her own thesis. At times, I struggled to find the point she was making between the numerous examples and linguistic nuances that she provides. Basically, I got a lot of information out of this book but I didn't know what to do with that information.
As someone with only a passing interest in religion and women's studies, I wouldn't recommend this book.
As someone with only a passing interest in religion and women's studies, I wouldn't recommend this book.
I really enjoy Stone's approach to Goddess worship. The one problem I have with the book is that it provides a lot of information in a short amount of space, and I have a hard time keeping it all straight, especially as I am unfamiliar with many of the places she is describing. Her book, however, is wonderful, and it provides a different look at what people worshiped before the Judeo-Christian God took over.
An overly feminist book to say the least, at the beginning and cropping up from time to time, but besides that I did enjoy it to a degree. There are many things which I definitely don't agree with her on and I can say I marked the book up pretty good while reading it. She tries to present goddess worshipping peoples as the pinnacle of achievement and present the Indo-European "invaders" as warmongers and the bringers of patriarchal society. She doesn't show you that these goddess worshippers were just as bloody and savage as the rest of the peoples yet any perusal of history books out there will verify it. She cries quite a bit about woman loosing their status and how the "evil patriarchs" crushed them down. Her thoughts on the origins show more of the tree from the Garden of Eden where interesting and I think possibly worthy of looking into as well as some of her thoughts on Indo-European religion and how it influenced Judaism and Christianity are very interesting and are worth thinking over, particularly the Levites and their possible origin. I will definitely re-read this book at a later date after going through some history books of the time to see how well it holds up. show less
Merlin Stone wrote about an interesting topic: how the goddess-centered religions of early peoples in the area from Egypt and Greece to India gave way to the male god-centered religions that came to predominate in these areas and what the change did to the status of women. This is a book first published in 1976 and has a definite feminist flavor. Also, if written today there would be later archaeological evidence for her to cite. Nevertheless, the author did hold my attention although occasionally I felt that she was pushing a bit too hard to make her points. The material on the origin of Biblical stories was very interesting, especially the Creation and events in the Garden of Eden.
An important look into world religions and what that meant for women
This book was really in-depth and informative regarding the earliest religions, which have all but been forgotten in light of conquest. The amount of research needed to really give us a deeper look into what it means to be a woman in a religion which does not respect your autonomy was so well done that I didn't realize at first just how old this book is. It continues to hold up. I will definitely be reading several of the books and articles referenced in the bibliography.
This book was really in-depth and informative regarding the earliest religions, which have all but been forgotten in light of conquest. The amount of research needed to really give us a deeper look into what it means to be a woman in a religion which does not respect your autonomy was so well done that I didn't realize at first just how old this book is. It continues to hold up. I will definitely be reading several of the books and articles referenced in the bibliography.
I may well have read this book when it first came out; it was an enjoyable re-read, but her inferences now seem highly speculative
Analysis of the POV of story. Deifications. "Fertility cults" of the past of degenerated into "sterility-cults" [155] which associate shame with every aspect of reproduction. The entire work is filled with gems for people who love the study of the Bible. [Abraham was a prince of the Hittites (!) and the Levite prophet Ezekiel tells Israel "Your father was an Amorite, your mother a Hittite" 107].
The highlight for me is Chapter Ten--"Unraveling the Myth of Adam and Eve". Starting with 'Innana, the Divine Mother who reveals the Laws', at the threshhold of the earliest Sumerian period. She was a Serpent Goddess! Interpreter of dreams of an unrevealed future. Then Ishtar of Babylon, through the Pythias, and krait-bitten seers. Then the most show more important symbol in the story, the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil drawn from the golden rolling apple tree of Hera (Egyptian Hathor - Eye of Wisdom/Serpent Lady, to eat of her flesh is to share communion) about which the serpent Ladon coiled. Despite the warnings of the Levite priests--who had to keep re-asserting the warnings for a thousand years--Jewish women continued to participate in what were essentially Sumerian Goddess rituals surrounding procreation. A male priesthood denigrating a religion with female priests/zonah=meaning both "prostitute" and "prophetess". show less
The highlight for me is Chapter Ten--"Unraveling the Myth of Adam and Eve". Starting with 'Innana, the Divine Mother who reveals the Laws', at the threshhold of the earliest Sumerian period. She was a Serpent Goddess! Interpreter of dreams of an unrevealed future. Then Ishtar of Babylon, through the Pythias, and krait-bitten seers. Then the most show more important symbol in the story, the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil drawn from the golden rolling apple tree of Hera (Egyptian Hathor - Eye of Wisdom/Serpent Lady, to eat of her flesh is to share communion) about which the serpent Ladon coiled. Despite the warnings of the Levite priests--who had to keep re-asserting the warnings for a thousand years--Jewish women continued to participate in what were essentially Sumerian Goddess rituals surrounding procreation. A male priesthood denigrating a religion with female priests/zonah=meaning both "prostitute" and "prophetess". show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- When God Was a Woman
- Alternate titles
- The Paradise Papers: Suppression of Women's Rites
- Original publication date
- 1976-11-15
- Epigraph
- Man enjoys the great advantage of having a god endorse the code he writes; and since man exercises a sovereign authority over women it is especially fortunate that this authority has been vested in him by the Supreme Be... (show all)ing. for the Jews, Mohammedans and Christians among others, man is master by divine right; the fear of God will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female.
-Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1949 - Dedication
- To Jenny and Cynthia with love
- First words
- Though we live amid high-rise steel buildings, formica countertops and electronic television screens, there is something in all of us, women and men alike, that makes us feel deeply connected with the past.
- Quotations
- At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman. Do you remember?
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Perhaps when women and men bite that apple--or fig--at the same time, learn to consider each other's ideas and opinions with respect, and regard the world and its riches as a place that belongs to every living being on it, we can begin to say we have become a truly civilized species.
- Blurbers
- Lifson, Martha
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- Published as "When God Was a Woman" is the U.S. and "The Paradise Papers: Suppression of Women's Rites" in the U.K.
Classifications
- Genres
- Religion & Spirituality, Nonfiction, Sexuality and Gender Studies, Anthropology, History, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 291.211 — Religion Other religions [Formerly: General Religious Topics] [formerly: Doctrines. Relocated to 202] Various Objects of Worship Gods & Goddesses
- LCC
- BL458 .S76 — Philosophy, Psychology and Religion Religions. Mythology. Rationalism Religions. Mythology. Rationalism Religious doctrines (General) Women in comparative religion
- BISAC
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- Reviews
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- (3.68)
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- 8 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish
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- ISBNs
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- ASINs
- 11