Goddesses and the Divine Feminine

A Western Religious History

Bibliographic Data

ID20020053
AuthorsRosemary Radford Ruether (corresponding author), Rosemary Ruether
Year2005
Pages381
Publication date2005-05-16
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueGoddesses and the divine feminine (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of California Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/california/9780520231467.001.0001
OpenAlexW3208740767
Open LibraryOL23241070M
ISBN9780520231467
GOOGLE_BOOK_IDreU63yfgrWIC
LanguageEN
Citations received14

This book presents the most illuminating portrait we have to date of goddesses and sacred female imagery in Western culture—from prehistory to contemporary goddess movements. It looks at the complexity of the social forces—mostly androcentric—that have shaped the symbolism of the sacred feminine. At the same time, it charts a new direction for finding a truly egalitarian vision of God and human relations through a feminist-ecological spirituality. The book begins its exploration of the divine feminine with an analysis of prehistoric archaeology that challenges the popular idea that, until their overthrow by male-dominated monotheism, many ancient societies were matriarchal in structure, governed by a feminine divinity and existing in harmony with nature. It argues that the historical evidence suggests that the reality about these societies is much more complex. It goes on to consider key myths and rituals from Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Anatolian cultures; it examines the relationships among gender, deity, and nature in the Hebrew religion; and discusses the development of Mariology and female mysticism in medieval Catholicism, as well as the continuation of Wisdom mysticism in Protestantism. The book also analyzes the meeting of Aztec and Christian female symbols in Mexico and of today's neo-pagan movements in the United States

Archaeology · Art · Art history · Divinity · Harmony (color) · Islam · Literature · Monotheism · Mysticism · Mythology · Portrait · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Archaeology and Natural History · Historical and Architectural Studies · History · Philosophy · Body, Mind & Spirit · Christendom · Comparative Religion · Culte · Déesses · Divine Mother, The Goddess, Quan Yin · Feminist theology · Feministische Theologie · Feminizm · Femmes et religion · Geschlechterforschung · Goddess religion · Goddesses · Godinnen · Göttin · Kobieta · Matriarchat · Mitología · Religia · Religion · Spirituality · Women and religion