A God Who Looks Like Me

By Patricia Lynn Reilly

Book Overview

"Our search for a God who looks like us begins in our own lives. She will be found there." Childhood religious images of judgment, punishment, unworthiness and shame, of male saviors, messiahs, and Higher Powers pursue all women into adulthood. Many women realize they must leave behind the traditional concepts and images for a more authentic spirituality. Yet they find to their dismay that the male symbols of God are deeply rooted in their psyches, and difficult to transform. A God Who Looks Like Me shows how the patriarchal images of early experience have wounded women and still stand in the way of a self-defined spirituality. In this book, the poignant personal memories of women of all ages and lifestyles are interwoven with the collective story of women buried in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Bible. Together, these women explore the lost glory of Eve, Lilith, and Mary--and of other forgotten figures who speak to our lives in a society that prefers men. They teach us to plumb the depths of our relationships with our mothers, our bodies, and ourselves; our sexuality and vulnerability; and our journey into old age. As they glimpse in themselves and in each other the feminine faces of God, they can begin to heal. Each chapter is a rich tapestry of poetry, ritual, story, meditation, and history, a road map for anyone--alone or with a circle of women--in search of a woman-affirming spirituality that reclaims our lost power, autonomy, sexuality, wisdom, and divinity. "A profound and evocative guide to the mysteries and manifestations of the feminine face of God. It speaks to the depths of our yearning and the palpable reality of daily life as spiritual experience. --Jean Houston, Ph.D. Director of the Foundation for Mind Research Author of The Hero and the Goddess

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 034537519X
• ISBN13: 9780345375193
• Release Date: April 1995
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 350 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

inspiring

I recommend this book to women of all religions that have questions and problems with religious dogma. The writer uses a lot of examples of abused women but, I think she is just expressing her own experiences and that is what makes this book so real. I actually had tears in my eyes when I read one prayer in this book, and I was on a public bus! I will read this book again and again for spiritual comfort. I think this book has something important to say for women - no matter how cynical they may be about organized religions!

Beautiful cover and intriguing title.....

First, I found out this book is being reprinted in November of 1999 and will be available in bookstores late November. Its a good book. I liked it and learned more about how I could embrace God and heal the deep religious wounds of my childhood. Thanks, Patricia, for taking the time to write this compelling and challenging book. I always thought that if there was a God, he/she would have to be bigger than the limited and unembracable god I learned about in catholic school. This book dosen't put down religion, it challenges each of us to see that a God crafted by men is a limited God. And to search for God and spirituality that will truly heal us.

Just the title gave me an option!

I really enjoyed this book and even gave it to our community library. The author does a great job of outlining the problems using stories from people in her groups, and then she shows how to put that behind you and find a God who you can really relate to. It was so refreshing to to read a well written book by an educated and knowledgable women on this subject. I went on to read all of her books and heard her speak. Every book continues to develop this theme of embracing a larger view of god and ourselves.

Changed My Life and The Power Dynamics In My Marriage!

I was led to Patricia's first book while reading Chapters 3 & 4 of her latest book Be Full of Yourself! the Journey From Self-Criticism to Self-Celebration. After exloring the theological orgins of my self-critical attitudes in those chapters, I longed for a systematic and supportive guide to sort through my religious past on the way to a personally defined spirituality in the present. A God Who Looks Like Me did all that and more. Her book inspired my husband and I to parent our children differently, to share power wihtin our relationship, and to clarify the kind of religious community we are looking for - one that celebrates "many names" of the divine and will support our daughters to be full of themselves!

A NEW VIEW OF RELIGION AND THE BIBLE

Wow, what a page turner! Could not put this one down! It reaffirmed my opinions of what a one-gender sided book of cosmology mythologized the Bible truly is! I wish everyone could put aside their Judeo-Christian beliefs and read this book with an open mind. All the bible is, is a male-dominated, priest-written collection of stories and stolen myths from other cultures and beliefs trying to explain how the universe came about and who would be in control and in charge of it!!! Please read this book, ladies. You'll not regret your decision, I promise!