Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality

by Carol P. Christ

Book Overview

First published in 1999. One of the most unexpected developments of the late twentieth century is the rebirth of the religion of the Goddess in western cultures. Though we were taught that the Gods and Goddesses died with the triumph of Christianity, the re-emergence of the Goddess is not as surprising as it might seem. This book explores the meaning of the Goddess, and the questions we ask as well as the ways we answer them.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415921864
• ISBN13: 9780415921862
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Introduction to Goddess Spirituality

I am just beginning to explore the world of the Goddess, and Goddess-centered spirituality. This book is excellent for someone who wants to delve into the realm of thealogy but doesn't want a thin, poorly researched book packed with new age jargon and the author's personal experience in place of fact-based theories. If you feel more comfortable approaching the Goddess intellectually at first, and then spiritually, this is the book for you. Christ does include plenty of subjective, personal experiences in the book which make the work more accessible. When she proposes a new theory on what exactly happened to the Goddess mythos from the neolithic period to the present, she supports it with research. Of course, we can only guess what exactly happened - but Christ's guesses are all educated and logical. After all, she holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Yale; her intellectual and yet deeply personal approach made me understand the Goddess with my head, so that now I feel ready to try with my heart.

Loving Goddess with mind as well as magic

One wonders just what book it is that the reader from Massachusetts read. I've read REBIRTH OF THE GODDESS twice and I wouldn't have recognized it from the review. The chief value of the book for me is its thealogy. Many of us who engage and are engaged by the Sacred as female have come to Her from Christianity and Judaism rather than through New Age or neo-pagan movements. We have been seeking a way of understanding our affectional experience of Goddess in ways that are logically honest and intellectually defensible. We are not all given to the practice of magic, nor unequivocally believe in reincarnation, nor require the presence of a male god. Carol Christ clearly has come up through the mainstream of Western theology, is conversant with its contemporary developments (process thought particularly) and applies them coherently and effectively, and she has left this reader with a way of understanding Goddess that is empowering, uplifting, and above all sane.Perhaps as a male I come to REBIRTH OF THE GODDESS with different needs and expectations than the reader from Massachusetts. But I'm gambling that there are other readers, women as well as men, who will find in this book the approach they need to enjoy and discuss their spirituality and bring it into the open marketplace of contemporary ideas.

A mind-opening book

I encountered this book while exploring neopaganism/Goddess religion, but I would heartily reccommend it even to someone with no interest in such things. The book challenges points of view such as objectivity, dualism, and social structures that I had taken for granted and never thought of questioning, and does so in a constructive way. The writing is warm and personal, but I find this suited to the subject. Can an impersonal "scientific" view really do justice to something as personal and human as religion? I reccommend this book to anyone wanting to broaden their point of view about religion, social structure, or life in general.

Recreate.

This book was both a fun and provocative read. Christ's prose is moving, and the underlying message is a move for social change. I second the motion. In my theological studies, accounts written by church fathers are dry and uninspiring. This book calls to attention many often overlooked perspectives. One, is the oppression of religions that follow the patriarchal code. Two, is the influence patriarchy has had on all academically accepted accounts of history. Three, Christ challenges the prevailing paradigm of dualism, or thinking in unequal opposition (Black, bad; White, good. Subjective, bad; objective, good.), and favors a kind of continuum (something doesn't have to be all or nothing, one or the other). Objectivity is not sacrificed, but rather enriched by the author's personal experiences. Read this book if you'd like to see a new perspective. Even if you've seen the perspective, read it for further enlightenment.

an important work for all Goddess followers

Carol Christ, who is trained in theology, has written a serious book, using traditional methodology, to explicate Goddess spirituality. This is a thought-provoking work that is essential to the library of every woman who is on this spiritual path.