When God was a woman (utgåvan 1978)

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. ( )

I wasn't terribly impressed, but there is some interesting historical information. ( )

One of many books I read in my late twenties and early thirties as part of an exploration of feminist theologies and histories. ( )

over godinnenverering voorafgaand aan de patriarchale godsdiensten. Baanbrekend (1976).

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.