When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of When God Was a Woman
Book Review: an excellent guide to the goddess
Summary: 5 Stars
if you want to know about the goddess and her role in ancient history you should read this, it talks about how before men and women were treating in history and it the end it explains before we can be truly civilized creatures we have to learn how to respect each others opinions and ideas.Book Review: important foundation for women's spirituality
Summary: 5 Stars
So many scholarly types chalk this book up to feminism which is unfair. This book set the tone for many to come, and the reason this particular book is important is that it is based in actual archaeology. Granted, some of the authors who come after Merlin Stone take this book way too far (e.g. Starhawk), but this should be required reading for prehistory students at the college level, along with all the Marxist interpretations of various prehistorical sites known to exist. Very readable and scrupulously researched.Book Review: intelligent and important work
Summary: 5 Stars
The history of our society, our religions, and our gender roles is vital to understanding ourselves and our world. Things are not the way we have been told they were. The truth may well shock and anger you.We are becoming used to conspiracy theories and revisionist history surfacing in an almost constant stream these days. Much real history has been destroyed or distorted, and much we simply never knew. Spin doctors throw an immense amount of PR garbage in our faces to try and manipulate us into their camps. It is difficult to know whom to trust, particularly regarding emotionally loaded issues like religion and sex.
Merlin Stone has written a very good book about the history of gender roles in Western society and the part religion plays in forming these roles. She also gives us insight into the nature of laws regarding sexual behavior and marriage, a subject of considerable interest right at the moment.
The book is very well documented with quotes attributed and citations listed in the bibliography. While the subject of populations in remote historical times can be quite dry when treated in detail, Stone manages to mantain a high degree of academic depth while remaing very readable and accessible.
The book is well organized and leads one through the evidence to her very rational conclusions. She draws on vast amounts of archelogical and historical data, and her arguments are convincing. The information in this book correlates well with information I have seen from other sources in my investigation of why religions and governments put so much time, money, and energy into criminalizing sexual behavior.
The basic theme of the book is that gender roles, the nature of sexual expression, and the rights of women changed drastically when the Aryan-driven patriarchal religions took over in the Middle East. While we have been told that this was an inevitable "progression" as we moved to a "modern" society, the truth is that it was more a matter of physically superior forces destroying any opposing points of view. The changes studied here were not the progress of people thoughtfully moving to new ideals, but of vanquished peoples crushed by violent and greedy religious fervor. The evidence, even from the religious sources themselves, is undeniable. The bias in favor of the triumphant religious structure is shown to still exist today and to reach even into the halls of Science, which exists supposedly to free us from superstitious nonsense.
This is not a book about male-bashing, nor does it promote a particular feminist stance. Stone is not as strident as I sound in this review, but very logical and even-tempered. The conclusions and information in this book shed light on oppression and global violence that effect us all; male, female, or otherwise. When you see that sexual laws and supposed "morals" are actually twisted excuses for oppression and control, it might open your eyes to a new understanding of the debates about sex and marriage happening as I write this (March 2004). I sincerely hope so. We must grow beyond the twisted neuroses of sexually maladjusted, oppressive superstition if we want to make the Earth a safe, warm, loving home for all. Read this book if you want to grow in your understanding of our history, our present, and our future.
Book Review: very important
Summary: 5 Stars
As a woman who prefers Christianity as opposed to Neo-Paganism I must say this is a very important book. Too many seem to take every single syllable of the Bible literally despite the fact that it is loaded w/ allegory(such as the visions in Revelation)and metaphors. Therefore to many this book is like swallowing poision. The possibility of a non-patriarchal family and social system? Ouchy.