Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality

by Carol P. Christ

Carol P. Christ brings together her personal experience and expertise to provide a comprehensive guide to the principles, practices and beliefs that have shaped feminist spirituality. Drawing from the fields of history, art, literature and philosophy, among others, she demonstrates the effects of worshipping the goddess, and how it challenges our most basic assumptions. The book is both a historical essay and a testament of the possibilities for change and self-fulfilment.

Genres: Feminism, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Goddess, Religion, Womens, History

238 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

About the author

Carol P. Christ, who was a leading feminist thea-logian and a founding voice in the study of women and religion, was named one of the Thirteen Most Infuential People in Goddess Spirituality. She held a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Yale University and taught at California Institute of Integral Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Harvard Divinity School, Columbia University, and San Jose State University. She was the Director of the Ariadne Institute and led the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete (www.goddessariadne. org). Her books include She Who Changes, Rebirth of the Goddess, Laughter of Aphrodite, Diving Deep and Surfacing, and with Judith Plaskow, Goddess and God in the World and the ground-breaking anthologies Weaving the Visions and Womanspirit Rising. She lived in Greece where she ran for of ce with the Green Party and worked with World Wildlife Fund to save bird and wildlife habitats.

Reviews

[Leda Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't a book on magic or ritual, nor is it a history like The Great Cosmic Mother, which is huge in scope and cannot be replicated. Instead it is an exploration into what implementing goddess-centered religious thought and practices may look like in daily life, focusing mainly on how changing our mindset can alter the world around us and our relationship with ourselves, nature, and other people. The author, like many of us, found the patriarchal religious tradition she both grew up in and others she studied in depth later lacking, in the sense that her understanding of spiritual experience had deeper connections to the world around her than what was being understood or provided based on a solely "Sky God" worldview. I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because I found the beginning 1/3 to 1/2 to be drier than I anticipated. There are Creative Nonfiction elements within, where the author discusses her own experience—and, coming from an academic background, how bold and daring it feels to do so—which may seem strange to some readers but I felt deepened my understanding of where she was coming from as well as offered validity to the text.

[Susan]

Excellent, and just as relevant now as it was in 1997. Christ takes a systematic approach to Goddess thealogy, which is a nice counterpoint to the more DIY nature of Paganism. She does use some gender binary language but this seems to be more an artifact of the times the book was written in than an attempt to exclude.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a feminist theology course and found it very interesting. It focuses on the idea of a Goddess instead of a God, because of many problematic ideas that come from the idea of God as father.

You don't need to be strongly religious to read this; I am not strongly religious, but I found this very interesting nevertheless. It discusses implications of Goddess and how a Goddess is connected to nature as well as positive ethics. It does not have to be read as a story, so if you are just interested in one subtopic of Goddess theology, its a good resources.

[Denise M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christ is a wonderful resource for a caring, kind and embracing approach to the Goddess. A lovely writer and teacher, her writing is authoritative but also very approachable.

[Persephone · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging and surprisingly comprehensive Goddess thealogy in under 200 pages. I'm in love with this book and with Carol Christ.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hooked from the get-go. I was introduced to Goddess faith from reading books and other resources by Molly Remer. I believe this is a book she had quoted from before. Whatever the quote was, I was intrigued.

The only reason this does not get 5 stars is that Carol Christ's message gets blurred a lot in the final 1/4 of the book. It becomes less what she can interpret and more her own personal opinion. While at the beginning, she does mention a great portion of this book will be based on her experience and those of others, it still all felt tied together. But that last section felt more like a pulpit than anything to me. There could be several pages in a row where Goddess is not even mentioned.

I do recommend this book. It carries so many messages and revelations I myself have experienced on my spiritual journey. It's a powerful, well-written book.

[Eaon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite exceptional in both its overview of what Carol P. Christ dubbed as “Goddess Spirituality” and how we can apply these practical concepts to ourselves today. I really appreciated Christ’s approach to certain concepts with immense detail in order to seriously convey what she wishes to get across. This, sometimes, even involves a direct point-of-view or experience had by the author; or her simply opining about other schools of thought and how they compare to a Goddess Religion. She even touches on (at the time of writing in 97) “new wave” movements or spiritualities that still can bake in old ways of thought, yet they are simply framed in another way. While written over two decades ago, this book still echos and prevails as relevant today.

[Sapphire · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully informative introductory read on the history of the Goddess, why she’s all but disappeared in our time and how women-led spirituality movements are bringing her back. The world’s major patriarchal religions have erased anything that connects divinity to femininity and this book does a marvellous job of highlighting the negative effects of this erasure, and how Goddess-based spirituality can benefit and heal our world.