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The Book of the Goddess Past and Present

An Introduction to Her Religion

Carl Olson

This comprehensive text, highly acclaimed as the premier sourcebook on goddesses, introduces students of religion to the various manifestations and complex nature of the goddess. Often a stranger to contemporary devotees of monotheistic religions, the goddess forces the recognition of female power, which can transform deeply held beliefs. The recent renewed interest in goddesses and the rise of feminist scholarship are addressed in this well-chosen collection of essays, written by an international group of scholars. The book elucidates the diverse religious cultures and periods of history in which goddesses have played an important role by providing examples of ancient and modern goddesses in Eastern and Western religious traditions, in major world and tribal religions, and in living religions and those no longer practiced.
 

$20.95 list, 261 pages

10-digit ISBN: 1-57766-273-3

13-digit ISBN: 978-1-57766-273-0

© 1983

Table of Contents

Introduction (Carl Olson)

1. The Prehistoric Goddess (Anne L. Barstow)

2. Ishtar and Her Cult (Judith Ochshorn)

3. Isis and Hathor: Two Ancient Egyptian Goddesses (C. J. Bleeker)

4. The Mother Goddess among the Greeks (Christine R. Downing)

5. Magna Mater: Great Mother of the Roman Empire (M. Renee Salzman)

6. The Canaanite-Hebrew Goddess (Steve Davies)

7. The Virgin Mary: A Goddess? (E. Ann Matter)

8. Sophia and the Mother-Father: The Gnostic Goddess (Pheme Perkins)

9. Kali, the Mad Mother (C. Mackenzie Brown)

10. Sri Lakshmi and Radha: The Obsequious Wife and the Lustful Lover (Carl Olson)

11. The Untamed Goddesses of Village India (Richard L. Brubaker)

12. Kuan-yin: Savior and Savioress in Chinese Pure Land Buddhism (Diana Paul)

13. The Significance of Amaterasu in Japanese Religious History (Kyoko Motomochi Nakamura)

14. Oshun the Dancer (Joseph M. Murphy)

15. The Religion of the Goddess in North America (Åke Hultkrantz)

16. Hindu Female Deities as a Resource for the Contemporary Rediscovery of the Goddess (Rita M. Gross)

17. Symbols of Goddess and God in Feminist Theology (Carol P. Christ)