She Who Changes: Re-imagining the Divine in the World

Rating:
Summary: We may not have a soul, but change is good for it.
Review: How the reviewer from Butler, New Jersey, could not have known beforehand that the author was deeply engaged by process philosophy and that the book was all about the application of that philosophy to thealogy is beyond me. Such information was on the dust jacket, in the introduction, and everywhere in the book. Perhaps the reviewer bought the book sight unseen, in which case she clearly hadn't read Ms. Christ's earlier book REBIRTH OF THE GODDESS where her initial interest in process philosophy was spelled out.

The reviewer said Ms. Christ states "there is no deity, no Goddess, no after-life, and we have no souls." This is strange in that the entire book is about deity and God/Goddess. I think the reviewer is upset that Ms. Christ has moved from a New Age Goddess perspective to a leaner, more rational approach characterized by process philosophy. From that perspective questions of after-life and the existence of a soul are not particularly relevant.

I think many in the New Age and Goddess movements will be unsatisfied with Ms. Christ's turn towards a less touchy-feely metaphysic. Others -- those of us who came to Goddess from within the Jewish and Christian traditions -- will likely find this informative and inspiring.

Also, for those of us who are well-read in process philosophy and theology, this book takes the discussion in a much needed direction -- away from specifically Christian applications where such discussions are usually to be found and into the world of comparative religion.

"Process Pagan Panentheism" may be too much of a mouthful to describe Ms. Christ's developing approach, but I think it fits well, and I look forward to more from her and others who recognize the implicit wisdom of this direction.

Rating:
Summary: She Who Changes
Review: I thought I was buying a book about embracing the image of a female god, but this book wasn't what I was expecting. The author is very intelligent, and enlightened. She talks about what the expectation of a "male" god has done to women's psyches. Having turned my back on Christianity a long time ago due to the inherent racism, sexism, etc that I saw, I agree with Ms. Christ wholeheartedly that women need a new way to imagine God. Women need to heal. The church changes too slowly; women must start to heal themselves. Now the stuff I didn't like:
Ms. Christ talks incessently about "process philosophy", a way of thinking about life, religion, and people. It got really tedious. I was not prepared for an entire book trying to "sell" this to me. She repeats herself about it ALOT. I was surprised that there wasn't a form on the back to fill out & join the Process Philosophy Foundation (I made that name up...no such group exists).
I would suggest other books about Goddess spirituality might be researched if you are interested in that topic.
One last point-
In this book, Ms. Christ tells us that there is no deity, no Goddess, no after-life, and we have no souls. Hmm. Okay, I can accept her opinion on that. But if she is essentially an atheist, why does hse write books on feminist spirituality? I know you can be "spiritual" without believing in a Goddess, but then why use the term "Goddess" at all? Her idea of the Goddess is not my idea of the Goddess. I guess the book is geared towards feminist atheists. I am a feminist, but I know She is real.
I prefer Goddess books that affirm the Goddess. So this book really wasn't for me. If you don't care if there is a Goddess or not, you may like it.

Blessed Be

Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking
Review: The more I think about this book, the better I like it and the more important I think it is. I believe it is groundbreaking for theology and religion in the way that Women's Ways of
Knowing was for women's studies and epistemology. Like all great books, it may raise as many questions as it answers. So it deserves a slow, careful reading and a thoughtful, thorough discussion. If I were still teaching college, I would use it in my women's studies classes. But it would also be great for book clubs.

Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking & Thought-evoking!
Review: The more I think about this book, the better I like it and the more important I think it is. I think it may be groundbreaking for theology/religion in the way that Women's Ways of Knowing was for women's studies and epistemology. And like all really good books, in my opinion, it may raise as many questions as it answers. Thus, it deserves to be read slowly and carefully and discussed thoroughly from all angles. The highest compliment that I can pay it, I think, is to say that if I were still teaching, I would find a way to use it in one of my women's studies classes. It would also be great for book clubs.

Here are some of the things it made me think about:

From a personal point of view, I never had any argument with or anger towards God, perhaps only because personally I never bought it. I cannot remember not knowing that I was part of God and God was part of me, and knowing/experiencing/believing this so certainly that I also knew everyone, that would be most people and society in general, was wrong -- god was not (only) male. S/he/It clearly could not be, because I was part of it and it was part of me, and I was female. So my anger was with society generally and patriarchal religions specifically. From the time I was a child, I argued with everyone (except my parents who allowed me to think about it on my own and draw my own conclusions). I gave up trying to find a place to fit into the religions available to me and having these conversations, debates, however, when I entered college. I decided that it was simply not worth the time and effort any more to discuss it.

I couldn't win the debates. Why not?

Them: No, we really don't believe that God is male, but we just use "He" because you have to use some pronoun. It's no big deal. It really doesn't matter.
Me: Well, if it's no big deal and doesn't really matter, let's just use "She."
Them: Oh, heavens, no. We could never do THAT!
Me: Well, then, it does matter, doesn't it? So what's with that?
Them: Basically, we just don't want to think about it.

This book would allow me to have/legitimize those conversations again and make people really think about it. Wow! How cool that would be. And I can only hope that people who are still in religion/theology and/or women's studies take advantage of this book's publication and have those conversations.

Other topics/thoughts to consider/discuss in the process might include the concept of praying. What is it? How do people do it? It's generally thought to be about talking to/asking God for something. Maybe new conceptions of God/dess require new conceptions of things like prayer. For myself, I consider everything I do a prayer and so I don't specifically (stop to) pray, like people think about it ordinarily. What I do is listen, all the time, carefully....(and always do what I'm told,
even if/when it's hard.) Might this be appropriate for new conceptions of God/dess?

Just one other thought at the moment, in terms of the book raising other questions: It seems to me that peace is not simply the absence of war(fare). And that sometimes war has been/may be necessary. And that there are huge human rights violations occurring around the world, especially against women. Traditionally, it seems like many wars have been fought for freedom and independence. I'm not sure where I'm going
with this, but as I said, this book raises important questions and suggests new way of thinking about them. Few books do this so well, which is why I recommend it so highly.

Rating:
Summary: An atheistic guide to The Goddess
Review: This is a book of philosophy and history and Goddess spirituality....if you can call it that. Goddess spirituality as a veneer over process philosophy is a more accurate assessment of what this book actually is.

This is a well written, well thought out book. However, in my opinion it belongs in the woman's studies section of the bookstore as opposed to anything related to religion/spirituality. There is nothing here for anyone interested in the "spirit" part of Goddess spirituality. I give it two stars becuase it deserves that much for the information within as the author is very intellegent and makes some very good points. I would have given the book 3 stars if the presentation didn't use the Goddess as a fiction.

In fact, the author states, rather boldly and with an impossible certainty, that there is no afterlife, no soul and no actual God/dess. So essentially, this book is a book of feminist philosophy that uses the Goddess as a symbol/metaphor.

One reviewer says that the author has taken a " leaner, rational approach to the Goddess as characterized by process philosophy." This isn't true. The Goddess (as divinity) has been removed from the equation and has been relegated to the status of symbol. This isn't a rational approach to the Goddess as much as it is a redefining of the term Goddess so that she is nothing more than a metaphor for a philosophical point of view. And no, there is nothing particularly New Age about keeping The Goddess as a goddess considering that by definition that is what "She" as divinity is supposed to be.

I have to question the use of the idea of the Goddess at all in regards to this book. I feel that a potential reader who doesn't get the benefit of Amazon.com reviews may be very disappointed to discover that this is a book of philosopy by an atheist and not a book that will deepen your spiritual connection to the feminine aspect of the Divine.

I don't think that women need to re-imagine the God right out of the Goddess. And I certainly don't believe that women's healing requires a divorcing of women from theism altogether. The concept itself is a massive case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater in the worst possible way.