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Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History
This landmark work presents the most illuminating portrait we have to date of goddesses and sacred female imagery in Western culture―from prehistory to contemporary goddess movements. Beautifully written, lucidly conceived, and far-ranging in its implications, this work will help readers gain a better appreciation of the complexity of the social forces― mostly androcentric―that have shaped the symbolism of the sacred feminine. At the same time, it charts a new direction for finding a truly egalitarian vision of God and human relations through a feminist-ecological spirituality.
Rosemary Radford Ruether begins her exploration of the divine feminine with an analysis of prehistoric archaeology that challenges the popular idea that, until their overthrow by male-dominated monotheism, many ancient societies were matriarchal in structure, governed by a feminine divinity and existing in harmony with nature. For Ruether, the historical evidence suggests the reality about these societies is much more complex. She goes on to consider key myths and rituals from Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Anatolian cultures; to examine the relationships among gender, deity, and nature in the Hebrew religion; and to discuss the development of Mariology and female mysticism in medieval Catholicism, and the continuation of Wisdom mysticism in Protestanism. She also gives a provocative analysis of the meeting of Aztec and Christian female symbols in Mexico and of today's neo-pagan movements in the United States.
Rosemary Radford Ruether begins her exploration of the divine feminine with an analysis of prehistoric archaeology that challenges the popular idea that, until their overthrow by male-dominated monotheism, many ancient societies were matriarchal in structure, governed by a feminine divinity and existing in harmony with nature. For Ruether, the historical evidence suggests the reality about these societies is much more complex. She goes on to consider key myths and rituals from Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Anatolian cultures; to examine the relationships among gender, deity, and nature in the Hebrew religion; and to discuss the development of Mariology and female mysticism in medieval Catholicism, and the continuation of Wisdom mysticism in Protestanism. She also gives a provocative analysis of the meeting of Aztec and Christian female symbols in Mexico and of today's neo-pagan movements in the United States.
394 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
23 people are currently reading
581 people want to read
About the author
Rosemary Radford Ruether
86 books58 followersVisiting Professor of Feminist Theology B.A. Scripps College; M.S., Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School
Rosemary Radford Ruether was the Carpenter Emerita Professor of Feminist Theology at Pacific School of Religion and the GTU, as well as the Georgia Harkness Emerita Professor of Applied Theology at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. She had enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and activist in the Roman Catholic Church, and was well known as a groundbreaking figure in Christian feminist theology.
Education
B.A. – Scripps College
M.S., Ph.D. – Claremont Graduate School
Recent Publications / Achievements
Christianity and Social Systems: Historical Constructions and Ethical Challenges (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009)
Catholic Does Not Equal the Vatican: A Vision for Progressive Catholicism (New Press, 2008)
America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence(Equinox, 2007)
Encyclopedia of Women And Religion in North America, with Rosemary Skinner Keller (Indiana University Press, 2006)
Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History (University of California Press, 2005)
Integrating Ecofeminism, Globalization, and World Religions(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005)
Mountain Sisters: From Convent To Community In Appalachia, Forward (University Press of Kentucky, 2004)
The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Fortress Press, 2002
Rosemary Radford Ruether was the Carpenter Emerita Professor of Feminist Theology at Pacific School of Religion and the GTU, as well as the Georgia Harkness Emerita Professor of Applied Theology at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. She had enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and activist in the Roman Catholic Church, and was well known as a groundbreaking figure in Christian feminist theology.
Education
B.A. – Scripps College
M.S., Ph.D. – Claremont Graduate School
Recent Publications / Achievements
Christianity and Social Systems: Historical Constructions and Ethical Challenges (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009)
Catholic Does Not Equal the Vatican: A Vision for Progressive Catholicism (New Press, 2008)
America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence(Equinox, 2007)
Encyclopedia of Women And Religion in North America, with Rosemary Skinner Keller (Indiana University Press, 2006)
Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History (University of California Press, 2005)
Integrating Ecofeminism, Globalization, and World Religions(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005)
Mountain Sisters: From Convent To Community In Appalachia, Forward (University Press of Kentucky, 2004)
The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Fortress Press, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 20, 2022
Full review to come.
"What to read instead" recommendations at the bottom.
This hate-filled lunatic should co-write a book with Barbara A. Mann (who also fits that description very well). They have so much in common: they're both non-experts pretending to be experts in the relevant fields, their books claim to be research but actually are caustic tirades against people who have the "wrong" opinions, they both have a haughty dogmatic tone (with very little erudition to back it up), both hate pagans while at the same time appropriating a lot of their ideas, both of them have a total disregard for archaeological and historical sources and evidence (they're especially allergic to learning the languages spoken and written by the people whose religious beliefs they claim to be "experts" in), and last but not least they both claim to practice a specific religion/spirituality (Catholicism and traditional Native American beliefs, respectively) while actually distorting and butchering it beyond recognition.
Seriously, they should undertake such a project together. It worked for Margaret Murray and Gerald Gardner, and it would be quite hilarious.
Ruether's work has an additional detriment relative to Mann's, though: she insists on bullshitting pretentiously about what happened in prehistory (including some eye-roll-inducing speculation about the sex lives of our remote prehistoric ancestors). At least Mann had the common sense to leave such claptrap out of her books about Native American beliefs.
Ruether also has a complete, arrogant disregard for the ancient sources, and for any evidence that may disprove her ideas. Hers is the sort of bullshit ideology that claims a goddess whose devotees referred to her in their ancient language as "she", "her", "our mother", and "lady" (among other feminine terms) was actually perceived by those same devotees as a gender-neutral being (or better yet, that they thought she was a man).
The author's many pet hatreds also color her interpretations, and in embarrassing ways. She really, really hates the goddess Ishtar, so she claims Ishtar wasn't popular with ancient women at all. In reality, we know that in the Sumerian culture (which ended by about 2000BC) Inanna-Ishtar was very popular with women as a whole. We know this because of the many votive offerings left in her temples, and because of inscriptions.
Ruether is also a huge hypocrite. She excoriates anyone who believes that there may have been bygone cultures in which women weren't second-class citizens, or that there may have been ancient religions in which the chief deity was female (she paints people who believe this as hucksters, cranks, and pseudohistorians, and as malicious). But she has no problem reimaging/reinterpreting confirmed, well-documented repressive male-dominated societies (like the Aztecs) as egalitarian paradises. You see, that's totally different! It isn't taking liberties with facts or rewriting history at all!
The author also has a messiah complex, and is obsessed with telling women what they have to think of the ancient deities she mangles, and what they are and aren't allowed to believe, worship, etc.
What to read instead...
-Stephanie Lynn Budin's two books about Artemis and Aphrodite respectively.
-Merlin Stone's "Ancient mirrors of womanhood". It has information about a lot of goddesses and female mythological figures from around the world. It doesn't insert modern ideologies into ancient deities and myths, and it doesn't whitewash the "bad" and "ugly" parts.
-Julia Assante's articles about Ishtar - especially "Bad Girls and Kinky Boys? The Modern Prostituting of Ishtar, Her Clergy and Her Cults". It debunks the myth that Ishtar's cult involved orgies or other types of illicit sex, and also the myth that she had a large LGBT following in antiquity.
-Lesley Jackson's books about ancient Egyptian goddesses. The author is a non-expert, but those books are nevertheless informative, decent reads.
As you can see, learning about ancient religions and deities is a lot of work. Reading only one book won't do: you have to read several academic books and articles, and then you have to think.
"What to read instead" recommendations at the bottom.
This hate-filled lunatic should co-write a book with Barbara A. Mann (who also fits that description very well). They have so much in common: they're both non-experts pretending to be experts in the relevant fields, their books claim to be research but actually are caustic tirades against people who have the "wrong" opinions, they both have a haughty dogmatic tone (with very little erudition to back it up), both hate pagans while at the same time appropriating a lot of their ideas, both of them have a total disregard for archaeological and historical sources and evidence (they're especially allergic to learning the languages spoken and written by the people whose religious beliefs they claim to be "experts" in), and last but not least they both claim to practice a specific religion/spirituality (Catholicism and traditional Native American beliefs, respectively) while actually distorting and butchering it beyond recognition.
Seriously, they should undertake such a project together. It worked for Margaret Murray and Gerald Gardner, and it would be quite hilarious.
Ruether's work has an additional detriment relative to Mann's, though: she insists on bullshitting pretentiously about what happened in prehistory (including some eye-roll-inducing speculation about the sex lives of our remote prehistoric ancestors). At least Mann had the common sense to leave such claptrap out of her books about Native American beliefs.
Ruether also has a complete, arrogant disregard for the ancient sources, and for any evidence that may disprove her ideas. Hers is the sort of bullshit ideology that claims a goddess whose devotees referred to her in their ancient language as "she", "her", "our mother", and "lady" (among other feminine terms) was actually perceived by those same devotees as a gender-neutral being (or better yet, that they thought she was a man).
The author's many pet hatreds also color her interpretations, and in embarrassing ways. She really, really hates the goddess Ishtar, so she claims Ishtar wasn't popular with ancient women at all. In reality, we know that in the Sumerian culture (which ended by about 2000BC) Inanna-Ishtar was very popular with women as a whole. We know this because of the many votive offerings left in her temples, and because of inscriptions.
Ruether is also a huge hypocrite. She excoriates anyone who believes that there may have been bygone cultures in which women weren't second-class citizens, or that there may have been ancient religions in which the chief deity was female (she paints people who believe this as hucksters, cranks, and pseudohistorians, and as malicious). But she has no problem reimaging/reinterpreting confirmed, well-documented repressive male-dominated societies (like the Aztecs) as egalitarian paradises. You see, that's totally different! It isn't taking liberties with facts or rewriting history at all!
The author also has a messiah complex, and is obsessed with telling women what they have to think of the ancient deities she mangles, and what they are and aren't allowed to believe, worship, etc.
What to read instead...
-Stephanie Lynn Budin's two books about Artemis and Aphrodite respectively.
-Merlin Stone's "Ancient mirrors of womanhood". It has information about a lot of goddesses and female mythological figures from around the world. It doesn't insert modern ideologies into ancient deities and myths, and it doesn't whitewash the "bad" and "ugly" parts.
-Julia Assante's articles about Ishtar - especially "Bad Girls and Kinky Boys? The Modern Prostituting of Ishtar, Her Clergy and Her Cults". It debunks the myth that Ishtar's cult involved orgies or other types of illicit sex, and also the myth that she had a large LGBT following in antiquity.
-Lesley Jackson's books about ancient Egyptian goddesses. The author is a non-expert, but those books are nevertheless informative, decent reads.
As you can see, learning about ancient religions and deities is a lot of work. Reading only one book won't do: you have to read several academic books and articles, and then you have to think.
May 5, 2016
This is a densely packed (though not in the least densely written), elegantly argued book which attempts and largely succeeds in providing a cultural history of the the divine feminine across the whole of recorded history. Inanna to Artemis to Sophia via the Gnostics, Shakers, the Virgin of Guadalupe (and her Nualtec ancestors) and ending up with contemporary Wicca and Neo-Paganism. I think I need to read it again.
June 21, 2025
I wanted to try and be fair to this book. As Rosemary Radford Ruether is a foundational figure in feminist theology and has done truly important work in many areas. She’s not a hack or a misogynist.. she’s just someone who, in this specific book, misfires badly when addressing goddess traditions and pre-Christian spirituality.
1. Dismissal of Matriarchal Theories
“There is no evidence that societies in which goddesses were worshiped were either matriarchal or egalitarian. The idea of a prehistoric matriarchy is a modern myth.”
— Ruether, 2005, Introduction
This is one of her core assertions, repeated throughout the book. It’s a direct rejection of scholars like Gimbutas or Merlin Stone, and it frames anyone who believes in early goddess-centric cultures as misinformed or ideologically driven.
2. Derision Toward Feminist Spirituality Movements
Ruether repeatedly critiques feminist neopagan or goddess-based movements for being "ahistorical" or overly idealistic. She often aligns herself with a "rationalist" historical theology model, framing spiritual feminism as indulgent fantasy.
3. Legitimization of Christian Supremacy
Despite critiquing Christianity’s patriarchal tendencies, Ruether largely accepts its framing as the natural arc of religious development in the West. Rather than seriously investigating suppressed traditions, she treats goddess cultures as symbolic footnotes to monotheistic dominance.
4. Policing the Boundaries of ‘Acceptable’ Feminism
Ruether is known to attack feminist scholars who explore myth, archaeology, or indigenous cosmology outside of institutional theology. Her gatekeeping stance implicitly says: "You can be feminist, as long as you stay within the Church or the academy."
So books I recommend on this subject:
When God Was a Woman By Merlin Stone
The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image By Anne Baring and Jules Cashford
The Language of the Goddess By Marija Gimbutas
Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets By Barbara G. Walker
Please still consider the books i feel highlight her expertise better which are in Christian circles, not outside it:
Sexism and God-Talk (1983) is still considered a landmark in feminist theology. It calls out the structural misogyny of Christianity and argues that traditional male-dominated conceptions of God must be reformed.
Gaia & God (1992) connects feminism with eco-theology, highlighting how both women and nature have been devalued in Western religion. It's thoughtful, grounded, and more open to symbolic reinterpretation.
1. Dismissal of Matriarchal Theories
“There is no evidence that societies in which goddesses were worshiped were either matriarchal or egalitarian. The idea of a prehistoric matriarchy is a modern myth.”
— Ruether, 2005, Introduction
This is one of her core assertions, repeated throughout the book. It’s a direct rejection of scholars like Gimbutas or Merlin Stone, and it frames anyone who believes in early goddess-centric cultures as misinformed or ideologically driven.
2. Derision Toward Feminist Spirituality Movements
Ruether repeatedly critiques feminist neopagan or goddess-based movements for being "ahistorical" or overly idealistic. She often aligns herself with a "rationalist" historical theology model, framing spiritual feminism as indulgent fantasy.
3. Legitimization of Christian Supremacy
Despite critiquing Christianity’s patriarchal tendencies, Ruether largely accepts its framing as the natural arc of religious development in the West. Rather than seriously investigating suppressed traditions, she treats goddess cultures as symbolic footnotes to monotheistic dominance.
4. Policing the Boundaries of ‘Acceptable’ Feminism
Ruether is known to attack feminist scholars who explore myth, archaeology, or indigenous cosmology outside of institutional theology. Her gatekeeping stance implicitly says: "You can be feminist, as long as you stay within the Church or the academy."
So books I recommend on this subject:
When God Was a Woman By Merlin Stone
The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image By Anne Baring and Jules Cashford
The Language of the Goddess By Marija Gimbutas
Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets By Barbara G. Walker
Please still consider the books i feel highlight her expertise better which are in Christian circles, not outside it:
Sexism and God-Talk (1983) is still considered a landmark in feminist theology. It calls out the structural misogyny of Christianity and argues that traditional male-dominated conceptions of God must be reformed.
Gaia & God (1992) connects feminism with eco-theology, highlighting how both women and nature have been devalued in Western religion. It's thoughtful, grounded, and more open to symbolic reinterpretation.
December 30, 2018
This book balances being a bedrock of history, mythology, and context for understanding goddesses throughout history while being elegantly written and easy to digest. Rosemary Radford Ruether offers a critical and comprehensive take on all things related to the divine feminine - from archeological insights into the validity of prehistoric matriarchy to mariology, mysticism, and the current pagan landscape. I found this book to be a fascinating and deeply meaningful book for me to engage with. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of religious expression or modern goddess worship.
October 1, 2008
Scholarly, knowledgeable and covering many different aspects of the Divine Feminine.
The odd quibble one may have here and there does not diminish the value of the 'grand total'.
In her concluding chapter she discusses the characteristics of a common ecofeminist theology, which, she believes "must also call us to stand shoulder to shoulder and arm in arm to oppose the systems of economic, military, and ecological violence that are threatening to undo the very fabric of planetary life. This, as Thomas Berry has said, is the 'great work' of our generation".
I feel that these systems should be opposed irrespective of gender or belief, but fear that this is wishful thinking.
The odd quibble one may have here and there does not diminish the value of the 'grand total'.
In her concluding chapter she discusses the characteristics of a common ecofeminist theology, which, she believes "must also call us to stand shoulder to shoulder and arm in arm to oppose the systems of economic, military, and ecological violence that are threatening to undo the very fabric of planetary life. This, as Thomas Berry has said, is the 'great work' of our generation".
I feel that these systems should be opposed irrespective of gender or belief, but fear that this is wishful thinking.
March 27, 2013
Great book; a little academic but it is comprehensive.
August 6, 2015
*3.5 stars*
August 16, 2016
Packed full of information, but I was hoping for more on the pre-Christian Goddesses.
Read
August 5, 2009Excellent. Scholarly lucid discussion
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews