What do you think?
Rate this book
Amazon Grace: Re-Calling the Courage to Sin Big
In her signature style, revolutionary Mary Daly takes you on a Quantum leap into a joyous future of victory for women. Daly, the groundbreaking author of such classics as Beyond God the Father and The Church and the Second Sex, explores the visions of Matilda Joslyn Gage, the great nineteenth-century philosopher, and reveals that her insights are stunningly helpful to twenty-first-century Voyagers seeking to overcome the fascism and life-hating fundamentalism that has infused current power structures. Daly shows us once again that Wild, Wise Women can learn to take charge of the current destructive patriarchal forces and use this as an Outlandish opportunity for change.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 10, 2006
4 people are currently reading
196 people want to read
About the author
Mary Daly
44 books161 followersMary Daly was an American radical feminist philosopher, academic, and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at Boston College, a Jesuit-run institution, for 33 years. Daly consented to retire from Boston College in 1999, after violating university policy by refusing to allow male students in her advanced women's studies classes. She allowed male students in her introductory class and privately tutored those who wanted to take advanced classes.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 4, 2025
DALY’S LAST BOOK
Mary Daly (1928-2010) was a radical feminist philosopher and theologian who taught at Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years; she retired in 1999, after a discrimination claim was filed against the college by two male students who claimed to want to be admitted to her advanced Women’s Studies courses.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 book, “[This book] is a challenge and an invitation hurled out to Daring, Desperate Women everywhere. In this malignant time the rules of patriarchy multiply divisions endlessly. They impose multiple blindfolds/mindfolds upon women, rendering us unable to see the artificially constructed walls that cut us off from our Selves, each Other, and the natural world. I have Named this state of escalating division ‘diaspora,’ meaning ‘exile, scattering, migration.’ Wild, Wide women, can learn to seize the dreadful diaspora as an Outlandish opportunity…
“Those who are Realizing a Spark of Magnetic Genius in ourselves can convert the negative condition of diaspora/scattering/exile into our own Expanding Presence. Overcoming the disconnect within and among women is profoundly related to the project of healing the multileveled fragmentation (environmental, social, political) inflicted on all inhabitants of this planet by the lethal disease known as patriarchy. This book is an invitation to Sin Big!” (Pg. 1-2)
She continues, “As Sisters and Companions to the original work, ‘Quintessence,’ this book strives to be faithful to the Original work, carrying on with the task. It comes into Be-ing in the 21st century a.d. (archetypal deadtime), as the FOREGROUND becomes more hideous. [This book] calls forth the deep BACKGROUND… So this book is perhaps even more impatient and restless/reckless than the parent volume.” (Pg. 3)
She suggests, “Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of morphogenetic fields can be helpful to Weird Searchers seeking to understand the possibility of emergence of New Forms in desperate times of decay/dissipation, such as the beginning of the 21st century. Morphogenetic fields are built up through the accumulated behavior, such as bicycle riding, others will find it easier to learn that skill.” (Pg. 13)
She also reports a disagreement she had (in writing and verbal discussion) with Audre Lorde over Daly's book 'Gyn/Ecology': “I pointed out… in answer to Audre Lorde’s objection that I failed to name Black Goddesses, that Gyn/Ecology is not a compendium of goddesses, Rather, it focuses primarily on those goddess myths and symbols which were direct sources of christian myth. Apparently Lorde was not satisfied, although she did not indicate this at the time. She later … republished slightly altered versions of her originally personal letter to me in anthologies as an ‘Open Letter.’” [This passionate defense continues for four more pages.] (Pg. 22-26)
She explains, “When I write a book… I Sense a beckoning, a calling, to bring this work into be-ing. I am motivated deep in my soul to produce this work, which is an outpouring of my soul. This Calling/Beckoning is an invitation to realize my participation in Be-ing through the creation of this particular work which is in itself a Beckoning to others to Realize their Selves through their own creativity.” (Pg. 29)
She asserts, “[Are there] any who mind if a pinhead is president? (There have been others. After the farce of his first ‘election,’ it is clear that the title ‘President Bush’ is an oxymoron anyway… However, maybe minds are getting duller, very rapidly. Consider the 2003 election of movie star, action-figure Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in California. Do we turn inside in deep disgust or just Laugh Out Loud? Does it matter?” (Pg. 41)
Interestingly, she actually discusses (with her friend Kate) her teaching career at Boston College: “The fall of 1998 marked the beginning of my final conflict with Boston College… by the winter of 1999 I was under assault… by the administration of Boston College… Virtually all of my students in the late 1960s were males… I really enjoyed teaching those young men, though… The university continued to be threatened by my books and speeches… So they continued to harass me for three more decades, but I had a lot of fun fighting them back…. But in ’99, exactly thirty years after my first struggle, I was disappeared from my job at Boston College, where I’d been teaching since 1966… [In] 1998, a male undergraduate student who had attempted to …register for my class ‘Introduction to Feminist Ethics'… who was a leader of the ‘Young Republicans’ on campus. They were cynically taking advantage of the conditions of heightened right-wing backlash… By January 1999 I came to the conclusion that that best way to avoid the trap of being forced to admit the impostor into my class would be to take a leave of absence for that semester and begin work on my next book… It was not until the end of the 20th century… that they reached the point of savagely and illegally disappearing me.” (Pg. 68-74)
She asserts, “The victims of TV land and shopping mall hell… are prime candidates for imprisonment in totalitarian society. This was manifested in early 21st century America by the … oligarchy which I shall simply Name ‘bushdom.’ … I recalled newspaper photos of the Bush gang in Washington: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, and---oh! Condoleeza Rice, the ultimate token/double cross.” (Pg. 88-89)
Later, she adds, “I was supposed to forget that women who are faithful to women and nature are rapidly being disappeared from prominence by the media and replaced by thoroughly assimilated women like Condoleeza Rice… I was supposed to forget that I was trained to accept this situation and in fact be grateful for the tokens… I was supposed to forget that I loathe their complicity…” (Pg. 102-103)
She states, “The torture and destruction of animals throughout patriarchal history is a true horror story which is mind-boggling. Few persons are capable of grasping its scope and the hideous details of the acts of cruelty and wanton greed which it has entailed… Most remain in denial, placidly eating their roast beef dinners and less expensive carnivorous fare like Big Macs, for example. Yet, for as long as we allow these atrocities to continue without protest, human beings have no right to live on Earth.” (Pg. 120)
She asks, “What good does it do for women to have the right to vote if their mental and spiritual powers are eroded by fundamental brainwashing?” (Pg. 171)
More ‘political’ than her previous books, there is fascinating material in this book (particularly about her conflict with Boston College).
Mary Daly (1928-2010) was a radical feminist philosopher and theologian who taught at Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years; she retired in 1999, after a discrimination claim was filed against the college by two male students who claimed to want to be admitted to her advanced Women’s Studies courses.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 book, “[This book] is a challenge and an invitation hurled out to Daring, Desperate Women everywhere. In this malignant time the rules of patriarchy multiply divisions endlessly. They impose multiple blindfolds/mindfolds upon women, rendering us unable to see the artificially constructed walls that cut us off from our Selves, each Other, and the natural world. I have Named this state of escalating division ‘diaspora,’ meaning ‘exile, scattering, migration.’ Wild, Wide women, can learn to seize the dreadful diaspora as an Outlandish opportunity…
“Those who are Realizing a Spark of Magnetic Genius in ourselves can convert the negative condition of diaspora/scattering/exile into our own Expanding Presence. Overcoming the disconnect within and among women is profoundly related to the project of healing the multileveled fragmentation (environmental, social, political) inflicted on all inhabitants of this planet by the lethal disease known as patriarchy. This book is an invitation to Sin Big!” (Pg. 1-2)
She continues, “As Sisters and Companions to the original work, ‘Quintessence,’ this book strives to be faithful to the Original work, carrying on with the task. It comes into Be-ing in the 21st century a.d. (archetypal deadtime), as the FOREGROUND becomes more hideous. [This book] calls forth the deep BACKGROUND… So this book is perhaps even more impatient and restless/reckless than the parent volume.” (Pg. 3)
She suggests, “Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of morphogenetic fields can be helpful to Weird Searchers seeking to understand the possibility of emergence of New Forms in desperate times of decay/dissipation, such as the beginning of the 21st century. Morphogenetic fields are built up through the accumulated behavior, such as bicycle riding, others will find it easier to learn that skill.” (Pg. 13)
She also reports a disagreement she had (in writing and verbal discussion) with Audre Lorde over Daly's book 'Gyn/Ecology': “I pointed out… in answer to Audre Lorde’s objection that I failed to name Black Goddesses, that Gyn/Ecology is not a compendium of goddesses, Rather, it focuses primarily on those goddess myths and symbols which were direct sources of christian myth. Apparently Lorde was not satisfied, although she did not indicate this at the time. She later … republished slightly altered versions of her originally personal letter to me in anthologies as an ‘Open Letter.’” [This passionate defense continues for four more pages.] (Pg. 22-26)
She explains, “When I write a book… I Sense a beckoning, a calling, to bring this work into be-ing. I am motivated deep in my soul to produce this work, which is an outpouring of my soul. This Calling/Beckoning is an invitation to realize my participation in Be-ing through the creation of this particular work which is in itself a Beckoning to others to Realize their Selves through their own creativity.” (Pg. 29)
She asserts, “[Are there] any who mind if a pinhead is president? (There have been others. After the farce of his first ‘election,’ it is clear that the title ‘President Bush’ is an oxymoron anyway… However, maybe minds are getting duller, very rapidly. Consider the 2003 election of movie star, action-figure Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in California. Do we turn inside in deep disgust or just Laugh Out Loud? Does it matter?” (Pg. 41)
Interestingly, she actually discusses (with her friend Kate) her teaching career at Boston College: “The fall of 1998 marked the beginning of my final conflict with Boston College… by the winter of 1999 I was under assault… by the administration of Boston College… Virtually all of my students in the late 1960s were males… I really enjoyed teaching those young men, though… The university continued to be threatened by my books and speeches… So they continued to harass me for three more decades, but I had a lot of fun fighting them back…. But in ’99, exactly thirty years after my first struggle, I was disappeared from my job at Boston College, where I’d been teaching since 1966… [In] 1998, a male undergraduate student who had attempted to …register for my class ‘Introduction to Feminist Ethics'… who was a leader of the ‘Young Republicans’ on campus. They were cynically taking advantage of the conditions of heightened right-wing backlash… By January 1999 I came to the conclusion that that best way to avoid the trap of being forced to admit the impostor into my class would be to take a leave of absence for that semester and begin work on my next book… It was not until the end of the 20th century… that they reached the point of savagely and illegally disappearing me.” (Pg. 68-74)
She asserts, “The victims of TV land and shopping mall hell… are prime candidates for imprisonment in totalitarian society. This was manifested in early 21st century America by the … oligarchy which I shall simply Name ‘bushdom.’ … I recalled newspaper photos of the Bush gang in Washington: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, and---oh! Condoleeza Rice, the ultimate token/double cross.” (Pg. 88-89)
Later, she adds, “I was supposed to forget that women who are faithful to women and nature are rapidly being disappeared from prominence by the media and replaced by thoroughly assimilated women like Condoleeza Rice… I was supposed to forget that I was trained to accept this situation and in fact be grateful for the tokens… I was supposed to forget that I loathe their complicity…” (Pg. 102-103)
She states, “The torture and destruction of animals throughout patriarchal history is a true horror story which is mind-boggling. Few persons are capable of grasping its scope and the hideous details of the acts of cruelty and wanton greed which it has entailed… Most remain in denial, placidly eating their roast beef dinners and less expensive carnivorous fare like Big Macs, for example. Yet, for as long as we allow these atrocities to continue without protest, human beings have no right to live on Earth.” (Pg. 120)
She asks, “What good does it do for women to have the right to vote if their mental and spiritual powers are eroded by fundamental brainwashing?” (Pg. 171)
More ‘political’ than her previous books, there is fascinating material in this book (particularly about her conflict with Boston College).
August 13, 2014
I could not get with her writing style at all. It appears to be much less organized than her Gynecology for example.
Either she wrote this on a drug trip or she needs to be reacquainted with a dictionary. Needlessly capitalizing random words and hyphenating them at will, e.g. Be-ing, A-mazing Amazons, Space-Craft, is just irritating, but that could be forgiven if it was possible to access the meaning behind these words.
You could call it "deep". Or you could take a less word-confetti approach and realize that there are a few hundred pages of failure to communicate in your hands.
Either she wrote this on a drug trip or she needs to be reacquainted with a dictionary. Needlessly capitalizing random words and hyphenating them at will, e.g. Be-ing, A-mazing Amazons, Space-Craft, is just irritating, but that could be forgiven if it was possible to access the meaning behind these words.
You could call it "deep". Or you could take a less word-confetti approach and realize that there are a few hundred pages of failure to communicate in your hands.
September 5, 2011
Mary Daly completes a journey in Amazon Grace that began with her milestone study Beyond God the Father. She remains militant and bold, and allows no quarter to a Christianity rooted in the Jesus of Scripture. She is out to change all. And in doing so she reveals to moderate or evangelical feminists how far afield they are to believe Galatians 3:28 is egalitarian or feminist-friendly.
February 2, 2013
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11681200
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11681200
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews