Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion

by Carol P. Christ (Editor), Judith Plaskow

Womanspirit RisingThe classic anthology on feminist spirituality --
Now with an update preface in which the editors discuss its initial reception and continuing impact.

Genres: Religion, Feminism, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Theology, Womens Studies, Womens

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1979

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

[Kj · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text had been low on my Feminist Theology To-Reads simply because it was so often quoted since that I thought it might be redundant to read. But I kept feeling nudged to sit down with it on its own terms instead of others' summaries. My reading of it is strangely bittersweet.

As one of the foundational feminist theological texts, and the collection that brought wider attention to the article written by Valerie Saiving in 1960, widely considered to be feminist theology's launch, Womanspirit Rising (1979) is an outstanding collection of questions, challenges, and proposals emerging from what was essentially the first decade of feminist theology. Reading it, I was struck by the fact that it was published the year I was born. As I sat reading the copy from my university library, (purchased 6th February, 1984 according to the bookplate), a book physically as old as I am, I couldn't help lingering on the first page of library stamps dating from the pre-digital checkout era. I found myself wondering whether these mystery book borrowers had the book assigned to them for a class or not. Were they researching undergrad papers? MLitt dissertations? Their PhD theses? Or did the book get discovered on the shelf and perused out of curiosity of the borrowers, sought out to address personal wrestling/hope/doubt? How many of these stamps are men who checked out the book, or has this copy only been held by women readers?

This is where my thoughts turned as I read the articles within, some very familiar to me already, and some entirely new. I was astounded by Phyllis Trible's re-reading of Eve and Adam's creation. How had I never encountered this before? It is the most straight-forward, lucid, original language and context-based interpretation of Genesis 2-3 I've ever read, and it completely deconstructs the myth of gender hierarchy as divinely ordained, or even present at all. It should be required reading in OT survey courses. [And herein lies a larger issue I don't quite touch on, which is that so many of the theories and interpretations here that are over thirty years old STILL have not been widely disseminated or integrated into church practice and teaching.]

And there are many other gems in here, as well as some historiographically interesting pieces about the woman's movement. But why then was my reading bittersweet? There's my initial struggle which I've felt since beginning my PhD research as a feminist theologian that no matter what, I keep having to go back to resources that are 30 years old. It's hard not to look at the evidence and ask "Did feminist theology peak at its inception?" "Where is the new authoritative work?" I don't mean to say there isn't any new work, which would be ridiculous, but simply that I've been surprised how often I am spending my time reading texts from the 70's and 80's in order to address current issues. Part of this is just due to the fact that entering any discipline means getting a strong foundation and these are the foundational sources, but I still catch myself sighing when I discover yet another text from 1985 that I should probably read if I'm going to call myself a feminist theologian of any salt.

So there's that concern: a perceived dearth of new feminist theological material in the past 15 years compared to its beginning. But that highlights another humbling fact, which I already named in passing; feminist theology is only 40 years old. In the history of the study of theology, I'm participating in a discipline that is younger than my parents. That's a couple centuries/millennia behind the dominant theological discourses. So should I be glad that my entire lifespan is encapsulated within the birth of feminist theology? Frankly, no. Despite my slight bemoaning of always having to go back to the foundational texts of the 70's and 80's, I feel to some extant a righteous anger that my foundational texts are ONLY from the 1970's and not from the 1270's. That feminist theology is barely older than I am, brings home the sorrow of generations of missing contributors. I am part of the first fruits of the birthing generation of feminist theology, and I feel terrified at the responsibility of questioning and speaking on behalf of so many silenced sisters since the start of humanity's efforts to articulate in writing their perception of relationship to the Divine. How feeble and trite my ideas that I can freely espouse and publish seem when compared to all the knowledge, experience, and revelation of generations of women forbidden the opportunity to preach, debate, or transform community spiritual life with their written words. How costly my every word seems when added up to the missing words that precede them.

And yet the stamps in this 1979 feminist reader in religion, and the words written within, remind me why I do have every right to speak- and why so many more words are needed still.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent selection of essays by women about themes that we need to discuss in accordance with religion. How can we transform faith so that it is inclusive of, and respectful of a female experience of the divine? Though published in 1975, many of the topics still are surprisingly relevant today. Although in the preface, the editors do note that the voices of women of color, muslim women, and LGTBQ women were omitted simply because they didn't know that diversity of opinion was needed. So there is a companion book to this anthology, which includes those voices.
Truly excellent.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

lifechanging

[Kate Savage · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Maybe the most authentic celebration begins with rejoicing in that which is breaking up from down under." - Nelle Morton

There were good moments in this book: Mary Daly's fierce rejection of patriarchy in religion as idolatry; Judith Plaskow retooling the creation myth with sisterhood solidarity ("And God and Adam were expectant and afraid the day Eve and Lilith returned to the garden, bursting with possibilities, ready to rebuild it together."); Starhawk just being Starhawk.

But many of the essays addressed questions far more pressing to white academics in the 70s than they are to me. And here's the thing about compiling an anthology of feminist theology (or rather theAlogy) where all of the writers are white: not only is it unethical and unjust to marginalize the voices of people of color; it is also boring. Let's face it, fellow white feminists: all of the most interesting and powerful theological ideas are coming from people of color, from womanism to liberation theology. It's nice that white folks have witches and Jung -- but otherwise it feels like oppressors get the theology they deserve: dusty, brittle, inauthentic and dull.

The essay that broke out of this for me was Sheila Collins' "Theology in the Politics of Appalachian Women." From the title I was thinking "even when they're going to talk about poor people they hunt down white poor people." While this is true, Collins is aware that the future of religious authenticity is in the struggle against oppression, especially in the work done by black and Latino communities. Her prose sings as she calls religious women, who "have been used to mop up the wounds created by the cruelties of industrial capitalism," to hold to a religious worldview that centers their own stories:

"Such knowledge is powerful. We begin to identify not with the privileged, whom we have always been taught to emulate, but with the common people of the earth. It was such identification Jesus talked about in his Sermon on the Mount. A colonialist church has never been able to understand how the first could be last and the meek inherit the earth. Such knowledge is the beginning of Wisdom, who is personified in the Old Testament as a woman, wild and unladylike, shouting aloud in the streets for bread and justice because no one in the synagogues, the courts or the legislature would listen."

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have owned this book since it was published in 1979. I was three years married, three years out of college and in my first professional job as a librarian. This collection helped me realize that my thoughts about G!d, Christianity and women’s liberation were not unusual and not a mistake. Here I am forty years later still trying to understand how my faith and feminism work together. I have learned that G!d loves me and loves all women and believes that we have a role in worshipping Her.

I revisited this book because I have been considering visiting Crete with Carol Christ. I doubt I will get there, but I am glad to have re-encountered these essays. This was one of the few times lately that I felt like a little progress might have been made. I suspect that any woman under 50 would find some of these very outdated. However, we still have a long way to go.

[K Kriesel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I had read this 10+ years ago. Now it's too white and heteronormative for me.

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this about 1986 while at university, along with many other feminist texts. It's still being cited by authors today - in aVery short introduction to Classical Mythology, which I finished today.

It wasn't the most stimulating, or exciting feminist read of the era. Far too focussed on feminism within the boundaries of traditional religion. Kristeva was particularly annoying, I recall, though there were a couple of tolerably rebellious articles.

Mary Daly and M Gimbutas were far better, but best of all was the encyclopaedia of goddesses and heroines by Patricia Monaghan. Don't waste your time on this rubbish.

[jasper · Rating 5 out of 5]

First published in 1979 this 1992 version has an updated preface acknowledging its limitations due to the era (think ERA) in which it was written. That said, it's eye-opening to recognize how much has NOT changed given that we've had 40 years to work at it. I'm thinking we need to bring back consciousness-raising groups. An excellent read for women (and men) interested in feminism, religion, and theology.

[Sally Rhett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good survey of ideas and POV

[elle jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid primer - it was nice to read first hand so many of the sources cited in so many other works.

[Rebecca]

Amy McPhie Allebest @bdpatriarchy Instagram post 9-20-25

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A WONDERFUL, BROAD, AND DIVERSE COLLECTION OF WRITINGS

Carol P. Christ has taught at major universities such as Columbia University, Harvard Divinity School, Pomona College, San Jose State, and the California Institute of Integral Studies; she is also the author of books such as 'She Who Changes: Re-imagining the Divine in the World,' 'Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality', 'Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a Journey to the Goddess,' etc. Judith Plaskow is Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College, and author of books such as 'Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective,' 'The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics, 1972-2003.' Both co-edited the follow-up volume to this collection, 'Weaving the Visions : New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality.'

They wrote in the Preface to the original (1979) edition of this book, "In 1972 and 1973, we began to teach courses on women and religion. Those early years were a struggle because there were so few sources... we and our students were frustrated by the overwhelmingly negative picture of religion that emerged... we wanted also to show our students that religion could be reconstructed or recreated to speak to the experiences of women."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"For the temptations of woman as woman are not the same as the temptations of man as man, and the specifically feminine forms of sin... have a quality which can never be encompassed by such terms as 'pride' and 'will-to-power.'" (Pg. 37)
"The women's movement will present a growing threat to patriarchal religion less by attacking it than by simply leaving it behind." (Pg. 57)
"And while it is true that Catholics revere Mary as the mother of Jesus, she cannot be identified as divine in her own right: if she is 'mother of God,' she is not 'God the Mother' on an equal footing with God the Father." (Pg. 107-108)
"To affirm that Christian faith and theology are not inherently patriarchal and sexist and, at the same time, to maintain that Christian theology and the Christian churches are guilty of the sin of sexism is the task of feminist theology." (Pg. 145)
"If we do not mean that God is male when we use masculine pronouns and imagery, then why should there be any objections to using female pronouns and imagery as well?" (Pg. 170-171)
"(F)emale God language is especially important in the Jewish context because so much of the Jewish religious enterprise involves talking, not about God, but TO God." (Pg. 172)
"Witchcraft today, is a kaleidoscope of diverse traditions, rituals, theologies and structures. But underneath the varying forms is a basic orientation common to all the craft." (Pg. 262-263)

This book (and its successor) will be "must reading" for anyone studying contemporary feminist spirituality.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had many different - but all gynocentric - viewpoints on theology. I learned a lot about Christian and Jewish feminist thought that I hadn't previously known. The book also showed the beginnings of the women's rights movement in the 1970's, with which my mother was extremely involved. Some of the scholarship was outdated, but all in all this was an illuminating read.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good representation of women with different backgrounds. It's interesting to see feminist points if view on biblical stories and traditions that have been read mostly with sexist tones. Also offers articles that focus on more than Christian and Jewish traditions, how entirely feminist religions have strong followings.

[Sam Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like this, check out Bare Your Soul and Introducing Thealogy

[Kay Baird · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorites: Rosemary Radford Ruether on the rise of dualism (pp 44 ff) and Valerie Saiving on "Woman's sin" as "underdevelopment or negation of the self" (pp. 36-37)

[Glitter · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Doris Raines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great. Book.

[Araminta Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good feminist thealogy but too much emphasis on two religions. Where is Hinduism? Taoism? Even Islam? For a book with a title claiming such sweeping and inclusive feminism, it sure focuses on Christianity and Judaism Alamo exclusively