WST 110: Goddesses (General Books)

In India, God can be female. The goddesses of Hinduism and Buddhism represent the largest extant collection of living goddesses anywhere on the planet. Feminists in the West often draw upon South Asian goddesses as theological resources in the contemporary rediscovery of the Goddess. Yet, these goddesses are products of a male supremacist society. What is the impact of powerful female deities--their images, projections, textuality, and history--on the social standing and psychological health of women? Do they empower women, or serve the interests of patriarchal culture? Is the Goddess a Feminist? looks at the goddesses of South Asia to address these questions directly. Not a book about a single goddess or even about a variety of South Asian goddesses, the volume raises questions about images of deities as symbols and the ways in which they function. Contributors discuss contemporary Indian women who have embraced goddesses as spiritually and socially liberating, as well as the seeming contradictions between the power of Indian goddesses and the lives of Indian women. They also explore such topics as the element of male desire in the embodiment of female deities, the question of who speaks for the goddesses, and the politics and theology of Western feminist use of Hindu and Buddhist goddesses as models for their feminist reflections.

The Virgin Mary has been an inspiration to more people than any other woman who ever lived. For Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims, for artists, musicians, and writers, and for women and men everywhere she has shown many faces and personified a variety of virtues. In this book, a scholar who is the author of numerous books - including the best-selling Jesus Through the Centuries - tells how Mary has been depicted and venerated through the ages.

"In her new book, leading religion scholar Carol Christ provides a comprehensive guide to understanding what has now become the Goddess spirituality movement." "A uniquely original voice in religious studies, Christ brings together her personal experience and her academic expertise to explain the principles, practices, and beliefs that have shaped feminist spirituality. Drawing from the fields of history, art, literature, and philosophy, among others, Christ demonstrates the revolutionary effects of worshipping the Goddess: opening ourselves to this new form of divinity can bring us to challenge our most basic assumptions, from how we think about history to how we see ourselves in relation to nature and each other. Elegantly written and ambitious in scope, The Rebirth of the Goddess proves both an engaging historical essay and a testament to the possibilities for change and self-fulfillment."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Women and Religious Traditions analyzes the roles of women in the world's religions from historical, textual, political, psychological, and contemporary perspectives. It begins with an introduction to feminist theory and issues in the study of religion, followed by individual chapters devotedto each of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Chinese Religions, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Native Traditions, and New Age Religions. Organized by themes such as history, texts, symbols, sexuality, and social change, the new second edition examines how religious mythology and patriarchy have shaped thesocial and private lives of women throughout history.

Integrating original texts with explanations, interpretations, and theory, Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths, Fourth Edition, introduces students to a wide range of myths drawn from sources all around the world and approached from various criticalperspectives.