Customer Reviews
This is a very important book against Religious dogmatism and Male Chauvinism. - By: Isabella Balkert, 09 Sep 2006 
I bought one for my self, & promptly ordered one for my daughter.
All women should read it as a boost against the Male God presiding over us allin both Judaism, Christianity & Islam to the exclusion of any Goddess Female influence what so ever.
This is not a work of great sophistication, but it is an honest book written by a female who was clearly shocked about what most of the world seems to have missed, namely the fact that God was not alwas a Man, "God" was once a woman.
The primary religions of the West have supressed the Goddess idea & dominated our traditions with the Male God concept.
What is worse - The teatchingin our schools has hidden the fact that religions have not always been dominated by a Male God - The earliest religions have clearly been domintated by a Female, Birthgiving Goddess.
Females were equal or superior to the Malein most of the earlier religions. A religious war against the female sex as a dominating forcein early Judaism, corrupted Judaism & their ancient scriptures & Christianity & Islam quickly followed that particular idear that the force dominating us from above was & is Male.
The Keltic idear of Male & Female equalityin Europe, was supressed & sexicide of the cruellest order ever - took place during the time of the inquisitonin Spain which spread like a malign mass psycosis over Europe & USA, & even into Africa & Arabia. Only India kept their female goddesses & goddess worship although their supremacy were deminished & the Male godds grewin importance.
We should know that the Male God idear has demished the worth of the female sex. It is time that we took up the struggle for equality also on the religious level & rejected the idea that a Male God presides over us all & no Female sits beside him & shares the status he has claimed for himself through the Male oriented religons, & male priests, all over the world.
The devine energies clearly demonstrates itselfin both female & male energies. The old fashioned idea of a Male God above us & his male profets or sons or whatever religious dogma tries to state that God is male & his profet or Son is also a male - Must give way to sound thinking some timein the future & the time should be now.
This very important book clearly challenges the old concept of a Male with lots of good research into our Goddess dominated religions & also hints at how the concept of Eve & the snake was fabricated aginst the Snake/Fertility Goddesses of ancient times.
It is written for everybody who can read, & it will contain news for most of us, what ever level of sophistication we think we belong to.
It's about time we heard the 'Rest of the Story' - By: James Glines, 03 Jun 2003 My wife & I were raisedin a strict bible upbringing, & it was my wife who kept insisting life was not fair as a woman. I had no problem of course, as men enjoy automatic supremecyin church with the bible backing you up to silence & supress women. I am what they call a backslider now, & this book affirms what my wife has suspected for a long time. Other religions share the man is central theme, & I loved reading what was always there but not completely destroyed by invaders. I look forward to learning more truth about what really happened
There was history before the Bible? - By: , 27 Aug 1999 In light of the recent decision by the board of educationin Kansas, I now know that we truly livein a society of ignorance. The historical evidence presentedin this book is well-researched & I don't feel as though any is taken out of context. I can see why Christians & Jews would take offense to this book because it threatens their supposed one true god. Stone goes point by point taking apart the origin of their religion through the destruction of what had existed as a belief system for eons. Could something had existed before Adam & Eve? Perish the thought! I feel closer to the Goddess now & how things used to be thousands of years ago than I ever didin 10 years of Luthern Sunday School & confirmation class. As for the state of Kansas, I pity the students for they will make ignorant adults when evolution ceases to be taught. Its just another example of "accidental or intentional censorship" of ideas outside of Christian thought. I am truly disgusted with those who arein positions of power nowadays. It is so reminiscent of those long ago patriarchal invaders who propagate their own opinions by making people think its how "its always been."
Ladies & Gentlemen, Here are the facts on the ground! - By: , 19 Aug 1999 For years I have read the Bible & wondered, "Yes, but what does the archeological evidence say? What did the neighbors sayin their writings? Where's the corroborating evidence? After all, these are real places & real people. They had to leave real traces behind." Well, it turns out they did. And what those traces say doesn't not agree with what fundamentalists teach about the Bible, but it does agree with common sense & basic human psychology. A first-rate book, & a gift to our understanding of the Old Testament.
important foundation for women's spirituality - By: , 18 May 1999 So many scholarly types chalk this book up to feminism which is unfair. This book set the tone for many to come, & the reason this particular book is important is that it is basedin actual archaeology. Granted, some of the authors who come after Merlin Stone take this book way too far (e.g. Starhawk), but this should be required reading for prehistory students at the college level, along with all the Marxist interpretations of various prehistorical sites known to exist. Very readable & scrupulously researched.
