Goddess In The Gospels: Amazon.ca: Margaret Starbird: Books

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. . . access a new liturgy in which woman's natural life processes are sanctified and the archetype of physical union restored. -- Griselda Steiner, The Dark Bride

Book Description

In an era that has reclaimed many aspects of the feminine Margaret Starbird's THE WOMAN WITH THE ALABASTER JAR stood out as a courageous exploration of the scorned and repudiated feminine in the Western religious tradition. But espousing the marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene created a personal crisis for this catholic scholar. In THE GODDESS IN THE GOSPELS the author tells how she was guided in her personal search and her ever-deepening study of the New Testament and gematria - number coding of the Greek Alphabet - by an incredible series of synchronicities. It was the mirroring of inner and outer worlds that revealed the Sacred Marriage of male and female - the hieros gamous - and led to her own personal redemption.

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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
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Average Customer Review

3.3 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars GODDE IS...., Jan 1 2004

By

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Goddess In The Gospels (Paperback)

In THE GODDESS IN THE GOSPELS, Margaret Starbird shares the story behind the story of 'The Woman with the Alabaster Jar'. In many ways, the personal spiritual journey Starbird experienced and shares with the reader in GODDESS is a more compelling tale than the one she eventually wrote about the Magdalene. GODDESS has much in common with 'The Dance of the Dissident Daughter' by Sue Monk Kidd. (Kidd acknowledges Starbird's influence in her book). GODDESS also nicely complements HOLY BLOOD HOLY GRAIL.

Like many women born into religious orthodoxy, Starbird struggled for years to live by the rules of conduct the church prescribed for women. Because she is a person of great depth, intelligence, grace, and spiritual awareness, her attempt to live within the narrow, confined and misogynist tradition of her church led her to the edge of madness. After a very scary brush with insanity, she accepted the Grail-the path of enlightenment.

Starbird concludes that women have long been treated shamefully by orthodox Christianity - especially the Roman Catholic Church. She suggests the RCC abandoned the true message of Jesus when it distorted the memory of the Magdalene as it institutionalized in the 4th century. In recent years, the RCC has made a small effort to ameliorate its decidedly misogynist practices, but these efforts are inadequate and come too late for millions of women. Starbird suggests that if the RCC does not make drastic changes soon it is doomed. It simply will not do for the church to treat women as anything less than co-equal with men. Just as the Magdalene was co-equal with Jesus, all women are co-equal with all men. Furthermore, the church needs to change its attitude toward birth control, divorce, married priests, and women priests, etc. In short, its time for the church to undergo a Reformation.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Reclaiming what?, Nov 11 2005

By A Customer

This review is from: Goddess In The Gospels (Paperback)

I was reading this with a friend. We both found her lengthy personal reasoning for virtually every occurrance tedious to the point where we simply stopped reading. We found ourselves wondering what Starbird was reclaiming. Validation for her own set of beliefs, perhaps. The Goddess and the Sacred Feminine thought to be the subject of the book came in only occasionally as a very poor second as a prop for this book. This is only for those really into theological numerology and/or Starbid's symbology. Truly a disappointment.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Don't Read This Book First, April 25 2004

By

Explorer Jen "nekgirl" (JEFFERSONVILLE, VT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goddess In The Gospels (Paperback)

To get the most out of Margaret Starbird's personal religious journey memoir, please read her other more scholarly works first. It will be less confusing for you. Otherwise, it is a good read on what one might go through when taking a leap of faith in a completely different direction.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent but Speculative
This was an excellent, satisfying read. Starbird's assertions are fascinating, but sometimes she makes a big leap of faith not supported by the facts. Read more

Published on April 21 2004 by Kasey Church

3.0 out of 5 stars Begging the Question
I follow the subject well here....in fact, I share Ms. Starbird's observations and beliefs. However, the book "begs the question", often repeating itself and pounding... Read more

Published on Mar 20 2004 by James Marc Williams