Carol P. Christ
A Symposium in Celebration of Her Spiritual-Feminist Activism and Women’s Spirituality Scholarship
“The Goddess is the intelligent embodied love that is in all being.”
~ Carol P. Christ
Free Symposium via Zoom hosted by
Women’s Spirituality Graduate Studies Program California Institute of Integral Studies
October 22, 2021. 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Call for papers focusing on Carol P. Christ’s scholarship and activism in the key areas of Women’s Spirituality, Goddess Studies, Ecofeminism, and Women and Religion.*
Please speak to what you think and feel are Carol P. Christ’s most important contributions to one of the academic fields listed below, and then also, to how her writings are important to you personally. We will arrange papers into the following six panels of 3-4 presenters.
- Ecofeminist Philosophy and Activism
- Goddess Studies and Egalitarian Matriarchal Studies
- Spiritual Feminism and Peace Activism
- Spiritual Feminist Literary Criticism
- Women and Religion
- Women’s Spiritual Pilgrimage
Please send an abstract of your proposed paper (in 300 words or less) to Mara Lynn Keller at mkeller@ciis.edu, by Wednesday, September 16, 2021. Acceptances will be sent out Friday-Monday, 9/24-27/2021. Papers are to be 12 minutes in length.
*Primary Sources include:
- Diving Deep and Surfacing: Women Writers on Spiritual Quest (1986)
- Woman Spirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion, anthology co-edited with Judith Plaskow (1992)
- Odyssey with the Goddess: A Spiritual Quest in Crete (1995)
- Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality. Anthology co-edited with Judith Plaskow (1989)
- Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a Journey to the Goddess (1987)
- Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality (1998)
- She Who Changes: Re-imaging the Divine in the World (2004)
- Goddess and God in the World: Conversations in Embodied Theology. Co-authored with Judith Plaskow (2016)
- Carol’s blogs on Feminism and Religion can be found at: Carol P. Christ (feminismandreligion.com)
In addition to the panels, the Symposium will include:
In Memoriam: Ritual Honoring Carol’s Life and Death (1946-2021)
Circle of Remembrance: Personal reminiscences and reflections on Carol’s life and work.
feminismandreligion.com 
This is wonderful. Many thanks to you, Mara, and to all at CIIS who are working to create this beautiful event in Carol’s memory. I am especially glad to see this post in my email today, first since Monday was Carol’s usual day for her blog on FAR, and second since today, August 23, is the 40th day after Carol’s passing, an important day in Greek Orthodox tradition. I am not in Greece right now, but have asked close friends of Carol’s to light a candle for her today at the Paliani monastery near Heraklion, home of the ancient myrtle tree and the miracle-working Panayia. Although Carol was not Orthodox and had no interest in patriarchal religion, this place was deeply special to her, with its tangible roots in ancient traditions of Minoan Goddess/tree worship; Paliani was a highlight of her Goddess Pilgrimage and she wrote about it in several of her FAR blogs as well as in her book The Serpentine Path. If anyone else wishes to remember Carol today with prayers or a candle, we can add our loving thoughts to those that will be expressed for her today at Paliani. And I hope to see you all at the Symposium in her honour on October 22!
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I am confused about what is being said above Laura – I have no interest in submitting an academic paper but might like to submit a personal reflection… not clear that this is even included as writing… glad this event is happening and definitely plan to be a listener…I think of Carol every single day… on another subject…
Is there any hope of being able to get Carol’s memoir “The Serpentine Path”? It appears to be out of print for good????
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Hi Sara. I can’t answer your first question, but as to “The Serpentine Path”, I recently checked it out from the college library where I work. They don’t own the updated/newer edition, but rather the older OOP one. Check on WorldCat/OCLC to see where else you could get it, perhaps via InterLibrary Loan. :)
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Thanks – interlibrary loan is the answer I believe.
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We are hoping to move forward with republication of the Serpentine Path as quickly as we can! It’s such a moving and honest book, one of my favourites of Carol’s.
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