This was originally post on June 19, 2017 In my widely read blog and academic essay offering a new definition of patriarchy, I argued that patriarchy is a system of male dominance that arose at the intersection of the control… Read More ›
Feminism and Religion
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Great Goddess, Mother Goddess, Creatrix, Source of Life
This post was originally posted on February 5, 2018 The symbol of the Goddess is as old as human history. The most ancient images of the Goddesses from the Paleolithic era are neither pregnant nor holding a child. In Neolithic… Read More ›
From the Archives: Mindful of the Bond We Share in these Trying Times by Vibha Shetiya
This was originally posted on February 14, 2017 I’m sitting in my parents’ balcony in Pune, India, on a quiet morning. Well, this being a bustling Indian city of six million, it can’t really be quiet. As I sit with… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Was There a “Golden Age” before Patriarchy and War? by Carol P. Christ
Marija Gimbutas coined the term “Old Europe” c.6500-3500 BCE to describe peaceful, sedentary, artistic, matrifocal, matrilineal and probably matrilocal agricultural societies that worshipped the Goddess as the power of birth, death, and regeneration in all of life. Gimbutas argued that… Read More ›
The Gendered Temptation of Jesus by Liz Cooledge Jenkins
As Luke’s Gospel tells it, at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, the devil comes to him in the wilderness and tempts him.[1] First, the devil latches onto Jesus’ hunger after forty days of fasting: “If you are the Son… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Kassiani: Placing a Woman at the Center of the Easter Drama
This blog was originally posted on April 13, 2015. You can read the original comments here. For many years I been told of the beautiful Hymn of Kassiani, sung only on Easter Tuesday night, but I had never heard it… Read More ›
GOD IS A BLACK WOMAN by Christena Cleveland, PhD – Book Review by Carolyn Lee Boyd
FAR recently published an excerpt and lively discussion of Christena Cleveland, PhD’s new book God Is a Black Woman. We thought the FAR community might enjoy learning more about this memoir of her moving journey from the terror and control… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Please Keep It in Your Pants by Carol P. Christ
This blog was originally posted on November 6. 2017. You can read the original comments here. Trigger warning: this post describes sexual abuse Last week while responding to a comment on my blog, I suddenly remembered a series of incidents… Read More ›
Walking With Aletheia by Jean Hargadon Wehner – Book Review by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
Trigger Alert: There is discussion of sexual violence. “I transformed from terrified victim to a courageous survivor . . .Different than an ‘out of body’ experience, this felt more like an ‘in-body’ experience. I stood my ground and did what… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: “THE OLD RELIGION” OR A “NEW CREATIVE SYNTHESIS”?
Moderator’s Note: Carol Christ died from cancer in July, 2021. Her work continues through her non-profit foundation, the Ariadne Institute for the Study of Myth and Ritual and the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete. This blog was originally posted June 30, 2014. You can read… Read More ›
white femininity: whitemalegod’s secret weapon By Christena Cleveland, PhD
For the first several weeks of my walking pilgrimage, I debated whether to visit the famous Black Madonna of Orcival. It wasn’t the walking distance that deterred me; She lived in a gorgeous Romanesque cathedral nestled in a charming medieval… Read More ›
Eden, Eve and a Tale of Seeds by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
Last month I wrote about the Garden of Eden. You can read it here: In that post, I described how Eden is essentially a garden of treasures. What are those treasures? I believe that they are seeds, the most prolific… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Who Is Gender Queer?
Moderator’s Note: Carol Christ died from cancer in July, 2021. Her work continues through her non-profit foundation, the Ariadne Institute for the Study of Myth and Ritual and the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete. This blog was originally posted March 2, 2015. You can read… Read More ›
From the Archives: Through the Eyes of the 21st Century Bird Goddess by Carolyn Lee Boyd
Moderator’s note:Today’s blogpost was originally posted March 14, 2018. You can visit it here to see the original comments. When I raise my eyes to a bird soaring over me in flight, I am no longer bound to the Earth… Read More ›
On The Baby and The Bathwater by Liz Cooledge Jenkins
It wasn’t until seminary—and even then, only sporadically—that I learned that many of the foundational figures in Western Christianity held some incredibly sexist attitudes. Somehow, in all my years of attending church, hearing sermons, participating in (and leading) Bible study… Read More ›
Queering the American Dream by Angela Yarber
As Florida politicians try to ban teachers from including LGBTQ+ issues in the curriculum, admonishing them, “Don’t Say Gay” at school, I’m shouting “GAY!” from the rooftops. Because I’m celebrating the release of my eighth book and first memoir, Queering… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: The Keepers and the Roman Catholic Church featuring Jean Hargadon Wehner
Moderator’s Note: Jean Hargadon Wehner, who is referenced and quoted by Carol in this post will be available to respond in the comments section. Feel free to ask her any questions. Jean has a new book out about her experiences…. Read More ›
Behold! The Treasures of Eden by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
The place and purpose of the Garden of Eden is a topic of endless fascination and interpretation. This blogpost looks at two biblical passages and the word eden itself to see what we can learn about its meanings. At its… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Women And Weeding, The First 10,000 Years* by Carol P. Christ
Moderator’s Note: We here at FAR have been so fortunate to work along side Carol Christ for many years. She died from cancer in July, 2021. Her work continues through her non-profit foundation, the Ariadne Institute for the Study of Myth and… Read More ›
The Patriarchy of Ki Tisa and a Call to Reimagine Divinity by Ivy Helman.
This week’s Torah portion is Ki Tisa, Exodus 30:11-34:35. Its events revolve around the theme of creation, destruction, and recreation. From a feminist perspective, it is quite clear that this cyclical process is a result of a patriarchal understanding of… Read More ›
From the Archives: Women’s Bodies and the Bible by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
Moderator’s note: This marvelous FAR site has been running for 10 years and has had more than 3,600 posts in that time. There are so many treasures that have been posted in this decade that they tend to get lost… Read More ›
To Nurse at the Same Breasts: Muslim-Jewish Kinship in Literature and Life by Joyce Zonana
It is tempting to read these recurring images of milk twins in Arab-Jewish literature as no more than a symbol, albeit a powerful one, of the profoundly intimate “brother- (and sister-)hood” of Jews and Muslims in the pre-partition culture of the Middle East and North Africa.
But the image of “milk twins” is much more than a metaphor or a symbol: it represents a reality. For it seems that many Jewish and Muslim women, living side by side as they did, had in fact regularly nursed one another’s children.
In Memoriam: bell hooks by Elizabeth Ann Bartlett
In a world where the words of black women writers, even our very names are often soon forgotten, it is essential and necessary that we live through writing and teaching the words of our great and good writers, whose voices… Read More ›
Women’s Speaking Justified: Reflections on Fell, Feminism and History by Liz Cooledge Jenkins
Moderator’s note: Today’s post has been paired deliberately with yesterday’s archival post by Mary Sharratt. Both pay homage to Margaret Fell in very different yet complementary ways. In the conservative evangelical church world—a world I was deeply invested in for… Read More ›
From the Archives: I Am in Peace: the Ministry of Margaret Fell by Mary Sharratt
Moderator’s note: This marvelous FAR site has been running for 10 years and has had more than 3,600 posts in that time. There are so many treasures that have been posted in this decade that they tend to get lost… Read More ›
Of an Anniversary, a Methodology and the Parshah Yitro by Ivy Helman.
This month’s blog post marks my 10-year anniversary writing for feminismandreligion.com (FAR) and my 122nd post. I would just like to take a moment to acknowledge this milestone and thank the community for both its dialogue with me and support… Read More ›
Moving to Ursula: Dream Wisdom and the Sacred Feminine by Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD
For the last seven years, I have been conducting research for my book Undertorah: An Earth-Based Kabbalah of Dreams, which is about to appear courtesy of Ayin Press. On this writing journey, I’ve interviewed seventy dreamers, and have studied pre-modern… Read More ›
What’s Your Feminism I.Q.? by Barbara Ardinger
Let’s begin a new year by finding out what we know about feminist history and goddess scholarship. Take this little quiz and find out where you stand as a Feminism/Goddess Scholar. (It’s okay to laugh at some of the choices…. Read More ›
Longing for Darkness by Elizabeth Ann Bartlett
When I moved to Minnesota, everyone back home voiced concern about how cold the winters would be. Nobody warned me about how dark they would be, nor how long the dark would last. For years, I complained, but gradually I… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Of Birds, Angels, and Tidings of Great Joy
Moderator’s Note: We here at FAR have been so fortunate to work along side Carol Christ for many years. She died in July this year from cancer. To honor her legacy as well as allow as many people as possible… Read More ›
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