When God Was a Woman (Important Book)

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976, softcover, index, 265 pages, illustrated, long inscription on first blank page & title page, otherwise condition; good.

When God Was a Woman by sculptor and art historian Merlin Stone was first published as The Paradise Papers: The Suppression of Women's Rites

Stone spent approximately ten years engaged in research of the lesser-known, sometimes hidden depictions of the Sacred Feminine, from European and Middle Eastern societies. She describes these archetypal reflections of women as leaders, sacred entities and benevolent matriarchs, and also weaves them into a larger picture of how our modern societies grew to the present imbalanced state.

Possibly her most controversial claim is her interpretation of how peaceful, benevolent matriarchal society and Goddess-reverent traditions (including Ancient Egypt) were attacked, undermined and ultimately destroyed almost completely, by the ancient tribes including Hebrews and later the early Christians. They attempted to destroy any visible symbol of the sacred feminine, including artwork, sculpture, weavings and literature as they wanted the Sacred Masculine to become the dominant power, and rule over women and Goddess energies.

According to Stone, the Torah or Old Testament was in many ways a male attempt to re-write the story of human society, changing feminine symbolism to masculine.

The book is now seen as having been instrumental in the modern rise of feminist theology in the 1970s to 1980s, along with authors such as Elizabeth Gould Davis, Riane Eisler and Marija Gimbutas. Also to the work of authors Margaret Murray and Robert Graves.