In Goddess and God in the World, leading theologians Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow propose a new method for thinking about theological questions: embodied theology rooted in experience and tested in dialogue. Their theological conversation begins from the premise that the transcendent, omnipotent, male God of traditional theologies must be replaced with new understandings of divinity that can provide orientation and guidance as we face the social, political, and environmental challenges of our time. Situating divinity in the world and placing responsibility for the future firmly in human hands, they argue for an inclusive monotheism that affirms the unity of being through a plurality of images celebrating diversity and difference.
Carol proposes that Goddess is the intelligent embodied love that is in all being, a personal presence that can inspire us to love the world more deeply. Judith counters that God is an impersonal power of creativity, the ground of being that includes both good and evil. Their probing of the autobiographical sources of their theologies combined with an intense questioning of each other’s views offers both a new way of speaking about Goddess and God and a fruitful model of theological conversation across difference.
Contents:
Introduction: Goddess and God in Our Lives
Part One: Embodied Theologies
1. For the Beauty of the Earth
2. Stirrings
3. God in the History of Theology
4. From God to Goddess
5. Finding a God I Can Believe In
6. Feminist Theology at the Center
7. Answering My Question
8. Wrestling with God and Evil
Part Two: Theological Conversations
9. How Do We Think of Divine Power?
10. Constructing Theological Narratives
11. If Goddess Is Not Love
12. Evil Once Again
13. Embodied Theology and the Flourishing of the World
Review in Sinister Wisdom
Review in Tikkun 32.4 (2017)
Review in Reading Religion (AAR)
Review in National Catholic Reporter
Excerpt on Feminism and Religion, "The Emergence of Feminist Theology: Remembering our Roots by Judith Plaskow and Carol P. Christ"
Excerpt on Women For One, "Love in the Face of Death"
Review on Foreword Reviews
Review in Lilith Magazine
Review on Christian Feminism Today
Review in Return to Mago E-Magazine
Review on Judith Laura's blog Medusa Coils
Review on Me, You, and Books blog
Review in SageWoman Magazine
Listen to Judith Plaskow and Carol P. Christ on Northern Spirit Radio
WATER hosts a conversation and Q&A with Judith Plaskow and Carol P. Christ
Goddess and God makes clear that women's experience and perspectives enrich and transform theology. . .
“Goddess and God makes clear that women's experience and perspectives enrich and transform theology and also that some of the central theological debates continue. Do we think of God as the impersonal ground of everything or as the personal embodiment of cosmic love? Is one view more feminine or more feminist than the other?”
Challenges all of us to reflect deeply on our own understanding of the divine.
“What is most striking about this book is the sustained engagement with one another of two brilliant thinkers with radically divergent theologies. They are, of course, still committed feminists, but this book presents a model of theological conversation that challenges all of us, not just women, to reflect deeply on our own understanding of the divine.”
Ranges widely, reaches deeply, and offers resources to us all.
“Goddess and God in the World is essential reading. Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow bring their formidable intellects and compassionate imaginations to the difficult, necessary work of thinking constructively about the Divine. Their exploration ranges widely, reaches deeply, and offers resources to us all.”
I am thrilled with this book
“The engaging narratives and conversations in Goddess and God in the World brilliantly model the authors’ conviction that divinity is to be found within our lives and in our shared experience. Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow have given us a unique gift: the record of a long and evolving friendship between two of our foremost feminist foremothers. I am thrilled with this book.”
May this work be a model for all dialogical theology!
"Goddess and God in the World offers readers the chance to sit in a cozy room with two of the greats of feminist theology. In this work, Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow answer all the questions you would pose if you had an audience with them. You overhear them laugh, reminisce, pontificate, argue and laugh again. They share their theological journeys with academia, philosophy, theological traditions and Scripture. Beautifully weaving together their personal paths with the histories of Judaism, Christianity, Western philosophy and Goddess traditions, Plaskow and Christ offer distinct theologies that wrestle with the depth and breadth of patriarchy. They emerge different than how they entered, and yet maintaining deep and meaningful faiths. Most importantly, they engage each other in a way that is quickly disappearing from the academy: they note their differences, critique one another other, revel in their similarities, and debate without needing to convert. May this work be a model for all dialogical theology!"