Abstract
For a proper understanding of the spiritual life and the nature of, and possibilities for, women’s spirituality, we need a broader language of the spiritual than monotheism can provide. The very term “transcendence” illustrates this because in the Christian tradition it tends to have meaning in binary opposition to “immanence” and refers to characteristics of “God,” whereas in Eastern traditions—to the extent that translation can succeed in finding corresponding concepts—it means something closer to the “nondual” or “unitive.” The “God” — language of the West has created a limitation of understanding, both within religious and within secular communities, the latter inheriting the equation “religion = God” and therefore remaining ignorant of nonmonotheistic religions. “God” is a construct peculiar to Abrahamic text-oriented monotheism, and it needs to be cut down to size, allowing other religious frameworks space. This means that questions of spirituality and religion need additional, equally powerful, terms to fill the gap. For women’s spirituality, the issue is partly that “God” is an inevitably gendered term: monotheism constructs a male “God,” served historically by a male priesthood.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Baring, Anne, and Jules Cashford. The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image. London: Arkana, 1993.
Barnett, Norman. Black Heroes and the Spiritual Onyame: An Insight into the Cosmological Worlds of Peoples of African Descent. Croydon: Filament Publishing, 2005.
Castaneda, Carlos. The Teachings of Don Juan. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970.
Eckhart, Meister. Selected Treatises and Sermons. London: Fontana Library, Collins, 1963.
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Bollingen Series 76. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.
Ferrer, Jorge N. Revisioning Transpersonal Theory: A Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.
Feuerstein, Georg. The Yoga Sutras: A New Translation and Commentary. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 1989.
Freke, Timothy, and Peter Gandy. The Jesus Mysteries: Was the “Original Jesus” a Pagan God? New York: Three Rivers, 1999.
Gimbutas, Marija. The Language of the Goddess: Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989.
Grof, Stanislav. LSD Psychotherapy. Alameda: Hunter House, 1994.
Harner, Michael. The Way of the Shaman. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990.
Hillman, James. Revisioning Psychology. New York: HarperPerennial, 1977.
Irigaray, Luce. Between East and West: From Singularity to Community. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. London: Oxford University Press, 1923.
Paper, Jordan. The Spirits are Drunk: Comparative Approaches to Chinese Religion. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995.
Pasolini, Pier Paolo. Medea (Maria Callas, Giuseppe Gentile). Euro International Film (EIA) S.p.A., 1969.
Scholem, Gershom. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. New York: Schocken Books, 1995.
Shlain, Leonard. The Alphabet versus the Goddess: The Conflict between Words and Images. London: Penguin/Compass, 1998.
Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1999.
Stone, Merlin. When God Was a Woman. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 1976.
Wilber, Ken. The Spectrum of Consciousness. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books (The Theosophical Publishing House), 1993.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2009 Gillian Howie and J’annine Jobling
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
King, M. (2009). Cutting “God” Down to Size. In: Howie, G., Jobling, J. (eds) Women and the Divine. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-12074-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-12074-8_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-73874-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-12074-8
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)