The Goddess Revival

Aida Besancon Spencer is Professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Extraordinary Lecturer of North-West University. Besides teaching, Dr. Spencer has worked as a Spanish community organizer and Presbyterian minister. She was born and reared in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She is the author of twelve books and hundreds of articles including 2 Corinthians: Daily Bible Commentary and Paul's Literary Style: A Stylistic Comparison of II Corinthians 11:16-12:13, Romans 8:9-39, and Philippians 3:2-4:13.

The Goddess Revival is a Christianity Today Book Award Winner, 1996.""All of the authors are clearly sympathetic to the problems women have faced in the church throughout its history. They empathize with women who shun the patriarchal oppression of their churches to turn to goddess spirituality. They are also solidly grounded in the Scriptures, Christian theology and church history. They recognize the bondage imposed by goddess worship. This book presents a scholarly and clear consideration of the issues involved and builds a strong case for Christianity as the most woman-friendly alternative.While providing a comprehensive study of goddess spirituality and examining the roots of the movement, the authors focus primarily on God and the way people have understood God through the centuries--in both paganism and the Judeo-Christian tradition--as both male and female. They demonstrate how the uniqueness of God contrasts with the multiplicity of gods and goddesses in pagan spiritualities, while comparing the values in both traditions that are similar (that is, a search for what is good, inner empowerment, unity, positive social change). In the process of building a clear Christian theology, they gently counter the arguments of their pagan opponents. In the end, the reader is left with a glorious picture of the one true God and a clear apologetic for those in nursing who insist that the Christian God is too oppressive and patriarchal to merit our allegience.The appendixes provide a powerful case study of a young woman drawn into witchcraft. She explains why it appealed to her, then how it enslaved her and destroyed her marriage and other relationships. . . The two final appendixes offer some excellent biblical studies on the issues raised in the book. The total package provides an outstanding resource"" -- Journal of Christian Nursing""I would recommend this book to anyone who desires to learn more about not only the current trends in goddess worship, Wicca, and related practices, but also to anyone who holds misconceptions about the biblical view of God, or who struggles with differentiating Christianity from various other worldviews. This is a helpful resource for anyone who truly ponders the questions, ""Who is God?"" and ""How do we know?"" Michal Beth Dinkler""Thanks for an excellent and stimulating book. The analysis is helpful and informative and the Christian response clear and intelligent."" Rev. Mike Starkey, England""I found The Goddess Revival to be fabulous! In so many ways, I found that I couldn't put it down. It answered so many of my questions. It was such a wealth of knowledge as well as just plain interesting."" Ramon Torres, writer, New York