$39.95
Availability: 118 left in stock

Contrary to popular belief, the medieval religious imagination did not restrict itself to masculine images of God but envisaged the divine in multiple forms. In fact, the God of medieval Christendom was the Father of only one Son but many...

  • Name : God and the Goddesses: Vision, Poetry, and Belief in the Middle Ages
  • Vendor : University of Pennsylvania Press
  • Type : Books
  • Manufacturing : 2024 / 07 / 27
  • Barcode : 9780812219111
Categories:

Guaranteed safe checkout:

apple paygoogle paymasterpaypalshopify payvisa
God and the Goddesses: Vision, Poetry, and Belief in the Middle Ages
- +

Contrary to popular belief, the medieval religious imagination did not restrict itself to masculine images of God but envisaged the divine in multiple forms. In fact, the God of medieval Christendom was the Father of only one Son but many daughters--including Lady Philosophy, Lady Love, Dame Nature, and Eternal Wisdom. God and the Goddesses is a study in medieval imaginative theology, examining the numerous daughters of God who appear in allegorical poems, theological fictions, and the visions of holy women. We have tended to understand these deities as mere personifications and poetic figures, but that, Barbara Newman contends, is a mistake. These goddesses are neither pagan survivals nor versions of the Great Goddess constructed in archetypal psychology, but distinctive creations of the Christian imagination. As emanations of the Divine, mediators between God and the cosmos, embodied universals, and ravishing objects of identification and desire, medieval goddesses transformed and deepened Christendom's concept of God, introducing religious possibilities beyond the ambit of scholastic theology and bringing them to vibrant imaginative life.

Building a bridge between secular and religious conceptions of allegorized female power, Newman advances such questions as whether medieval writers believed in their goddesses and, if so, in what manner. She investigates whether the personifications encountered in poetic fictions can be distinguished from those that appear in religious visions and questions how medieval writers reconcile their statements about the multiple daughters of God with orthodox devotion to the Son of God. Furthermore, she examines why forms of feminine God-talk that strike many Christians today as subversive or heretical did not threaten medieval churchmen.

Weaving together such disparate texts as the writings of Latin and vernacular poets, medieval schoolmen, liturgists, and male and female mystics and visionaries, God and the Goddesses is a direct challenge to modern theologians to reconsider the role of goddesses in the Christian tradition.

Author: Barbara Newman
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 02/15/2005
Series: Middle Ages
Pages: 464
Weight: 1.55lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.20w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9780812219111

About the Author
Barbara Newman is Professor of English and Religion at Northwestern University and author of From Virile Woman to WomanChrist, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Ezra's Archive Does not ship outside of the United States

Delivery Options:

1. Economy: 

Estimated Delivery Time - 5 to 8 Business Days

Shipping Cost - $4.15

2. USPS Priority:

Estimated Delivery Time - 1 to 3 Business Days 

Shipping Cost - $8.85

3. Free Economy Shipping: Only Applicable to Orders over $60

Returns and Refunds: 

Purchased items are not eligible to be returned. However, a refund or item replacement may be granted should an item be damaged or misplaced during shipping. To make a refund or replacement claim please contact us via email at Ezra'sArchive@outlook.com