Customer Reviews

Embracing Jesus and the Goddess: A Radical Call for Spiritual Sanity

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I follow a mostly Pagan Path. My husband follows a mostly Christian Path.

My husband bought this book in hopes of understanding me and bridging our two faiths. He loved the book. I then read it. This book opened up a whole new world to both of us. We are now working hard at bridging our two religions.

We celebrate Christmas together, and Yule. Easter and Ostara.

Our religious life was greatly enriched by reading this book. It brought us to a better understanding of eachother.

I liked this book. It does a good job of explaining how Christianity and Goddess worship (both of which I believe are life-affirming) are not antithetical to one another. This is a friendly, humane look at the concepts and practices of both groups as well as the ideas that have caused division. The book's main flaw is a tendency to be repetitive.

This book is timely and its thoughts contained within are truly what this world is both searching for and lacking in. If we were willing, we could adapt this wisdom to their daily lives, the world would DEFINATELY be a wonderful place to live. Everyday of our lives are a learning experience and if we could come together, without judgement, we could appreciate what both Jesus and the Goddess have to share with us in our lives. As the author, I too found something lacking, and he so eloquently brought the both together. I share his vision of having both in my life. The hope of acceptance, love, and honor of having the Goddess and Jesus, both complimenting each other in our lives. This is a MUST read.

Comforting and inspiring, "Embracing Jesus and the Goddess" is one of the finest books on comparative religion ever written. Highly recommended for both Christians and Wiccans, as well as those who walk both paths and embrace both faiths.

Regarding one of the previous comments about abandoning what Christ said, I think that reviewer is confusing what some of Jesus' followers wrote and said instead of what Jesus himself said. I believe that reviewer needs to re-read the Gospels and pay close attention to the words of Jesus only.

If you walk a Christian/Wiccan path, this book is required. I found great peace in this book's pages...thank you Mr. McColman for your wise, healing words.

`Jesus and the Goddess' is a necessary book with a cutting edge message that fills me with hope. Carl McColman's brave exploration of controversial issues is thought provoking and rendered with touching sincerity. His inclusive concern for all communities is a guiding light for people of any religious or spiritual path.

3 1/2 stars. Many like me are trying to reconcile the fact that though we are Christians and believe in Christ, the Goddess also exists. The title of this book is perfect for that, but unfortunately falls a little short in content.

Who is the Goddess? Is it Mary, the physical mother of Christ? Is it Mary Magdalene? Is it The Holy Spirit? Or is it Sophia from the Gnostic gospels? Could it even be Diana? Regrettably none of these questions are answered in the book, though some are explored. My guess is that the Goddess is as personal as Christ is to us.

The part of the book that bothered me the most was where author Carl McColman examines what gifts Christ could bring to the Goddess, and what gifts the Goddess could bring to Christ. Of the Goddess's gifts, he suggests her breasts and womb. Now that I felt was downright silly (what would Christ do with breasts?)

I wish there had been more content to this book. It was okay, bringing some theories to life, but felt incomplete. I walked away with the same questions I had before I read it. It's a worthwhile addition to your reading quest for the Goddess in Christianity, but you'll want to explore other books along with it, especially if you are Christian with pagan tendencies. (By the way, Pagan means "of the country", nothing evil the way Christianity associates it with) Enjoy!

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If ever there were a reason to believe that a clerical shingle does not make a scholar, this book is one. It is an attempt to reconcile a distorted paganism with a distorted Christianity (and its predecessor, Judaism). The problem is, Professor McColman's personal, twisted version of Christianity leaves it barely recognizable; He completely side-steps the actual teachings of these mainstream religions.

The author's thesis seems to be that Elohim, the Jewish and Christian God, is a very macho, unfeminine, even slightly misogynistic deity, who needs a little estrogen in His life --that Western religion is incomplete and needs to be blended with a little matriarchal paganism-- sort of a bachelor deity in search of a wife.

In so postulating, he completely ignores the opening chapters of Christianity's founding document. This is the Genesis account where God fashioned Adam "in His own image" and then made Eve from Adam's rib.

Anyone who reads this thoughtfully should observe that mankind was in God's image while Eve and Adam were still combined in one body and soul. In other words, Adam originally possessed all the feminine attributes of Eve --which are attributes of God himself. Thus, Eve is also in God's image; She inherits and passes down God's feminine traits. Mankind and womankind COLLECTIVELY reflect aspects of God's nature --both the forceful and the nurturing.

In the Psalms, David writes profusely of God's loving kindness and tender mercies. In the gospels, Jesus compares Himself to a protective mother hen, as he weeps over the city of Jerusalem. Admittedly, this is a scriptural truth that seems to escape many Christians.

(Incidently, masculine pronouns for God in our language are purely generic, the way "man" at times refers to humanity. Use of "He", "Him" and "Father" in reference to God are matters of linguistic formality. They do NOT mean that the Hebrew God has male genitals or is lacking in sensitivity and mercy. Jesus asserts that God is spirit and thus does not possess gender in the sexual sense.)

Ignoring this and other other evidence of feminine qualities in the Christian godhead, the professor blunders forth, weaving his thesis. He selects for his pagan model, a female deity, Gaia, but completely disregards the great host of male deities comprising the pantheon of early civilization.

The author can't seem to make his case without misrepresenting both paganism and Christianity. If there is any doubt left that the author cares little about the real teachings of Christianity, his attempt to refute the resurrection accounts as "sketchy" and "conflicting" should cement the idea, for as Paul the apostle made clear, without the resurrection, there can be no Christianity.

I gave this book two stars because it is a good example of the kind of errant thinking that comes to people when they throw facts and logic out the window, start with a conclusion and then seek out evidence that supports it, ignoring the rest.

McColman says Christianity is misunderstood. I can heartily agree on that. It seems misunderstood by the author himself. Should modern Christianity put more emphasis on the feminine aspects of God --and on the Divine aspects of femininity? Yes, I personally think there is plenty of biblical basis for that idea, but this book doesn't successfully make that case.

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The bigger the intellectual, the less truth you need in your words.

Sure you can believe in Jesus and the goddess, you just have to forget everything Jesus ever said. This is like believing in the political ideologies of Ghandi and favoring the military accomplishments of the Third Reich.

If you follow the ideas in this book, I can assure you that you do NOT believe in the Jesus of the Bible (remember, the real one?), but only a media image of a long haired man with a beard. One would hope you would take your faith more seriously than that.