Customer Reviews

The Feminine Face of Christianity

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For women questioning their diminished presence in a largely patriarchal religion, Margaret Starbird's The Feminine Face of Christianity is affirmation, inspiration and retrospection, a call for involvement and an enlightened history lesson asserting with great conviction the unequivocal importance of the feminine in Christian worship. Starting with the holy mother and the example of Mary Magdalene, Starbird observes that some of Christ's most steadfast examples of unconditional faith and virtue were women; they were, in effect, a sort of template for Christ's ideas on true faith. The paradigm of selflessness was discovered when Mary Magdalene washed Jesus' feet and dried them with her hair; the pinnacle of faithfulness was found in the near-penniless doyenne who gave what few pennies she owned to the church offertory; and was there a more complete vision of generosity and gentleness in contemporary Christianity than Mother Theresa?

More than just a survival guide for negotiating the complex contradictions and reinterpretations of the church's often-exclusive view of Christ's teachings, this book thoughtfully includes meditations to connect with God on an individual and spiritual level. In this sense, Starbird's text seeks to give women a choice: re-immerse yourself in the church with a greater understanding and directed passion or apply this newfound knowledge in a personal spiritual journey. Essentially-one gets the feeling-what's most important to Starbird viz. the female reader is a heightened sense of value and purpose; in what forum this inchoate enlightenment is refined is nearly irrelevant. This emphasis on the spiritual journey as a sort of meritocracy by grace stands in brave defiance to the de rigeur standard of uninspired and often materialistic worship found in many protestant churches.

This book is so wonderful. Presenting Feminine icons throughout the realm of Christianity and their overlapping with other female religious deities, etc. This book packs alot of material into a very easy to read format, it also offers suggestions for personal prayer/meditation, such as using a rosary, prayer veils etc. This is a great book to use as an introduction to all of Starbird's books to follow, I read it in one night! The pictures throughout are great too. Excellent!

This book had its moments. Parts of it were very enjoyable. However, by and large, Margaret Starbird misses the mark. Her first mistake in labeling the church Roman Catholic. The church is simply Catholic, which means universal.

Roman is one rite among over 20 under the umbrella of the Holy See. She repeats constantly that the church allowed for only ONE point of view and only ONE way of worship. Far from true. The American Catholic Church has a different "official" bible than the Holy See. The Eastern Churches use another variation. Western churches celebrate the Holy Mass, Eastern churches celebrate the Divine Liturgy. Quite different. And each Rite varies. The Syriac Church still uses Aramaic. Granted, it's Syriac Aramaic, but Aramaic none the less.

To omit the Eastern Church (Byzantine, Armenian, Syriac - to name a few) is to miss out on the Sophia, a feminine facet of the church. And isn't that what this book is all about?

The Eastern Church (not to be confused with Eastern Orthodox) has wonderful writings on the Sophia. A very basic explanation is in the Book of Wisdom. It's been omitted from non-Catholic bibles. You want a great read on the sacred feminine? Get a Catholic bible and read the Book of Wisdom.

It bothers me quite a bit when people like Ms. Starbird wish to paint pictures of Gnostic sects that just are not true. The Cathars were Gnostic. Not Christian. They were dualistic and believed that the world was inherently evil. Life was, in their belief system - Hell - created so by an evil deity. As such they had a profound dislike of the material world. Going so far as to attempt to "free" others from the hold the material world had on them by setting homes and fields on fire. The idea that Francis of Assisi was a Cathar is absurd in the extreme. He desired nothing more than to live scripture literally. He viewed the world as a beautiful and amazing creation. A polar opposite point of view from the Cathars. Case in point, Canticle of the Sun.

Lovely book, as are all of Margaret Starbird's books. Love the illustrations in this one. I'm passing it on to my daughter.