Customer Reviews

The Goddess in the Gospels: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine

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In THE GODDESS IN THE GOSPELS, Margaret Starbird shares the story behind the story of `The Woman with the Alabaster Jar'. In many ways, the personal spiritual journey Starbird experienced and shares with the reader in GODDESS is a more compelling tale than the one she eventually wrote about the Magdalene. GODDESS has much in common with `The Dance of the Dissident Daughter' by Sue Monk Kidd. (Kidd acknowledges Starbird's influence in her book). GODDESS also nicely complements HOLY BLOOD HOLY GRAIL.

Like many women born into religious orthodoxy, Starbird struggled for years to live by the rules of conduct the church prescribed for women. Because she is a person of great depth, intelligence, grace, and spiritual awareness, her attempt to live within the narrow, confined and misogynist tradition of her church led her to the edge of madness. After a very scary brush with insanity, she accepted the Grail-the path of enlightenment.

Starbird concludes that women have long been treated shamefully by orthodox Christianity - especially the Roman Catholic Church. She suggests the RCC abandoned the true message of Jesus when it distorted the memory of the Magdalene as it institutionalized in the 4th century. In recent years, the RCC has made a small effort to ameliorate its decidedly misogynist practices, but these efforts are inadequate and come too late for millions of women. Starbird suggests that if the RCC does not make drastic changes soon it is doomed. It simply will not do for the church to treat women as anything less than co-equal with men. Just as the Magdalene was co-equal with Jesus, all women are co-equal with all men. Furthermore, the church needs to change its attitude toward birth control, divorce, married priests, and women priests, etc. In short, its time for the church to undergo a Reformation.

The Goddess in the Gospels is not a history-- it is the story of a spiritual quest and should be read as such. Starbird's journey reflects that of many men and women who have sought a deeper spiritual connection and arrived at the belief that a new paradigm-- that of male-female partnership-- is needed in the temporal and spiritual realms.

Interestingly, Starbird's thesis is reflected in Native American wisdom teachings and in the Jewish Kabbalah, as well as in
secular studies such as "The Chalice and the Blade". This memoir extends the concept of a shared male-female paradigm to a Christian context, and is important in this respect.

Note that this book is a memoir, and should be read as such. Those interested in evidence that supports Starbird's thesis are best directed to her Woman with the Alabaster Jar, and the extensive bibliography provided therein. In addition, Starbird has clearly been in the vanguard of spiritual exploration-- her efforts began during the 1970s and have extended over a period of close to 30 years. Thus, her views should be of interest to those who have embarked more recently on a spiritual quest.

Margaret Starbird's book is sacred water for all of us who have wandered in the dry wasteland that promotes separation/alienation/dismissal of the Woman in the Church, in Institutions. Her book is divinely inspired and deeply researched in order to break through layers of hidden truths. Finally, we have a true mystical woman sharing the journey of the Song of Songs, searching, agonizing, wandering to find her Beloved - and all of us can rejoice in the journey! Her book is filled with synchronicities,inspirations, etc., all of which are in keeping with the underlying principle of Universal connectedness and mysticism. I believe her message is a MUST read - as a Church, as a culture, we must be willing to reclaim the Bride of Christ, to shift the paradigm of Holy Mother Church and Son to Husband and Wife, Do we have ears to hear? Let your heart be broken open by this book - it could change your life!

Margaret Starbird's style of research, her way of prayer, and her insistence on serving only truth are so rare in today's world as to be easily misunderstood. This book gives a glimpse into her journey and the amazing courage it took to stand shoulder to shoulder with truth despite the personal cost. By sharing searingly personal information about the ways that God led her to her discoveries, she makes herself vulnerable to critics who have never understood what it means to sacrifice everything for God's sake. But the descent she made into darkness only strengthened her as God's testing strengthens all who accept it. She brings us an image of ancient symbols and ancient ways of wisdom made fresh again for today when they are so needed in a world gone dry. If one knows how to drink from this rich well-spring, let them drink! Margaret's message is not meant to destroy the faith of her youth, but to restore its lifegiving vitality.

To get the most out of Margaret Starbird's personal religious journey memoir, please read her other more scholarly works first. It will be less confusing for you. Otherwise, it is a good read on what one might go through when taking a leap of faith in a completely different direction.

Goddess of the Gospels gives the church the best opportunity to confess to their faithful since the release of the Dead Sea scrolls and is a must read for all who love Jesus and his teachings. A mind expanding spiritual journey supporting growing evidence that Jesus and his family were denied justice after he challenged priestly power of his day. Persecution and crucifiction grewn to a conspiracy which continued for 2000 years behind the habits of church politicians and the robes and power of their fellow brethren as they schemed and defaced the true life of the annointed Christ and his wife Mary Magdalene We are told our present Pope was born on the day of a lunar eclipse when the symbolic female passed before the male to activate the feme of this wonderful Pontiff. This feme is the holy grail, the chalice of Mary Magdalene the female within male, balance, love and logic. Margaret Starbird demonstrates her spirit, Catholic faith, her courage and conviction, with genuine feminine intuition and womans wisdom. Margaret deserves the accolades offered in tribute of this wonderful work. Let this knowledge be known and shared, such expressions of love will positively influence the future to the womb of creation.

Margaret Starbird's eternal quest for knowledge that has been previously hidden, is a true testimony to her faithful love of the truth. Despite the cost to her family and personal life, Margaret steps out of personal boundaries to present the most updated facts about Mary Magdalene's secret exsistence and her true relationship with Jesus. A must read to find all that rings true within you! Bravo for your bravery Margaret!

After reading the unsigned smear by the "reader from California", I just had to write! This work contains carefully researched and documented information regarding the ancient practice of gematria found in Greek phrases of the New Testament Scriptures. The system of sacred numbers used by the authors of the Gospels is more than 2500 years old and is readily acknowledged by the best Scripture scholars. The practice of gematria is current still among scholars of the Hebrew Bible, and is totally UNRELATED to the "numbers" cited in the book "The Bible Codes". The numbers of gematria reveal the pre-eminence of Mary Magdalene in the early Christian community--a matter of history, not wishful thinking! Starbird provides quality work.

Occasionally, when criticisms of Margaret Starbird's work appear, they tend to be uninformed.

Margaret Starbird is a scholar of comparative literature, with a focus on scriptural texts and Medieval traditions. Her academic training is impressive. She completed both a BA and MA in Comparative Literature and German at the University of Maryland. After that, she studied for a year on a Fulbright Student Fellowship to Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany. She then pursued Doctoral studies in German, Comparative Literature and Linguistics at the University of Maryland. Following that, she studied at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Theological Studies.

Margaret taught university German as full-time faculty at the University of Maryland and North Carolina State University. Following that, she was faculty, teaching religious education and scripture course for a variety of schools, including U.S. Army schools and Roman Catholic parishes. While doing her academic work and teaching, she was moving across the globe with her husband, an officer in the military, and rasing their five children.

Margaret is the author of six or more books, some of which have sold many thousands of copies and been translated into several languages.

Margaret knows her scriptural texts, she has analyzed and compared them extensively, can quote or cite them at length from memory. She also has a gift of finding deeper paralells and meanings embedded in the texts. She excavates patterns and connections, opens new meanings previously locked within texts. She has an ability to connect stories, symbols, and traditions to a 21st-century mindset, making them live in contemporary society. She is not just a scholar, she's an inspired scholar.

It's easy to criticize others' work, but harder to produce something of meaning and value. Unless one is an author or scholar, one cannot appreciate Margaret's knowledge, skill, comfort with her area, nor her ability to speak about texts eloquently and inspire readers to find deeper meanings in them.

Margaret never claimed to be an historian; she does literary and theological interpretations of scriptural texts. She's not using historical method--she's doing feminist and rhetorical readings.

Meanwhile, even historians don't view biblical texts as literal history.

Once the Reader gets past the first couple of choppy chapters, the story begins in earnest. Starbird is articulate and heartful, however the book is poorly edited. I was turned off by the shear volume of exclamation points per page. Once I got over that, I was able to appreciate the writer's valuable tale.

One ruthless yet compassionate editor could give this book a more universal appeal.

Deffinately a book worth reading for truth seekers.

aloha.