1st Edition
Christian Goddess Spirituality Enchanting Christianity
This monograph focuses on "Christian Goddess Spirituality" (CGS), the phenomenon of (mostly) women who combine Christianity and Goddess Spirituality, including Wicca/Witchcraft. Mary Ann Beavis’s study provides ethnographic data and analysis on the lived religious experience of CGS practitioners, drawing on interviews of over 100 women who self-identify as combining Christianity and Goddess spirituality. Although CGS also has implications for Goddess Spirituality and related traditions (e.g., Neopaganism, Wicca), here, CGS is considered primarily as a phenomenon within Christianity. However, the study also shows that the fusion of Christian and Goddess spiritualties has had an impact on non-Christian feminist spirituality, since Goddess-worshippers have often constructed Christianity as the diametrical opposite and enemy of the Goddess, to the point that some refuse to admit the possibility that CGS is a valid spiritual path, or that it is even possible. In addition, biblical, Jewish and Christian images of the divine such as Sophia, Shekhinah, the Virgin Mary, and even Mary Magdalene, have found their way into the "Pagan" Goddess pantheon.
1. Origins of the Project 2. The Religious Roots of Christian Goddess Spirituality 3. Profile of Interview Participants 4. Betwixt and Between: Negotiating CGS 5. Spiritual Paths 6. Christian Thealogy 7. Why CGS Women Need the Goddess 8. Enchanting Christianity: The Future of CGS Appendix 1: Interview Questionnaire Appendix 2: Focus Group Themes
Biography
Mary Ann Beavis is Professor at St. Thomas More College, the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and is Founding Editor of the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture.