The Encyclopedia of World Religions

goddesses S 181

Further reading: John H. Hick, Philosophy of Religion, Foundations of Philosophy series (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1990); Gary E. Kessler, Philosophy of Religion: Toward a Global Perspective (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1999); Thomas Woodward, Doubts about Darwin: A History of Intelligent Design (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2003); Matt Young and Taner Edis, eds., Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2004). goddesses Female deities. The Goddess, capi talized and singular, refers to the supreme deity envisioned in feminine form. Goddesses have played major roles in most religions. ONE GODDESS OR MANY? At the end of the 20th century some North Ameri cans spoke of a single Goddess. For them, the names and myths associated with specific goddesses were simply manifestations of this Goddess. The image of the Goddess often includes other ideas. One is the notion of a “primitive matriar chy.” In 1861 a Swiss lawyer, J. J. Bachofen, specu lated that at the beginning of history women rather than men had ruled. This matriarchy was a time of peace and justice. Religion centered on the WORSHIP of a goddess. Others have suggested that Goddess worship began at a specific time: when human beings shifted from hunting, gathering, and herd ing to a way of life based on agriculture. Other ideas concern the Goddess’s character. In the first half of the 20th century a Swiss psychol ogist, Carl Gustav J UNG , developed influential ideas about religious symbols. Jung suggested that reli gious symbols expressed ARCHETYPES , unconscious patterns that all human beings shared. Inspired by Jung, several writers developed an image of the Goddess. They connected her with the fertility of the Earth. They also connected her with the moon. Its phases were said to parallel a woman’s men strual periods. Influential popular writers, such as Joseph Campbell and Starhawk, advocated these ideas. Many serious scholars, including feminists,

rejected them. Scholars often prefer to talk about individual goddesses rather than the Goddess. Some goddesses are associated with the Earth and fertility, but not all. In Egypt the Earth was a god, Geb, the sky was a goddess, Nut. The Greek god dess A THENA was a warrior and perpetual virgin. Similarly, some goddesses are connected with the moon and its phases. But others are connected with the sun. A prime example is the S HINTO kami, A MATERASU . Her brother, Tsukiyomi, is the moon. In the ancient Near East, too, the moon was often male, for example, Khonsu in Egypt, Nanna or Sin in Mesopotamia ( see M ESOPOTAMIAN RELIGIONS ). The most important Near Eastern goddess was the planet Venus. She went by many names: I NANNA , Ishtar, Astarte. The goddess I SIS was extremely important during the Roman Empire. She was Sir ius, the brightest star in the sky. Goddesses have also had many personali ties. Some have been nurturing and maternal. A good example is the Virgin M ARY . Christians do not worship her as a goddess, but Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians venerate her ( see R OMAN C ATHOLICISM ; E ASTERN O RTHODOX C HRISTIANITY ). Other goddesses have been horrific. For example, the Hindu goddess Kali sits on corpses, wears parts of human bodies, and always demands blood sacrifice. Until the middle 1800s some Kali cults demanded human sacrifice. But the same goddess may combine the nurturing and the horrific. Thus, Kali is also venerated as a mother who provides release from grasping and SAMSARA ( see H INDUISM ). Finally, goddesses have related to gods in a variety of ways. They have often occupied subor dinate positions, sometimes as wives and consorts. That does not necessarily deprive them of inde pendence. In Greek mythology, Z EUS may be the most powerful, but Hera’s will is often done. Inde pendent goddesses, too, may be important without being supreme. Influential goddesses in India today include the river G ANGES , whose waters purify, and Bharat Mata, “Mother India” herself. GODDESSES IN HISTORY Most scholars trace the worship of goddesses back to the Paleolithic period. This is the oldest