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Biography

Carol Patrice Christ was born in California, United States in December 20, 1945. She studied Women's studies and issues and finished her PhD from Yale University. She has also served as a professor in other universities such as Columbia University, Harvard divinity school and many others. One of the most well known published essay she has written is "Why Women Need The Goddess". It was initially a keynote presentation at a conference at the University of Santa Cruz in 1978. Why Women Need the Goddess essay helped starting a feminism prominent movement and to launch a goddess movement as well and it became a part of the heresies which is the Feminist Publication on Art and Politics. The essay discusses the importance of religious symbols as well as the effects of male symbolism of God on women. Religious symbols act as a powerful pervasive worth to a society and the people within in. Christ also happens to be one of the world's most influential and premier Thealogians. The idea behind it is centered on female moral, spiritual, biological differences where Christ is imagining females as Goddess.

Feminist Thealogy

The first conference of Women Thealogian took place in 1971 at Alverno College in Wisconsin, USA. According to Christ, the meaning of thealogy to her is the idea of religious symbols having influence on human beings but also the understanding of ethical decision making. It is having the consciousness rising process where women fit together. She has taken her approach imagining the Goddess in a patriarchal tradition. Judith Plaskow has also contributed to the idea of religion shaping the culture and norm into male dominance and putting men in the hierarchy of societal power. There are multiple different stories depicting the idea of sexuality and the reasons behind the creation of women being from different religious perspectives, from different significant religious prophesies as well as religious books. Judith Plaskow's "Coming of Age" story of Lilith, questions the creation of women and the reasoning behind it. In Genesis 2, it states that "It is not good that Adham should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him" (2:18) hence, Eve was created. Therefore, it depicts the idea of the reason behind the creation of Eve was solely to serve her husband, Adham and she was infact created "for him", "After Adham". It shows the fact that Eve was created after Adham and for Adham, it implicates the key foundation of Patriarchy. However, since Lilith was technically the first wife of Adham but she disregarded her given norms and performed disobedience towards God as well as Adham, she was sent away due to her willfulness. Lilith was created the same time as Adham and is said to be the first women of the world. She was sent away because she was considered more intelligent and she would not obey any commands of Adham. Plaskow discussed in her essay that Lilith being witty and disobeying any orders given to her was a not an accurate depiction of how a woman should be. Hence, Eve was an accurate depiction of a woman who would consider any command given to her and must obey her husband. Plaskow wanted to bring Lilith into the image for better understanding that as a woman, there are more restrictions compared to of men and Lilith shows how she wanted to be free of obedience and how her approach to not taking any commands is a representation of disobeying authority of men and hence, it becomes a crime.

Why Women Need the Goddess Since her essay has been influential to many women in terms of opening the possibilities to understanding how religion has a great impact on our lives. Christ also talks about how Religion that is focused solely on the male dominance representation of God impacts how the political and psychological aspects of human being work. Religion that created a male representation of God aid the societal power of a man as well as in the political side as they are automatically given the privilege. Christ specifically mentioned in her essay that "religion centered on the worship of a male God create "moods" and "motivations" that keep women in the state of psychological dependence on men and male authority." which gives a solidified explanation as to how influential a Male given God's representation affects the moods as well as motivation of why women and their privileges are the way they are. There are many restrictions a woman has to follow and go through in either Christianity or Judaism or other religion because of the way Religions has structured men in the hierarchy of everything and women being under it. Because of how religion is controlled in the hands of men, feminists did not want leave it as it is and make amendments so that women are valued as well. The essay also talks about other important figures in history to supports the idea of needing a female representation of Goddesses like Philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, as she said " Man enjoys the great advantage of having a god endorse the code he write; and since man exercises a sovereign authority over women it is especially fortunate that this authority has been vested in him by the supreme being."

Carol discusses four aspects of Goddess symbolism that are important to discuss to order to understand her step towards needing a Goddess in Women's lives to minimized the male representation of God. She talks about According to Christ, the most simplest and basic idea behind women Goddess "is the acknowledgement of the legitimacy of female power as a beneficent and independent power" meaning that female power should be invested in a way that they are superior to themselves and have independent power to themselves as well and sustaining the power by herself so that she will no longer be dependent on men or male figures as saviors to situations. Feminist Priestess Starhwak also say that the symbol of goddess to her means it depends of how a woman feels and more so "When I feel weak, she is someone who can help and protect me. When i feel strong, she is the symbol of my own power". Another aspect related to the female body is that Christ portrays women as an unique creature. Women are mensrtuants, birthgivers and women's connection of their body is related to the nature and the world around us. Menstruating women have been looked differently for a long period of time and the taboo with this issue is also quite generalized. It was often see as a issue with a woman's bodily functions and many women were also forbidden to enter holy sacred places of different religions due to seeing menstruation as a negative means of a women's body. Christ has also spoken of how a Goddess is also a representation to a birthgiver which is where women are privileged and it's a life-giving power that women carry. Since Goddess is seen as a creator of the universe and of life, Carol's idea of women as birth-giver automatically aids the idea of women's capacity of creating a new life and bringing into life as an act of Goddess. Then, the female will is also an important one to acknowledge for women and to know their own worth even being in patriarchal society. She needs to understand that her opinions are valid and that she does not devalue herself while trying to please others due to being in a patriarchal society as well. Lastly, women's bond and heritage because that is also often controlled by the men as the dominant source. Christ says that "The celebration of women's bonds to each other, as mother and daughters, as colleagues and co-worker, as sisters, friends, and lovers, is beginning to occur in the new literature and culture created by women in the women's movement" meaning that women empowering each other and making a move for better living standards is only possible when one woman starts supporting another. A mother-daughter bond is known to be a special bond because the mother being the creator of her child, already symbolized herself as a Goddess of birth-giving. Simon de Beauvoir has also mentioned that "The mother daughter relation is distorted in patriarchy because the mother must give her daughter over to men in a male-defined culture which women are viewed as inferior"
 * the Goddess as affirmation of female power
 * the female body
 * the female will
 * women's bond and heritage

Significance

According to a scholarly source, Carol believed that "it is necessary to take the risk of writing personally because in that way we remain true to what we know at the deepest levels of our being and to the insights with which we create feminist theology". Christ's ideology is not neglecting or questioning religion, it is solely based on the authoritarian justice and worship of male figures which is demeaning to women. Christ has written another follow up of "Why Women Need a Goddess" to "Why Women, Men, and Other Living Things Still Need the Goddess" It shows that even till today, every one needs a Goddess figure to control the the power of hierarchy and patriarchy. The Goddess movement helps people understand the psychological theory behind the idea of male representation of God and Christ has portrayed it through her essays even after 35 years. The Goddess movement is a way for one woman to connect with other women, with their sisters and daughters. Christ has written six books in her areas of Femnism study and the Following are mentioned.


 * Diving Deep and Surfacing: Women writers on Spirituality Quest (1980)


 * Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a Journey to the Goddess (1987)


 * Odyssey with the Goddess: A Spiritual Quest in Crete (1995)


 * Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality (1998)


 * She Who Changes: Re-Imagining the Divine in the World (2003)


 * Goddess and God in the World: Conversations in Embodied Theology (2016, with Judith Plaskow)

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