BOOK REVIEW - Feminine Mysteries of the Bible
Michael Gleason gleason.mike@<WBR>comcast.net
Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:15 pm (PDT)
Feminine Mysteries of the Bible by Ruth Rusca © 2008 Bear & Company ISBN
978-1-59143-<WBR>088-9 144 pages Paperback $15.00 (U.S.) $16.95 (Canada)
Ms. Rusca approached the feminism in the Bible from a somewhat unique
perspective. Born in Switzerland in 1929 to German Protestant parents
who lived in an Italian-speaking Catholic village, she received a
religious education which encompassed both cultures. Add to that mixture
an appreciation of the work of Carl Jung and you have the makings of a
unique approach.
She has found a four-fold path of women as both mothers and daughters.
She sees them as embodying the aspects of sacred sexuality without,
necessarily, approaching the concept of the Mother Goddess as it is
currently conceived by modern neo-Pagans.
If you are looking for a book with an emphasis on the Goddess; with a
de-emphasis on the masculine aspects; with a non-traditional view of the
origins of Christianity, this book will be a disappointment. If, on the
other hand, you are looking for a book which shows the importance of the
feminine in the formation of the Abrahamic religions, this is a good
starting point.
In order to gain the most from this book, the reader should have, at the
very least, a thorough understanding of Jungian psychology, as its
concepts permeate the writing. For those without such an understanding
some of the finer points may well be missed. Of course that could be a
stimulus to further reading and education.
In some areas Ms. Rusca's approach is overly broad (in my opinion) and
tends to gloss over some details which could use further exploration
while in different places she tends to concentrate too much on the
details, thus losing sight of the larger perspective. When I finished
reading this book I was left uncertain about how to evaluate it. It is
not a book I would recommend to everyone. It will, most likely, appeal
to a very narrow segment of the reading public.
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