Title: When God Had a Wife: The Fall and Rise of the Sacred Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition
Publisher: Bear and Company
Authors: Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince
Pages: 326pp

Like many people who were drawn to Paganism/polytheism, rather than being born into a tradition, my first love was Goddesses. I was fascinated by the idea of female divinities, by their myths and sacred places and all of the glorious artwork that had been created for and around them (Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, anyone?). Over the years, I have read quite a few books about not only the recognized Goddesses of polytheistic traditions, but lost and hidden Goddesses and sacred female figures in ostensibly monotheistic traditions, too.

As such, when I found a copy of When God Had a Wife at a local bookstore, I snatched it right up.

As of this writing, I’ve only gotten through the first chapter. I read a few pages at a time as I get the opportunity, between other books and my own writing. I have quite enjoyed what I have read so far. After a brief introduction, Picknett and Prince dive right in, discussing the legendary/spiritual history of what we now recognize as Judaism; what we really can/do know based on archaeology and textual interpretation; and the roles of women in those early days of the tradition. Women such as Miriam, Deborah, and the unidentified “women who served at the entrance of the tent of meeting.”

Will I continue to enjoy the book? Difficult to say. So far, Picknett and Prince’s conclusions make sense to me, and their references look solid. I dislike the term “Judeo-Christian,” though, as it mashes two completely different spiritual traditions into a homogenous blob. I’m hoping that this is just shorthand for the cover and blurb, and not a position actually held by the authors. Flipping ahead, I see lots of references to Asherah, the Canaanite queen mothers, Tamar, the prophet Jeremiah, Lady Wisdom, Mary Magdalene, and much more.

When God Had a Wife will definitely be staying on my To Be Read pile, and might even move higher up the list. Hopefully I’ll have a full review in a future post.

[Written by Rebecca Buchanan.]