When God Was a Woman
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When God Was a Woman is the U.S. title of a book (©1976 ISBN 0-15-696158-X) published earlier in the UK as The Paradise Papers.
Written by sculptor and art history professor Merlin Stone, When God Was a Woman attempts to uncover an earlier time in the history of Judaism and sister ancient religions, when it was the Goddess - not the God - who was the principal deity. Stone discusses the rise of misogyny and hatred of goddess worship within Israelite society and makes connections there from to the later development of Christianity. She makes assertions on the spiritual evolution of Western society which may be fairly considered more assertive than they are expository.
Archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, Biblical academics, and other scholars of ancient cultures have not been enthusiastic about the book. This is partly because they take issue with the premises and conclusions Stone has drawn about the societies that produced them, but mainly because it does not conform to the style of scholarly writing employed by social sciences. Her lack of academic background in the social sciences would also work against acceptance of the book, particularly among those academics in history and the social sciences who would not consider art history to be "real" history.
