Mother Worship

Theme and Variations

Edited by James J. Preston

384 pp., 6 x 9, 33 illus., mix of photo, line drawings, map

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-4114-3
    Published: November 1983
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-1020-7
    Published: October 2017
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-8297-4
    Published: October 2017

Studies in Religion

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The authors identify the general symbol of the "Mother Goddess" as a common sanctified image, and they demonstrate some of the cultural variations in form or function of the symbol in specific sociocultural settings. Although the subject is approached from a wide variety of perspectives, the authors concur that female deities are not mere projections of sociocultural conditions on an ideological screen; divine mother images represent something of the nurturant and sometimes destructive dimension of the cosmic order.

Originally published in 1983.

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Reviews

"Reveal[s] the tremendous variety of religious forms to be found. . . . Its usefulness will by no means be limited to the religious forms or geographical areas mentioned."--Library Journal

"An absorbing topic in contemporary religion study. . . . Preston and his colleagues have moved investigations of goddess worship toward levels of greater maturity."--Choice

"Preston presents new material on, and new interpretations of, a subject of perpetual interest."--Barbara Myerhoff, University of Southern California