Chasing Sophia, Part 1

Posted by Susy Flory on Oct 23rd, 2007 | no comments home title

“I
know many women who have left the church for Goddess worship and Wicca,
or who have abandoned the Bible for the Gospel According to Mary. I
will be giving every one of them a copy of this book, which
provocatively suggests that the Christian story can address women’s
longings they have for a spirituality that is at once feminine and
Christian.” — Lauren F. Winner, author of Girl Meets God

I’ve been reading a fascinating book called Chasing Sophia: Reclaiming the Lost Wisdom of Jesus. The
author, Lilian Calles Barger, is a Christian author and speaker who is creatively and constructively addressing the rise in goddess spirituality. A little about Barger, first, and then the first part of our interview.

When she was eight years old, Lilian immigrated to the
United States from Buenos Aires, Argentina, with her parents, who
wanted greater educational and economic opportunities for their
children. Since then, she has been a student of American culture. Lilian’s ongoing interest in the culture, paired with her
faith-based upbringing, compels her to ask difficult questions
regarding issues of faith and spirituality and how they relate to
contemporary culture. Lilian created The Damaris Project
in 1997 as a place of dialogue where women can talk about spirituality
in new and relevant ways. The Damaris Salon has become the vehicle for
that dialogue.

With The Damaris Project, she works as a researcher, cultural
critic, writer and speaker on the
intersection of the teachings of
Jesus and contemporary issues. Today she is considered an expert in
feminist spirituality and theology, and she continues to be an astute
observer of social trends.

Q. You
wrote “The popular goddesses of today are fun and sexy symbols of where
women are now, speaking for women and identifying with our contemporary
experience. …I found the goddess to be too familiar for my spiritual
comfort” (Chasing Sophia, p. 29). What are some of the key differences between historical
goddesses, and the goddesses women worship today?

A. Goddesses of the past were not
concern with any individual woman, but rather functioned as social reinforcements
for women’s place in the society. Their lives in the pantheon mirrored women’s
lives and they in no sense empowered women who were at the bottom of the social
hierarchy.

Let’s not romance the past which was often bloody and dangerous for
women. It still is for many women
in
the world.

The goddess of today is a feminist,
a woman with her own self-determined life. This was a non-existent in ancient
societies. Ancient and contemporary goddesses are completely different in how
they function religiously and what they evoke in the devotee. Both are
creations of the society from which they emerged. We do create gods and
goddesses after our own image.

Q. Frederica
Mathewes Green has written about the feminist movement and its strong
element of anger and bitterness. Does the pursuit of the goddess sometimes
evolve out of a woman’s anger and hurt? How can the church address this
more effectively?

A. First, I want to say that sometimes anger can be a good thing. Anger is
response to injustice. We don’t have to be Pollyanna about injustice.
Yes,
sometimes women will seek an alternative spiritual path because
they
are not able to resolve their anger.

I don’t really think the church is going
to
address this as an institution, but I think you and I can. We start by not
making excuses for injustice or covering up wrongs done. We clearly name
it
and
reject it. Then we move on by finding something worthwhile to
do in
the world.

There is no better cure for hurt and anger than constructive action.
That’s the only way to disempower any system that has hurt us.

More on goddess spirituality, from Lilian Calles Barger, in my next post…..

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