It’s as ancient as the sin of our mother Eve and our father
Adam, the desire to establish our own identity—minus the purpose of God. We
would be our own gods and goddesses; deciding what is good and evil.
The publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), using Theology of the People, a division of Augsburg/Fortress
Press, published a book entitled, Fierce: Women of
the Bible and Their Stories of Violence, Mercy, Bravery, Wisdom, Sex, and
Salvation. The author, Alice
Connor, is an “Episcopal priest and a chaplain on a college campus.” An ad with
a
free reading guide, introduction, content, first chapter and a video was
sent to me this morning, via e-mail, by the Presbyterian Women of the PC
(U.S.A.).
At the bottom of the ad, PW stated, “Presbyterian Women will
occasionally send an email on behalf of organizations that may be of interest
to our constituency. These paid advertisements help fund Presbyterian Women's
publishing work and other ministries. Thank you for supporting organizations
that support PW.”
I have ordered the book with the thought of reviewing it, but
so much information was sent, including a link to Augsburg/Fortress and Amazon,
(which offers some pages to read), so I am setting out several warnings—about
apostasy. I am certain that many women received the same information that I received. And it seems that this book will touch women
in at least three mainline denominations.
Probably the worst chapter, “So God Had a Wife, Maybe?
Probably,” is on the ancient pagan goddess Asherah. It begins, “She was erased.”
And continues to suggest that the Israelites worshiped not only a male god but
also his wife, Asherah. The author, Alice Connor, writes:
“Like math sums done wrong, or a letter phrased poorly, bits
of her were scraped away and wiped off the page, as carelessly as if she did
not exist. And in a way, I suppose she doesn’t anymore. Her presence has been
denied for generations. She was Asherah. She was Mother of the Gods, she was
the Lion Lady, and she it was who subdued the sea. She was the wife of Yahweh,
She was the embodiment of nourishment; her breast fed multitudes. She represented not only survival but plenty.
Her hips birthed gods; her presence created abundant harvests. The people made
sacrifices to her—grain and animals, even their children from time to time. …”
Connor continues, stating that Asherah was worshiped alongside
of Yahweh. Continuing with her story she suggests that eventually Asherah was
erased when the Israelites were searching for a reason for their defeat and exile.
But now, allegedly, she has been discovered again:
“Now thousands of years after those holy books were written,
scholars have rediscovered her and the bare-breasted clay totems buried for
centuries. They speak her names and write of her totems, her sacred trees, her
high places with their rough and beautiful altars, and they don’t know which
name to call her: Asherah, Astarte, Anat, Qudshu, Queen of Heaven. …”
Connor speculates about her existence and referring to the
Hebrew Scriptures writes, “She’s between the lines of Hebrew, like the feeling
you get when you try to push the positive ends of two magnets together. You can
feel the energy pushing between them, even though the space looks empty.
Between the lines of Hebrew where her sacred poles were torn down and she isn’t
even named, there is energy pushing back.”
Connor still speculates on the historical reality of Asherah but
eventually equates Asherah with others who have been erased from their
historical context. The tragedy here is Connor’s denial of the utter
unfaithfulness of God’s people. It is also her own unfaithfulness that she
could so easily, as priest, deny the truthfulness of God and his word.
The questions on the reading guide are sometimes helpful but too
often inane, “What difference would it make to you if Rahab’s occupation as a prostitute were somehow definitively proven
or disproven? Not just historically, but to this story and to your
understanding of sin and redemption. Do you think the Israelite spies slept with
Rahab? What difference would it make to their story and that of Israel’s
conquest of Canaan?”
The exercises at the end of each chapter entail meditation on
icons of the biblical characters including Asherah. And the chapter on the Song
of Songs entails feeling your body which, I admit, made me both laugh and appalled
me. Not because the body is evil but because it seemed to me to be the ultimate
self-worship.
And that, self-worship as well as self-guidance, rather than listening
to God’s word and obedient discipleship, is the framework of Connor’s book.
Just recently, I sorted out my library, removing most of the
radical feminist books I have used for research. I started to toss them, and
did toss some, but decided to save a core of them downstairs on some unused shelves
in a pantry. (My old house has so many unexpected nooks and crannies.) The
books are all the same!
Until the coming of Christ I suppose that all kinds of
heretical movements, such as radical ‘Christian’ feminism, will continue to
form, change and die. The books will multiple and move from circle to circle
with praise from those who should know better. But the ugly systems are
boringly the same: denying God’s word, denying Christ’s redemptive gift of life
because of his shed blood, denying our sanctification through the Holy Spirit—the
list is too long and too often the same.
Lift up the cross of Christ, the word of God and the
righteousness that is God’s gift.
