When God Was a Woman

By: Merlin Stone

Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin

The landmark exploration of the ancient worship of the Great Goddess and the eventual supression of women's rites.

In the beginning, God was a woman…

How did the shift from matriarchy to patriarchy come about? In fascinating detail, Merlin Stone tells us the story of the Goddess who reigned supreme in the Near and Middle East. Under her reign, societal roles differed markedly from those in patriarchal Judeo-Christian cultures: women bought and sold property, traded in the marketplace, and inherited title and land from their mothers. Documenting the wholesale rewriting of myth and religious dogmas, Merlin Stone describes an ancient conspiracy in which the Goddess was reimagined as a wanton, depraved figure, a characterization confirmed and perpetuated by one of modern culture's best-known legends—that of the fall of Adam and Eve. Insightful and thought-provoking, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the origin of current gender roles and in rediscovering women's power.

This audiobook is expertly read by Jo Anna Perrin, and was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont. Audio engineering by Matthew Kulewicz, MPSE.

Copyright (C) 1976 by Merlin Stone (P) (2024) EPBM.

©1976 Merlin Stone (P)2024 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC

This explains a lot.

I haven’t completed because of the reader’s cadence and style…I found hard to listen. Is it AI maybe? I will most likely buy the book to complete because the information is fascinating! I can’t believe I didn’t read in the 70’s. Surprisingly it was written over 50 years ago.

An Education

This book benefits from the illustrations in the print version and those would have been helpful as PDF here. The scholarship had to have been tedious. The listening wasn't

Must read to the end!

Excellently written and easy to follow. I will be re-reading. Every PERSON should read this. But especially every woman. It is healing and eye opening

Aye! Every Woman Should Read This Book.

Reading and studying along with this deep dive was part of my deconstruction journey. It’s enlightening, engaging, and easy to cross reference.

I went from being really angry to understanding how and why our society is so toxic.

Life Changing

Why is this not required reading in schools? I feel so cheated that I’m just now finding this book. Make dominance over women was never the natural order of things as we have been led to believe.

Get yourself free

Powerful scholastic inquiry into the relationship between society, human evolution, and divinity. A must read for anyone exploring their relationship to God and unlearning sexist attitudes and predestinations.

at last in audio!

this has been on my reading list for years, and I'm thrilled it's finally in audio. <10 hours is a shorter audiobook for my normal listening habits, so i'm doubly saddened to say it went far too quickly!

I was not sure about the narrator while listening to the sample but am happy I took a chance on it, her voice suits the book quite well.

Should be reading for all Young Women

I read this book decades ago, I decided to pick it up again through Audible and of course I heard things I didn’t hear or digest back then but the book was life changing for me. I grew up with a chauvinistic father high on what girls can be and shouldn’t do. I never understood why men were so angry at women but it was obvious to me, even as a child, they were deep down they knew that God was a woman and it pissed them off.

Every woman should read this! Now!

I read this book in my 20s when it was published. It changed my perspective entirely. I had no idea how dominated I was by the idea of a male deity. A God in the sky with a big penis and a pitchfork pointed at female genitalia that’s what it’s come down to. The religious right is trying to take us back to the Stone Age. When God Was a Woman needs to be read by every thinking, woman. Men won’t like it. It will threaten their entitlement.

This book changed my life

This book helped me reclaim my power as a woman. The wisdom in its pages goes deep, so far back it made me question everything, even after reading the Bible. I’ll definitely be reading it again—there’s so much to unpack. I want every woman I know to read it too. We need to wake up.