Johann Jakob Bachofen, author of Das Mutterrecht (Das Mutterrecht: Eine Untersuchung der die Gyna... more Johann Jakob Bachofen, author of Das Mutterrecht (Das Mutterrecht: Eine Untersuchung der die Gynaikokratie der alten Welt nach ihrer relgiösen und rechtlichen Natur. Basel, Switzerland: Benno Schwabe, 1861) and modern inventor of the idea that prehistoric societies were matriarchal and goddess-worshipping, had little impact on the Anglo-American world, but he was tremendously influential in the German-speaking world. In the first decades of the twentieth century, his works were revived and provided much of the groundwork for fascist understandings of myth and symbol in Germany. Impressively, Bachofen’s ideas about matriarchy found champions even among the Nazi leadership, in spite of the Third Reich’s overall celebration of Aryan manliness. The ability of matriarchal myth to function on both the political left (as among communists and feminists from the 1880s to the present) and the political right (from Bachofen through National Socialist Germany) raises interesting questions about the political uses of matriarchal myth in particular, and also about myth in general.
Recent biographies of Sir Arthur Evans and histories of his excavations at Knossos have made it c... more Recent biographies of Sir Arthur Evans and histories of his excavations at Knossos have made it clear that Evans’s description of Minoan religion was not solidly based on the material evidence at Knossos. By the time Evans wrote The Palace of Minos he was fully committed to the belief that the Minoans worshipped a single Great Mother Goddess in many guises, along with a subordinate male deity, her son. There are two key questions about Evans’s vision of Minoan religion: first, when did Evans arrive at the conclusion that the Minoans’ principal deity was a goddess? And second, why did he prefer this goddess-centered explanation of the material facts when so many other stories could be told about the religious meaning of the same objects? The most common answers to these questions are that Evans thought Minoan religion was goddess-centered from the time he first began to explore Bronze Age Crete, and that he was drawn to the figure of a Mother Goddess because he lost his own mother when he was only six years old. Both of these suppositions are almost certainly mistaken. Evans did not bring the goddess thesis with him to Crete, and whatever his lingering feelings about his mother’s death, they were not responsible for his conversion to the goddess thesis for Minoan culture. This paper argues that by far the most significant factor in Evans’s creation of the Minoan Goddess was his exposure to the work of Sir James George Frazer, both directly and through the auspices of classicist Jane Ellen Harrison.
More than a century before many American feminists embraced the idea that prehistoric societies w... more More than a century before many American feminists embraced the idea that prehistoric societies were woman-centered, if not woman-ruled, this theory was an all but universally-accepted history of humanity laid out by prominent anthropologists, especially in Great Britain. Caught in the wave of the emerging doctrine of evolutionism, Victorian anthropologists began in the 1860s and 1870s to examine “primitives” for evidence of their own prehistoric cultural development. Differences among peoples that had previously been placed on a geographic map of cultural diffusion became data used to form a chronological timeline of human cultural development. This article explores some of the variants of the matriarchal thesis set forth by Victorian-era anthropologists, and asks what social factors led to the widespread acceptance of the theory of matriarchal prehistory in late-nineteenth century England and its abandonment beginning at the turn of the twentieth century.
Beginning in 1861 with the publication of Das Mutterrecht (Motherright) by the Swiss legal schola... more Beginning in 1861 with the publication of Das Mutterrecht (Motherright) by the Swiss legal scholar Johann Jakob Bachofen, there has been a continuous interest in the theory that prehistoric societies were matriarchal or at least woman-centered, only to be disrupted by the assumption of male power, usually around 3000 BCE. This idea has been enormously appealing to feminists, particularly in late-twentieth-century America. In some feminist circles, what I have called the myth of matriarchal prehistory has reigned as political dogma; in others it has provided food for thought; while in yet others it has served as the basis of a new religion. This article describes the ways in which first and second wave feminists respectively have adapted matriarchal myth to their political needs and disseminated it to a wider audience.
For archaeologists, the principal value of prehistoric figurines is that they offer a means – how... more For archaeologists, the principal value of prehistoric figurines is that they offer a means – however limited – into the cultures and lives of prehistoric peoples. There is a long tradition of archaeologists assuming that the figurines they unearth had a religious significance for the people who created them (since anthropomorphic figurines have a religious use in many cultures with which we are familiar). However, just as archaeologists began questioning their attribution of divine status to prehistoric figurines in the 1960s, practitioners of neopagan and goddess spiritualities – particularly those in the feminist spirituality movement – were adopting it. Moreover, in addition to describing prehistoric figurines as images of a Great Goddess who dominated prehistoric religious life, these contemporary feminist neopagans use reproductions of prehistoric figurines to inspire and enact their own spirituality. Feminist neopagan appropriation of prehistoric figurines has been problematic for many archaeologists, who quarrel – legitimately – with the conclusions feminist neopagans make about prehistory based on these artefacts. Yet, as this article argues, the contemporary religious use of prehistoric figurines should not be a matter for archaeologists to decide.
One of the foremost champions of the ‘Dark Mother’ today is the overwhelmingly white feminist spi... more One of the foremost champions of the ‘Dark Mother’ today is the overwhelmingly white feminist spirituality movement, based in the United States and Europe. Over the past twenty-five years, white spiritual feminists have approached the figure of the Dark Mother, which is borrowed from Hindu, African and Christian sources, with a uniquely fraught mix of longing, envy, hope, fear and guilt. This article first discusses the explicit justifications that white spiritual feminists offer for the incorporation of the Dark Mother into their religiosity, including their analysis of how the concepts of ‘lightness’ and ‘darkness’ are deployed and gendered in patriarchal religions. It then argues that, contrary to spiritual feminist claims, the Dark Mother as such does not exist cross-culturally but is rather the joint creation of the history of religions, Jungian psychology and spiritual feminist ingenuity, and that she is constructed and utilised primarily as a means of working through white racial guilt.
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Jan 1, 2000
One of the outstanding features of the feminist spirituality movement is its pronounced visual or... more One of the outstanding features of the feminist spirituality movement is its pronounced visual orientation. Drawing heavily on feminist art of the 1970s and beyond, feminist spirituality is especially interested in representations of goddesses and women, which are used for ritual and meditation, among other purposes. After describing the visual materials of feminist spirituality and discussing how they work to symbolize the movement’s thealogy, I argue that this use of female images is problematic in feminist terms for two reasons: first, because it tends to perpetuate the objectification and specularization of women familiar in sexist western culture, as well as women’s often self-defeating preoccupation with bodily appearance; and second, because religiously it limits goddesses (and through them, women) in a way that the male deities of Western religion—who are almost always considered to be beyond representation—are not limited.
Inner Peace, World Peace Essays on Buddhism …, Jan 1, 1992
序號. 343061. 題名. The Impact of Christianity on Buddhist Nonviolence in the West. 作者. Eller,Cynthia... more 序號. 343061. 題名. The Impact of Christianity on Buddhist Nonviolence in the West. 作者. Eller,Cynthia. 出處題名. Inner Peace, World Peace Essays on Buddhism and Nonviolence. 卷期. 日期. 2000.01.01. 頁次. 出版者. NetLibrary, Inc. 出版地. Boulder, CO [US]. 資料類型. 書籍=Book ...
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Gentlemen and Amazons traces the nineteenth-century genesis and development of an important conte... more Gentlemen and Amazons traces the nineteenth-century genesis and development of an important contemporary myth about human origins: that of an original prehistoric matriarchy. Cynthia Eller explores the intellectual history of the myth, which arose from male scholars who mostly wanted to vindicate the patriarchal family model as a higher stage of human development. Eller tells the stories these men told, analyzes the gendered assumptions they made, and provides the necessary context for understanding how feminists of the 1970s and 1980s embraced as historical “fact” a discredited nineteenth-century idea.
In this smart, intimate, and conversational book, Cynthia Eller delves into the twin thickets of ... more In this smart, intimate, and conversational book, Cynthia Eller delves into the twin thickets of gender theory and everyday experience to ask how we decide who is a woman-and why we find the answer important. Is a woman defined by her anatomy? Does she perceive the world differently than men? Is it her behavior that somehow marks her as inescapably female? Or is it a matter of how others evaluate her? Eller's answers demonstrate that the question is far more complicated, and its effects more pernicious, than it might at first appear.
According to the myth of matriarchal prehistory, men and women lived together peacefully before r... more According to the myth of matriarchal prehistory, men and women lived together peacefully before recorded history. Society was centered around women, with their mysterious life-giving powers, and they were honored as incarnations and priestesses of the Great Goddess. Then a transformation occurred, and men thereafter dominated society.
Given the universality of patriarchy in recorded history, this vision is understandably appealing for many women. But does it have any basis in fact? And as a myth, does it work for the good of women? Cynthia Eller traces the emergence of the feminist matriarchal myth, explicates its functions, and examines the evidence for and against a matriarchal prehistory. Finally, she explains why this vision of peaceful, woman-centered prehistory is something feminists should be wary of.
A fascinating introduction to one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the United States... more A fascinating introduction to one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the United States today. Through interviews, participant-observation, and analysis of movement literature, Cynthia Eller explores what women who worship the goddess believe; how they express those beliefs in private, in public, and in the political realm; and the place of feminist spirituality in the history of American religion.
Was pacifism an acceptable response to Hitler's military and moral assault? This volume analyzes ... more Was pacifism an acceptable response to Hitler's military and moral assault? This volume analyzes the moral and religious arguments justifying an individual's opposition to war while answering this question. Drawing largely on interviews with sixty World War II conscientious objectors, including those who served in military non-combatant or civilian roles and those who were jailed as violators of the Selective Service law, this study provides an oral history of the difficulties encountered as a conscientious objector in the Last Good War, and uses World War II as a case study for examining how people arrive at the moral decisions they act upon.
Faced with the moral certainty of the Allied position in World War II, pacifism was clearly an unpopular position at that time. This work provides a thorough description of the political and social history of pacifism prior to and including World War II and describes the wide variety of theological, political, and moral beliefs on which pacifism is grounded. The discussion focuses on the factors that defining the pacifist attitude and actions, and also considers the consequences of those actions. Contrary to generally accepted views, the pacifist's concern with the future ramifications of his or her decisions is affirmed. Careful documentation and an interdisciplinary scope offer oral historians, historians of World War II, World War II conscientious objectors, pacifists, and the general public a solid and scholarly look at pacifism.
Johann Jakob Bachofen, author of Das Mutterrecht (Das Mutterrecht: Eine Untersuchung der die Gyna... more Johann Jakob Bachofen, author of Das Mutterrecht (Das Mutterrecht: Eine Untersuchung der die Gynaikokratie der alten Welt nach ihrer relgiösen und rechtlichen Natur. Basel, Switzerland: Benno Schwabe, 1861) and modern inventor of the idea that prehistoric societies were matriarchal and goddess-worshipping, had little impact on the Anglo-American world, but he was tremendously influential in the German-speaking world. In the first decades of the twentieth century, his works were revived and provided much of the groundwork for fascist understandings of myth and symbol in Germany. Impressively, Bachofen’s ideas about matriarchy found champions even among the Nazi leadership, in spite of the Third Reich’s overall celebration of Aryan manliness. The ability of matriarchal myth to function on both the political left (as among communists and feminists from the 1880s to the present) and the political right (from Bachofen through National Socialist Germany) raises interesting questions about the political uses of matriarchal myth in particular, and also about myth in general.
Recent biographies of Sir Arthur Evans and histories of his excavations at Knossos have made it c... more Recent biographies of Sir Arthur Evans and histories of his excavations at Knossos have made it clear that Evans’s description of Minoan religion was not solidly based on the material evidence at Knossos. By the time Evans wrote The Palace of Minos he was fully committed to the belief that the Minoans worshipped a single Great Mother Goddess in many guises, along with a subordinate male deity, her son. There are two key questions about Evans’s vision of Minoan religion: first, when did Evans arrive at the conclusion that the Minoans’ principal deity was a goddess? And second, why did he prefer this goddess-centered explanation of the material facts when so many other stories could be told about the religious meaning of the same objects? The most common answers to these questions are that Evans thought Minoan religion was goddess-centered from the time he first began to explore Bronze Age Crete, and that he was drawn to the figure of a Mother Goddess because he lost his own mother when he was only six years old. Both of these suppositions are almost certainly mistaken. Evans did not bring the goddess thesis with him to Crete, and whatever his lingering feelings about his mother’s death, they were not responsible for his conversion to the goddess thesis for Minoan culture. This paper argues that by far the most significant factor in Evans’s creation of the Minoan Goddess was his exposure to the work of Sir James George Frazer, both directly and through the auspices of classicist Jane Ellen Harrison.
More than a century before many American feminists embraced the idea that prehistoric societies w... more More than a century before many American feminists embraced the idea that prehistoric societies were woman-centered, if not woman-ruled, this theory was an all but universally-accepted history of humanity laid out by prominent anthropologists, especially in Great Britain. Caught in the wave of the emerging doctrine of evolutionism, Victorian anthropologists began in the 1860s and 1870s to examine “primitives” for evidence of their own prehistoric cultural development. Differences among peoples that had previously been placed on a geographic map of cultural diffusion became data used to form a chronological timeline of human cultural development. This article explores some of the variants of the matriarchal thesis set forth by Victorian-era anthropologists, and asks what social factors led to the widespread acceptance of the theory of matriarchal prehistory in late-nineteenth century England and its abandonment beginning at the turn of the twentieth century.
Beginning in 1861 with the publication of Das Mutterrecht (Motherright) by the Swiss legal schola... more Beginning in 1861 with the publication of Das Mutterrecht (Motherright) by the Swiss legal scholar Johann Jakob Bachofen, there has been a continuous interest in the theory that prehistoric societies were matriarchal or at least woman-centered, only to be disrupted by the assumption of male power, usually around 3000 BCE. This idea has been enormously appealing to feminists, particularly in late-twentieth-century America. In some feminist circles, what I have called the myth of matriarchal prehistory has reigned as political dogma; in others it has provided food for thought; while in yet others it has served as the basis of a new religion. This article describes the ways in which first and second wave feminists respectively have adapted matriarchal myth to their political needs and disseminated it to a wider audience.
For archaeologists, the principal value of prehistoric figurines is that they offer a means – how... more For archaeologists, the principal value of prehistoric figurines is that they offer a means – however limited – into the cultures and lives of prehistoric peoples. There is a long tradition of archaeologists assuming that the figurines they unearth had a religious significance for the people who created them (since anthropomorphic figurines have a religious use in many cultures with which we are familiar). However, just as archaeologists began questioning their attribution of divine status to prehistoric figurines in the 1960s, practitioners of neopagan and goddess spiritualities – particularly those in the feminist spirituality movement – were adopting it. Moreover, in addition to describing prehistoric figurines as images of a Great Goddess who dominated prehistoric religious life, these contemporary feminist neopagans use reproductions of prehistoric figurines to inspire and enact their own spirituality. Feminist neopagan appropriation of prehistoric figurines has been problematic for many archaeologists, who quarrel – legitimately – with the conclusions feminist neopagans make about prehistory based on these artefacts. Yet, as this article argues, the contemporary religious use of prehistoric figurines should not be a matter for archaeologists to decide.
One of the foremost champions of the ‘Dark Mother’ today is the overwhelmingly white feminist spi... more One of the foremost champions of the ‘Dark Mother’ today is the overwhelmingly white feminist spirituality movement, based in the United States and Europe. Over the past twenty-five years, white spiritual feminists have approached the figure of the Dark Mother, which is borrowed from Hindu, African and Christian sources, with a uniquely fraught mix of longing, envy, hope, fear and guilt. This article first discusses the explicit justifications that white spiritual feminists offer for the incorporation of the Dark Mother into their religiosity, including their analysis of how the concepts of ‘lightness’ and ‘darkness’ are deployed and gendered in patriarchal religions. It then argues that, contrary to spiritual feminist claims, the Dark Mother as such does not exist cross-culturally but is rather the joint creation of the history of religions, Jungian psychology and spiritual feminist ingenuity, and that she is constructed and utilised primarily as a means of working through white racial guilt.
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Jan 1, 2000
One of the outstanding features of the feminist spirituality movement is its pronounced visual or... more One of the outstanding features of the feminist spirituality movement is its pronounced visual orientation. Drawing heavily on feminist art of the 1970s and beyond, feminist spirituality is especially interested in representations of goddesses and women, which are used for ritual and meditation, among other purposes. After describing the visual materials of feminist spirituality and discussing how they work to symbolize the movement’s thealogy, I argue that this use of female images is problematic in feminist terms for two reasons: first, because it tends to perpetuate the objectification and specularization of women familiar in sexist western culture, as well as women’s often self-defeating preoccupation with bodily appearance; and second, because religiously it limits goddesses (and through them, women) in a way that the male deities of Western religion—who are almost always considered to be beyond representation—are not limited.
Inner Peace, World Peace Essays on Buddhism …, Jan 1, 1992
序號. 343061. 題名. The Impact of Christianity on Buddhist Nonviolence in the West. 作者. Eller,Cynthia... more 序號. 343061. 題名. The Impact of Christianity on Buddhist Nonviolence in the West. 作者. Eller,Cynthia. 出處題名. Inner Peace, World Peace Essays on Buddhism and Nonviolence. 卷期. 日期. 2000.01.01. 頁次. 出版者. NetLibrary, Inc. 出版地. Boulder, CO [US]. 資料類型. 書籍=Book ...
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Gentlemen and Amazons traces the nineteenth-century genesis and development of an important conte... more Gentlemen and Amazons traces the nineteenth-century genesis and development of an important contemporary myth about human origins: that of an original prehistoric matriarchy. Cynthia Eller explores the intellectual history of the myth, which arose from male scholars who mostly wanted to vindicate the patriarchal family model as a higher stage of human development. Eller tells the stories these men told, analyzes the gendered assumptions they made, and provides the necessary context for understanding how feminists of the 1970s and 1980s embraced as historical “fact” a discredited nineteenth-century idea.
In this smart, intimate, and conversational book, Cynthia Eller delves into the twin thickets of ... more In this smart, intimate, and conversational book, Cynthia Eller delves into the twin thickets of gender theory and everyday experience to ask how we decide who is a woman-and why we find the answer important. Is a woman defined by her anatomy? Does she perceive the world differently than men? Is it her behavior that somehow marks her as inescapably female? Or is it a matter of how others evaluate her? Eller's answers demonstrate that the question is far more complicated, and its effects more pernicious, than it might at first appear.
According to the myth of matriarchal prehistory, men and women lived together peacefully before r... more According to the myth of matriarchal prehistory, men and women lived together peacefully before recorded history. Society was centered around women, with their mysterious life-giving powers, and they were honored as incarnations and priestesses of the Great Goddess. Then a transformation occurred, and men thereafter dominated society.
Given the universality of patriarchy in recorded history, this vision is understandably appealing for many women. But does it have any basis in fact? And as a myth, does it work for the good of women? Cynthia Eller traces the emergence of the feminist matriarchal myth, explicates its functions, and examines the evidence for and against a matriarchal prehistory. Finally, she explains why this vision of peaceful, woman-centered prehistory is something feminists should be wary of.
A fascinating introduction to one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the United States... more A fascinating introduction to one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the United States today. Through interviews, participant-observation, and analysis of movement literature, Cynthia Eller explores what women who worship the goddess believe; how they express those beliefs in private, in public, and in the political realm; and the place of feminist spirituality in the history of American religion.
Was pacifism an acceptable response to Hitler's military and moral assault? This volume analyzes ... more Was pacifism an acceptable response to Hitler's military and moral assault? This volume analyzes the moral and religious arguments justifying an individual's opposition to war while answering this question. Drawing largely on interviews with sixty World War II conscientious objectors, including those who served in military non-combatant or civilian roles and those who were jailed as violators of the Selective Service law, this study provides an oral history of the difficulties encountered as a conscientious objector in the Last Good War, and uses World War II as a case study for examining how people arrive at the moral decisions they act upon.
Faced with the moral certainty of the Allied position in World War II, pacifism was clearly an unpopular position at that time. This work provides a thorough description of the political and social history of pacifism prior to and including World War II and describes the wide variety of theological, political, and moral beliefs on which pacifism is grounded. The discussion focuses on the factors that defining the pacifist attitude and actions, and also considers the consequences of those actions. Contrary to generally accepted views, the pacifist's concern with the future ramifications of his or her decisions is affirmed. Careful documentation and an interdisciplinary scope offer oral historians, historians of World War II, World War II conscientious objectors, pacifists, and the general public a solid and scholarly look at pacifism.
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Papers by Cynthia Eller
The most common answers to these questions are that Evans thought Minoan religion was goddess-centered from the time he first began to explore Bronze Age Crete, and that he was drawn to the figure of a Mother Goddess because he lost his own mother when he was only six years old. Both of these suppositions are almost certainly mistaken. Evans did not bring the goddess thesis with him to Crete, and whatever his lingering feelings about his mother’s death, they were not responsible for his conversion to the goddess thesis for Minoan culture. This paper argues that by far the most significant factor in Evans’s creation of the Minoan Goddess was his exposure to the work of Sir James George Frazer, both directly and through the auspices of classicist Jane Ellen Harrison.
Books by Cynthia Eller
Given the universality of patriarchy in recorded history, this vision is understandably appealing for many women. But does it have any basis in fact? And as a myth, does it work for the good of women? Cynthia Eller traces the emergence of the feminist matriarchal myth, explicates its functions, and examines the evidence for and against a matriarchal prehistory. Finally, she explains why this vision of peaceful, woman-centered prehistory is something feminists should be wary of.
Faced with the moral certainty of the Allied position in World War II, pacifism was clearly an unpopular position at that time. This work provides a thorough description of the political and social history of pacifism prior to and including World War II and describes the wide variety of theological, political, and moral beliefs on which pacifism is grounded. The discussion focuses on the factors that defining the pacifist attitude and actions, and also considers the consequences of those actions. Contrary to generally accepted views, the pacifist's concern with the future ramifications of his or her decisions is affirmed. Careful documentation and an interdisciplinary scope offer oral historians, historians of World War II, World War II conscientious objectors, pacifists, and the general public a solid and scholarly look at pacifism.
The most common answers to these questions are that Evans thought Minoan religion was goddess-centered from the time he first began to explore Bronze Age Crete, and that he was drawn to the figure of a Mother Goddess because he lost his own mother when he was only six years old. Both of these suppositions are almost certainly mistaken. Evans did not bring the goddess thesis with him to Crete, and whatever his lingering feelings about his mother’s death, they were not responsible for his conversion to the goddess thesis for Minoan culture. This paper argues that by far the most significant factor in Evans’s creation of the Minoan Goddess was his exposure to the work of Sir James George Frazer, both directly and through the auspices of classicist Jane Ellen Harrison.
Given the universality of patriarchy in recorded history, this vision is understandably appealing for many women. But does it have any basis in fact? And as a myth, does it work for the good of women? Cynthia Eller traces the emergence of the feminist matriarchal myth, explicates its functions, and examines the evidence for and against a matriarchal prehistory. Finally, she explains why this vision of peaceful, woman-centered prehistory is something feminists should be wary of.
Faced with the moral certainty of the Allied position in World War II, pacifism was clearly an unpopular position at that time. This work provides a thorough description of the political and social history of pacifism prior to and including World War II and describes the wide variety of theological, political, and moral beliefs on which pacifism is grounded. The discussion focuses on the factors that defining the pacifist attitude and actions, and also considers the consequences of those actions. Contrary to generally accepted views, the pacifist's concern with the future ramifications of his or her decisions is affirmed. Careful documentation and an interdisciplinary scope offer oral historians, historians of World War II, World War II conscientious objectors, pacifists, and the general public a solid and scholarly look at pacifism.