When God Was a Woman

In When God Was a Woman, Merlin Stone argues that Hebrew religious authorities systematically dismantled goddess worship and matrilineal traditions through deliberate political and religious strategies designed to establish patriarchal control. Stone contends that this transformation was not a natural evolution of religious thought but rather a calculated campaign that employed legal mandates, violent persecution, and theological reconstruction to eliminate feminine religious authority. The author demonstrates that the suppression of goddess worship served the dual purpose of consolidating masculine power while establishing paternal inheritance systems that required strict control over female sexuality and reproductive autonomy.

The legal framework established by Hebrew authorities reveals the systematic nature of their campaign against goddess worship through laws that mandated execution for religious dissent. Stone documents how Levite priests created legislation requiring Hebrew men to kill family members who suggested serving deities other than Yahweh, including children, spouses, and close friends. These laws extended beyond individual persecution to encompass entire communities, commanding the destruction of towns that continued practicing goddess worship. The severity of these punishments demonstrates that Hebrew authorities viewed goddess worship as an existential threat to their religious and political authority. Stone argues that such extreme measures were necessary because goddess worship represented an alternative social system that challenged masculine dominance by providing women with economic independence and religious authority.