Full description not available
S**N
My favorite aspect of The Cosmic Shekinah
My favorite aspect of The Cosmic Shekinah: A Historical Study of the Goddess of the Old Testament and Kabbalah, by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine, is the large amount of source material they index and use to illustrate who Shekinah is, a more-or-less universal wisdom goddess, across a handful of traditions, and her symbolism is explained often. I love that, because this symbolism can be used by spiritual seekers to access the goddess. This book is a source of symbolism that I am sure other authors have forgotten simply through lack of breadth of research. Symbols contain power because they help us access the energy of the divine. D’Este and Rankine argue that Shekinah used to have an important role in ancient times of engaging certain qualities of humanity, and with people putting them together to achieve something, could be honored and trusted. This is important to show how she did survive, and why. Every effort is made to give Shekinah and her counterparts a positive role and place in the societies that worshipped her, and the authors show that she was still worshipped in old ways after she was outlawed. This is valuable because Christianity still assumes dis-accreditation, or continues the erasure of Shekinah, from its space. She’s still there; it’s covered over with rubble. The authors attempt excavation.While the authors make a case to show that the wisdom goddess couldn’t be eradicated from the Bible, D’Este and Rankine do not highlight what was lost conceptually when the Shekinah left the earth, so to speak, because they are more concerned with how she morphed and changed into other goddesses. They clearly illustrate the transition from ancient religion to Christianity in terms of Asherah, and the transition to Mother Mary is shown, although it has to be defended. --What survived from this transition was very little in terms of strength, power, and influence. The goddess loses her name. She loses her place. d’Este and Rankine focus on how Astarte/Shekinah/Asherah made the change from important goddess to background presence, and do not say what happened next. The authors provide a transitional piece that follows the goddess tradition with how it moved, mentioning, but not emphasizing, what sank into the realm of time; that is for us to discover. While not the entire story with all its remnants, this remains one of the most definitive and inscribing sources upon which the text of Shekinah is still being written, and gives guides on how the Shekinah was worshipped throughout time.
N**Y
Essential Reading
From someone who has a BA in religious studies and who continuously studies the complexities and histories of religion(s), I must say that this book is a true winner. The amount of info is amazing, and although the authors make some leaps quite often, the language is always clear as to the information vis-a-vis the authors' interpretations. The common threads linking Wisdom, The Goddess, The Serpent, and other concepts/symbols/signs/what-have-you are amazing to behold, and there are plenty of breadcrumbs given that are worth slowing down for and exploring through one's own research. This book is a goldmine and should be more widely read - do not let the fact that a major publisher didn't publish this book put you off.
L**S
Beautifully written and well researched
Beautiful book, very well written. The only thing I missed was illustrations, when reading it I just googled for pictures of the statues and monuments mentioned in the book and I hope the writers will include them in their next print/issue. A book definitely worth reading! The vast knowledge of the authors of the material they discuss is brought in easy manner - but while reading you will not only get an understanding of the evolution of Sophia, but some interesting insights in kabalistic thinking as well.
R**U
Shekinah
This is a must get title along with Sophia, godess of wisdom, Bride of Christ, On the Wings of Shekhnah. As a historian, one presumes we have no idea what the Shekinah glory as found in the Bible is. This show the lack of understanding of the modern man of the cloth when it comes to how the early church taught, what the early Jews believed. These three books shows a plethora, indeed a goldmine of information on this subject. It is modern mans lack of knowledge and personal bias that makes this topic hard to understand. I recommend you grab these three title and go back to how the early church and early Jews viewed this all important topic.
M**Y
5 stars
I learned so much I never knew. It was a deep book and still need to finish it. But Women we are more then we think we are. Bravo to the author!!!!!
S**L
Divine Feminine
The book is informative. It is at times almost too detailed but it answered all of my questions threw and threw. I would definitely recommend this book.
M**A
Wonderful read
great book for those interested in the Wisdom Goddess and Her manifestations throughout various cultures and spiritual traditions. great foundation for further exploration of Jewish mysticism. As always, the bibliography is an excellent source of other reading material to explore.
P**A
Very interesting panoramic view of the Goddess
A history of the Goddess it is, so you would not be wasting your money if you bought this book. I read it a while ago, but I remember thouroughly enjoying it. Very informative, too.
Trustpilot
1 month ago
4 days ago