Monday, 1 February 2010 Divine Women Hidden History Of Women In Religion

I thought the first episode of Divine Women - a BBC documentary about goddesses - was very good indeed and worth watching if you are a pagan or interested in history. It was on BBC 2 yesterday at 9pm. Programmes on BBC TV Channels are usually available to watch on iPlayer for at least a week after they are shown: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

In the first episode, called Divine Women - When God Was a Girl, historian Bettany Hughes looked at the world's most ancient civilisations and found that rather than worshipping male gods, most worshipped goddesses or at least revered women. Bettany argued that these fertility goddesses were often supplanted by male gods of battle as society became more warlike. This is quite a controversial subject, but I thought it was handled extremely well in the documentary.

The next episode is on BBC 2 next Wednesday evening and is called Handmaids of the Gods. It examines the lost era of the priestess, from the ancient Greeks to early Christianity.

You can also order a free 16-page booklet called Divine Women from the Open University. It explores five controversial areas around women and religion and you can order a copy via the OU website here: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/culture/religious-studies/order-your-free-divine-women-booklet I have sent off for my copy and hope it arrives soon.

Link and previous post

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01g8ck1

http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2012/04/tv-divine-women-when-god-was-girl.html