In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth, by Tikva Frymer-Kensky. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1992. Pp. xi + 292. $10.00 (paper).

    Tikva Frymer-Kensky begins her book with a simple yet poignant statement: “Religion is on people’s minds these days” (1). Her introduction serves to situate the reader in the correct frame of mind to fully engage with this book, as many different lenses will be used to analyze the concepts of monotheism, goddesses, paganism, and the synthesis of these subjects both in ancient near eastern culture and in our modern world. Frymer-Kensky ultimately poses the question, what is the role of an authentic Judaism within the modern notions of “spirituality”?

    Frymer-Kensky sheds light on this question by raising many points about the notions we have of the goddess-centered religions and their mythic lore. Frymer-Kensky details first the division of ancient polytheistic hierarchies into gender, and then the subordination of female goddesses into the domestic sphere, leaving male gods free reign over such areas as knowledge and power. Frymer-Kensky then asserts that the Bible opts not for this duality but instead for a more egalitarian perspective on humanity and community.

    Goddesses is structured in a fluid fashion making reading smooth. Beginning with an unconventional, casual preface, Frymer-Kensky undoes the bias of privileged perspective by explaining her personal history both as a scholar (specializing in Assyria and Sumer, also in Hebrew Bible) and as an individual (“a late-twentieth-century postmodern American feminist Jew”) and invites the reader to join her, using very inclusive language, and engages the reader in her logic and her thoughts throughout this work.

    The book’s first section, “The World of the Goddesses,” begins with a seamless presentation of the more important background information required to set the scene. Regarding the writings of Sumer and Akkad, Frymer-Kensky details “the god list,” a Sumerian document which categorizes gods into “an intellectually comprehensible relationship with each other” – divided, first and foremost, into genders. Frymer-Kensky succeeds in providing the reader with this foundation in a non-pedantic way which is both informative and easy to read. Frymer-Kensky explains that women took part in the creation and perpetuation of goddess myths, and thus the goddesses were not entirely male creations nor were they “female self-perceptions” reflected from human society to the divine; these stories allowed men and women to examine themselves and the other vis-a-vis contrasting “divine modeling” and “social reality” (14). Goddesses, then, as at least partially representative of women, are portrayed in many different capacities; some are loving mothers with the emphasis on compassion and loyalty (both to husbands and children), while at other times they are shown using their power to dominate others and prove their (usually only relative) prowess. Sometimes they are devoted sisters who play vital parts in the greater plot of their sibling’s stories. Frymer-Kensky brings us through each of these types, from the queens to both the domestic and non-domesticated figures, and makes assertions based on these roles, stemming from the idea that women have a “type” and this model can be used in contrast (for instance, Frymer-Kensky finds Inanna’s behavior in her refusal to take on domestic responsibilities as decidedly male).

    One comment which especially piqued my interest was just a few pages into the introduction: “If the Bible is not the first dawn of enlightenment in a world of total darkness, then what is it?” (page 3) In the next section of her book, Frymer-Kensky elaborates on this idea. “In the Absence of Goddesses: Biblical Transformations” details the idea of monotheism as being unique to Israel in the ancient world. While most ancient near eastern cultures seem to place the gods as intermediaries between humanity and nature, the Bible puts humanity in the center, making humanity’s actions the cause for God’s actions. In the latter model, “God’s actions are predictable” (105) in relation to the behavior of humanity. This segues into theodicity is explored, and paganism is also explained in basic terms that make foreign practices understandable, including the idea of one’s personal involvement in ritual especially for fertility (in contrast both with the Sumerian ideas of sacred marriage and with the Bible’s idea of such practices as “faithlessness” (105).)

    Finally we find “Sex and Gender: The Unfinished Agenda.” One of the more interesting sections is regarding adultery, incest, bestiality and homosexuality, which aren’t intrinsically problematic but instead, argues Frymer-Kensky, risk “[destroying] the categories of orderly existence” (195) and thus altering the power structures. This idea of specific set roles made me think of the uniquely human (as opposed to divine) social order that was of paramount importance to the ancient community. Biblical sexuality, then, can be seen as less of a gender issue and more of a social issue than I had previously considered. For instance, in the story of Dinah, the issue of consent is discussed; even if Dinah had given consent, it would have been insufficient. Dinah’s brothers accuse Shechem of “[treating] her as a ‘whore’” (194) because a whore has a sexuality separate from that of a family structure, and thus would have been able to make her own choices, whereas Dinah’s sexuality was directly connected to the integrity not of herself alone but of her family.

    I am reluctant to offer criticism on any part of the scholarship in this piece; Frymer-Kensky is certainly a reputable scholar and her work has been praised by many of my own teachers. Perhaps it is my relatively recent arrival into the area of biblical scholarship, then, that makes me question some of her statements. For instance, Frymer-Kensky claims that “there is nothing distinctively “female” about the way that women are portrayed in the Bible” (page 141). The creation of Adam and Eve (male and female) and the interactions of Mesopotamian Gilgamesh and Enkidu (male and male) and of Old Babylonian Ishtar and Enki (female and female), are pegged against each other to prove her point: that the issue here of gender is just in its “difference, of distinctiveness” and that “the issue is not one of superiority or inferiority.” While I see validity in this idea, my own thought differs greatly. I always looked more closely at Adam and Eve’s post-fruit punishment as the start of gender existence, since they are both given “toil” but Adam’s is of the land and Eve’s is of the body. For me this has always been a clear gender divide, and not of difference but of distance; Adam’s life will be connecting directly to God via working God’s earth, while Eve will be connecting directly only to Adam, for without him she will be unable to give birth. Perhaps Frymer-Kensky is examining this relationship in a more ontological way than I am able to; overall, I can’t really figure out how the Bible could speak to a different nature of women without showing that their role in a patriarchal society is fiercely inferior. Regardless of my disagreements with specific points, though, this book is invaluable in putting Israel alongside its neighbors for interesting comparison, and all of her ideas are thought-provoking in the most literal sense (meaning after reading the book I was still thinking about the topics). This book provides much food for thought comparing and contrasting sacred literature of our Judeo-Christian tradition with that of the Sumerian, Assyrian, and even Greek cultures. For those interested in contextualizing the Bible within the traditions of other ancient near eastern peoples, this book is especially important because of Frymer-Kensky’s extensive, detailed notes (although maybe I’m just lazy but I think a bibliography would have been nice too) and the very helpful index makes using this book for specialized study a realistic option.

    Because of the huge nature of God, and the tiny stature of humanity, it’s almost natural to want some kind of intermediary, almost to lessen the impact of God on humans. That monotheism is valid and important, however, is unquestionable, and Frymer-Kensky ends her epilogue and thus her book with the invitation to continue to “weave the rest of the Bible’s religious fabric by filling in the remaining areas” (220) through further exploration.

– Audrey Shore