Includes bibliographical references (p. [252]-259). The prehistoric goddess / Anne L. Barstow;--Ishtar and her cult The prehistoric goddess / Anne L. Barstow -- Ishtar and her cult / Judith Ochshorn -- Isis and Hathor, two ancient Egyptian goddesses / C.J. Bleeker -- The mother goddess among the Greeks / Christine R. Downing -- Magna Mater:great mother of the Roman Empire / M. Renee Salzman -- The Canaanite-Hebrew goddess / Steve Davies -- The Virgin Mary:a goddess? / E. Ann Matter -- Sophia and the Mother-Father:the Gnostic goddess / Pheme Perkins -- Kali, the m mother / C. Mackenzie Brown -- Sri Lakshmi and Rha:the obsequious wife and the lustful lover / Carl Olson -- The untamed goddesses of village India / Richard L. Brubaker -- The untamed goddesses of village India / Richard L. Brubaker -- Kuan-yin:savior and savioress in Chinese Pure Land Buddhism / Diana Paul -- The significance of amaterasu in Japanese religious history / Kyoko Motomochi Nakamura -- Oshun the dancer / Joseph M. Murphy -- The religion of the goddess in North America / Ake Hultkrantz -- Hindu female deities as a resource for the contemporary rediscovery of the goddess / Rita M. Gross -- Symbols of Goddess and God in feminist theology / Carol P. Christ.