Comments on: Book Review: 10 Books That Screwed Up the World By Benjamin Wiker PHD http://www.bloggernews.net/115897 High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news. Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:02:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Julien Peter Benney http://www.bloggernews.net/115897#comment-1384892 Julien Peter Benney Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:36:00 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/115897#comment-1384892 On "alternative Garden of Eden" that I have long noted Wiker to ignore (ironically, perhaps, given that until I heard it read I often pronounced his surname like "wicca") is that of the prehistoric matriarchal paradise based around the "Great Goddess". It is an idea probably best known today from Marija Gimbutas' "Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe" and discovered by me from the brilliant but ridiculous "The First Sex" by Elizabeth Gould Davis. The two books Wiker could have included to cover this are Jules Michelet's "La Socière" of 1863 and Johann Bachofen's "Myth, Religion and Mother-Right" of 1861. Bachofen might be particularly valuable as a choice since he influenced Engels' conception of the family, but Michelet was arguably more influential on more modern figures like Gimbutas and Gloria Steinem. Merely looking at ordinary human ecology books made me severely suspicious of matriarchal prehistory without reading serious critiques - in a manner absent with ideas Wiker does discuss. Also, Wiccan and other neopagan religions are most popular in the very nation - the US - that remains least secularised. If he knows this, Wiker might believe or recognise goddess-based religions as an inessential component of the decline of Christianity. On “alternative Garden of Eden” that I have long noted Wiker to ignore (ironically, perhaps, given that until I heard it read I often pronounced his surname like “wicca”) is that of the prehistoric matriarchal paradise based around the “Great Goddess”. It is an idea probably best known today from Marija Gimbutas’ “Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe” and discovered by me from the brilliant but ridiculous “The First Sex” by Elizabeth Gould Davis.

The two books Wiker could have included to cover this are Jules Michelet’s “La Socière” of 1863 and Johann Bachofen’s “Myth, Religion and Mother-Right” of 1861. Bachofen might be particularly valuable as a choice since he influenced Engels’ conception of the family, but Michelet was arguably more influential on more modern figures like Gimbutas and Gloria Steinem.

Merely looking at ordinary human ecology books made me severely suspicious of matriarchal prehistory without reading serious critiques - in a manner absent with ideas Wiker does discuss. Also, Wiccan and other neopagan religions are most popular in the very nation - the US - that remains least secularised. If he knows this, Wiker might believe or recognise goddess-based religions as an inessential component of the decline of Christianity.

]]> By: Felix http://www.bloggernews.net/115897#comment-1383947 Felix Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:22:03 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/115897#comment-1383947 Let's get the facts right - Descarte may well have been misguided but he wasn't an atheist. Let’s get the facts right - Descarte may well have been misguided but he wasn’t an atheist.

]]> By: Tor Hershman http://www.bloggernews.net/115897#comment-354572 Tor Hershman Mon, 26 May 2008 18:42:02 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/115897#comment-354572 How about the book/play by Ovid and his ridiculous, supermanesque characters? Here’s a YouTube film about his book/play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzY2bVsZK5s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sckuqPulRGk How about the book/play by Ovid and his ridiculous, supermanesque characters?
Here’s a YouTube film about his book/play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzY2bVsZK5s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sckuqPulRGk

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