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Welcome to The Divine Feminine
Welcome to The Divine Feminine. This course completes the path to the title Apostle.
For most of recorded history, the people who wrote scripture, led worship, and decided what counted as holy were men. Yet the sacred has often been imagined as female: as a mother goddess, as divine Wisdom, as the presence of God dwelling among the people, as the mother of the divine. And in every age, women have found ways to pray, teach, prophesy, and lead, often at great cost.
In this course you will study goddess traditions of the ancient world, the question of whether God was once worshiped as a woman, the feminine faces of the divine, how the women of scripture were sorted into saints and sinners, how Jesus and Muhammad brought women into their movements and how later generations pushed them out, the ways religion has harmed women, and the women who have reclaimed the sacred.
Some of what you will read is inspiring, and some of it is painful. You will be asked to weigh the evidence, to honor the women whose stories you study, and to reach your own conclusions.
How This Course Works
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite | None. Titles and degrees begin with ordination through the Ordination Orientation. |
| Pace | Self-paced. Most students finish in four to six weeks, studying about four to five hours a week. There are no deadlines. |
| Structure | Eight modules. Each module has a lesson, a reading assignment, and a ten-question quiz. |
| Book report | Read one of the books offered, pass its ten-question quiz, and write a one-paragraph summary, after Module 8. |
| Final exam | Fifteen multiple-choice questions and one essay of 1,500 to 2,000 words, taken after Module 8. |
| Credit | 3 credit hours. After ordination, this course allows you to use the title Apostle. |
Grading
| Part | To pass |
|---|---|
| Module quizzes (8) | Pass each with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Book report quiz (10 questions) | Pass with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Book report summary (one paragraph) | Approved by the school |
| Final exam, Part 1 (multiple choice) | Pass with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Final exam, Part 2 (one essay, 1,500 to 2,000 words) | Approved by the school |
Required texts
- When God Was a Woman, Merlin Stone
- The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory, Cynthia Eller
- Beyond God the Father, Mary Daly
Many of these books are available from public libraries, used bookstores, and as ebooks.
What you will study
Module 1: The Feminine and the Sacred Module 2: Goddesses of the Ancient World Module 3: Was God Once a Woman? The Great Goddess Debate Module 4: The Feminine Face of God in the World’s Traditions Module 5: Saint or Whore: How Women of Scripture Were Remembered Module 6: Jesus, Muhammad, and the Women Who Followed Them Module 7: When Religion Has Harmed Women Module 8: Women Reclaiming the Sacred
Book report choices
When God Was a Woman, Merlin Stone; The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory, Cynthia Eller
Academic honesty
All written work must be your own. You may quote and discuss the course readings and other sources, but you must say where the words and ideas came from. Submitting work written by someone else, including work generated entirely by AI tools, is not permitted.