The Divine Warrior
In her book Laughter of Aphrodite, Carol P. Christ tells us, "I also reject the image of the divine warrior as female [and] Goddesses of war such as Ishtar and Athena. I do not believe that the images of warrior Goddesses grew out of experiences, values, and cultures created by women. But even if they did, I would not view them as liberating images for us today."

I worship the goddess called Inanna by the Sumerians and Ishtar by the Babylonians, so Christ's words are a direct challenge to someone like me. Christ says she respects the choice of feminists who are inspired by images of female warriors such as the Amazons, but she hopes "they will also carefully examine the implications of the symbol of a warrior God/Goddess in a nuclear age."

There are a number of ways I can respond to Christ's challenge - I think the most salient being that the greedy land grabs which have been dignified with the title "war" are only one use to which aggression can be put. A warrior goddess, and a warrior woman, can fight for other things.

Inanna/Ishtar is a complicated character - trickster, bride, midwife, and whore, rain goddess as well as "queen of attack and hand-to-hand fighting". But her ferocious temper and her association with weapons and battle mean that if any goddess can be called a Goddess of War, She can. Enheduanna arms Inanna with lance, mace, axe, bow, and dagger, and compares her to a male soldier. She describes Inanna slashing and smashing her enemies' heads and gorging on their corpses like a dog.

But when we examine Inanna's stories, what does she actually go to war for? In Inanna and Ebih, the goddess subdues a mountain that failed to pay her the appropriate divine respect. More importantly, she does so explicitly without the support of An, king of the gods. Betty de Shong Meador says: 'We witness a moment of transformation. She who formerly bowed to great An, as daughter to father, now moves on her own, against his will... Inanna commands her forces free of An, free of the Anunna, superior to all gods… She rules alone, not at the behest of An.' This is little like the stories of earthly war in the Hebrew Bible; it's a coming-of-age tale, the victory of a goddess over not just her enemy, but the patriarchal structure of heaven itself.

In Inanna and Šu-kale-tuda, the goddess relentlessly pursues a shepherd who raped Her while She slept, cursing the land by turning water to blood and blocking the roads until She obtains justice. The Exaltation of Inanna is a lamentation: Enheduanna, the high priestess whose writings promoted Inanna to her high status, has been unfairly ousted from her position. She vividly describes the goddess' warlike nature as part of her prayer for rescue.

Carol Christ points out Yahweh's positive side in the Hebrew Bible, liberating his people and demanding social justice from them, but she says this can't be divorced from his warlike nature. In Inanna, the demand for justice seems actually fused with bloodthirstiness. Betty De Shong Meador says of Her, 'Inanna is an unsubdued, multifaceted, energetic female force. She is raw energy bursting for expression.'

There is a crucial difference between ancient and modern Paganism: what were once state religions which maintained the status quo have become alternative religions which can challenge the status quo. In the stories we have of her, Inanna/Ishtar is a fighter, but not a conqueror; she battles for herself, not for the state. For modern women, an independent, assertive, and courageous warrior goddess like Inanna/Ishtar has a very different meaning to Yahweh, the 'man of war'.
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Christ, Carol P. "Yahweh as Divine Warrior". in Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a Journey to the Goddess. Harper and Row, San Francisco, 1987.
Jacobsen, Thorkild. The Treasures of Darkness: a history of Mesopotamian religion. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1976.
Meador, Betty De Shong. Inanna: Lady of Largest Heart: Poems of the Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna. University of Texas Press, Austin, 2000