Educational Media Reviews Online

This 3-disc series, which originally aired on BBC, presents the religious roles women have played as gods, priests, and rulers. Disc 1, When God Was a Girl focuses on pre-historic female figurines and the origin of the idea of a mother goddess, in control of both life and death. It also discusses the role of Christianity's rise in suppressing female goddesses, with particular attention to the cult of Cybele, imported to Rome from Phrygia during a war with Carthage in the 3rd century BCE. Disc 2, Handmaids of the Gods, focuses on women's religious leadership roles. It devotes considerable attention to Sappho as a female teacher whose poetry helped to prepare young women for their roles in society, as well as to the importance of women in the early Christian church, for whom the pronunciation of the impending end of the world served as a liberating force from the burdens of reproduction for the survival of one's people. Disc 3, War of the Words, focuses on women whose rulership promoted their religious causes. It discusses Theodora, wife of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, who used her power amidst Christian disputes between Monophysite and Orthodox Christians; Wu Zetian, whose rule was so controversial that her grave remains unmarked although her patronage of Buddhism helped to promote that religion in Tang China; and Hilda of Whitby, whose legacy of literacy and education did much to grow the British Christian church.

Each disc contains interesting content, and the discs are helpfully divided into chapters which make showing a small portion of a film in a classroom setting feasible. As a whole, the series reveals its original life as a television production; there is much focus on the presenter, historian Bettany Hughes, and more breadth than depth in the subjects discussed. The production quality is high, and the films make for entertaining viewing. Clips could serve as interesting introductions to topics to be discussed in greater depth in the classroom, but are not sufficient to stand alone on any of the topics addressed. One quibble relates to the last disc: promotional material on the disc and website promises discussion of the roles of Muhammad's wives Khadijah and Aisha in the growth of Islam, but this content was not part of the film and could not be located using the chapter headings provided on the disc either. As such, the films provide some coverage of pre-historic pagan religions, ancient Greek religion, Christianity, Buddhism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Hinduism. The lack of coverage of Islam and Judaism stand out in this broad sweep.