ABSTRACT
The Great Goddess had been nature itself, not an abstract principle or external creator. There can be little doubt that the rise of monotheism coincided with the rise of patriarchy, and hence with a masculine creator god behind nature and separate from it. Christianity took exception to a view that implied no free will for either man or God. The Christian concept of nature, as specially created for human benefit, overthrew this notion, eventually in favor of a technological science based on experimental intervention, yielding knowledge and power over nature. While medieval Christianity had devalued nature and its study as pointless or even sinful, the post-Reformation attitude saw in the material world signs of divine intention that could and should be studied as a religious duty. Thus, the emergence of modern science was more or less continuous with its religious roots.
