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Holly Pettit: Power, Belief, and the Inner Life
Essays and teachings on power, belief, ancient texts, and the inner life — with seminars, devotionals, and guided study for thoughtful readers.

Featured articles

Ancient Christian Wisdom for When Life Feels Unbearable

Ancient Christian Wisdom for When Life Feels Unbearable

Latest

02
Feb
A screen shows the word "Jesus" in letters four-feet tall, while a band performs onstage and the audience cheers and raises their hands.

Salvation Isn’t About What You Believe — It’s About What You Become

Most forms of Christianity in the U.S. today revolve around a single question: Are you saved? But what if salvation was never meant to be a moment of belief — but a lifelong process of becoming?
5 min read
26
Jan
A jar lies on its side as a young woman falls to her knees. roses are at her feet. Jesus, on a chair, leans down to reach out a hand to her.

The Gospel of Mary and the Practice of Peace

Peace isn’t moral perfection or emotional escape. It’s an inner stability you can feel in a room — and learn to cultivate. The Gospel of Mary offers a surprisingly modern vision of how that kind of peace is formed.
6 min read
23
Jan
A terracotta image of a woman with long hair, suckling two infants at her breasts. She gazes into the foreground, thoughtfully.

The Men Who Silenced Asherah Still Silence Women Today

When they rewrote the stories, making her into a foreign invader, they didn’t just erase a goddess. They erased what it meant to have a woman at the center of holiness and of power.
6 min read
23
Jan
An ancient image of Yahweh and Asherah as cattle-headed deities is superimposed over a Renaissance image of white-bearded father God gazing down from clouds.

When Yahweh Had a Bull’s Head

Ancient biblical laws emerged from a symbolic world very different from ours, yet we imagine Abraham, Moses, and Yahweh through Renaissance images that distort their original meaning.
4 min read
22
Jan
A bronze figure of a god wearing a tall, bowling-pin-shaped headdress, and holding aloft his right hand where a spear or tool existed at one time.

Creole Religion: How Ancient Gods Shaped Christianity and Judaism

Ancient gods didn’t stay in their lanes. From Baal and Asherah to Qetesh and Hathor, this essay explores how blended religions shaped Judaism and Christianity.
9 min read
14
Jan
A young woman with long wavy hair that covers her shoulders holds a skull to her chest. Her left hand is on her cheek and she is staring off into the foreground as if in deep contemplation.

Why Jesus Said “There Is No Such Thing as Sin”

When Jesus says “There is no such thing as sin” in the Gospel of Mary, he isn’t denying harm—he’s naming it differently. This essay explores sin as misalignment, original goodness, and the forgotten self within.
4 min read
14
Jan
A long woman gazes over her right shoulder at Golgotha and the empty cross. A tear rolls down her cheek. She holds back her hair with her left hand.

Heaven Is Now: The Gospel of Mary on the Afterlife

It wasn’t until I read Mary that I truly understood Matthew. In both, Jesus wasn't making a statement. He was giving directions — pointing us inward, to the place where God is speaking.
8 min read
14
Jan
Patti Smith on stage, with eyes closed, singing with arms outstretched as if in prayer.

Jesus Didn't Die for Your Sin (or Mine)

A reflection on why fear-based atonement never made sense to me, and how allegory, love, and trust offer a deeper way to understand Jesus’s death.
3 min read
13
Jan
We see the back of the head of a man as he walks by a painting of Mary, Queen of Heaven with a halo of stars circling her head. She seems to meet the man's gaze.

Mary and the Ancient Goddesses of Death and Rebirth

Across cultures, divine mothers govern life, death, and rebirth. Placing Mary alongside figures like Isis, Demeter, and Kali reveals her as part of an ancient spiritual pattern—the mother who transforms grief into resurrection.
5 min read
13
Jan
How Yahweh Became God: From Canaanite Deity to World Religion

How Yahweh Became God: From Canaanite Deity to World Religion

Yahweh did not begin as the one God of heaven and earth. He began as a local deity among many—and survived war, exile, and empire to become the God of three world religions. This essay explores what that transformation reveals about faith, power, and our evolving understanding of the divine.
6 min read