Gender of God in Christianity
God in Christianity is represented by the Trinity of three hypostases or "persons" described as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. While "Father" and "Son" implicitly invoke masculine sex, the gender of the Holy Spirit from earliest times was also represented as including feminine aspects (partly due to grammatical gender, especially in the Syriac church). Today, there is a push among some Christians for use of different pronouns to describe God than have been traditionally held.
Grammatical gender in the Bible
Hebrew Bible
The first words of the
Two of the most common phrases in the
In Psalm 89:26 God is referred to as Father. "He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation."[7]
In the book of Isaiah, the prophet himself brings up feminine imagery for God, comparing God to a woman in labor in multiple verses throughout the book.[8] The book also refers to God as a nursing mother.[9]
Some literary approaches to the Old Testament have argued that parallels between Biblical stories and earlier Sumerian, Akkadian and Canaanite creation myths show a matriarchal substratum that has been overlaid by a patriarchal approach.[10] "In the Bible, the earth is the feminine complement of God: the two combined to form man, who articulates their relationship, for example, in sacrifice."[11]
New Testament
Jesus Christ, the Son of God is referred to with masculine pronouns, and is generally noted to be a male gendered human being throughout the New Testament. Despite this general reference, Jesus himself does use feminine metaphorical language to talk about himself. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says:
How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate.[12]
The New Testament also refers to the Holy Spirit in masculine terminology,[vague] most clearly in the Gospel of John 14–16.
Early Church views
Clement of Alexandria (150–215 AD) wrote about God's motherly and fatherly characteristics, but did not refer to God with feminine language or pronouns.[13]
Augustine of Hippo similarly used feminine metaphors, but not pronouns.[14]
This is a general trend in the early church patristics, using specifically motherly imagery but not feminine pronouns for God. God is generally not referred to with feminine characteristics outside of mothering.
Denominational views
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Catholic Church
The
Though Church teaching, in line with its Doctors, holds that God has no literal sex because God possesses no body but is referred to using masculine pronouns in the Bible.[18][19][20]
National Council of Churches
The Inclusive Language Lectionary published by the American National Council of Churches, to which many Protestant churches belong, states in its introduction "The God worshiped by the biblical authors and worshiped in the Church today cannot be regarded as having gender, race, or color." [21]
LDS Church
United Church of Christ
The New Century Hymnal, the hymnal of the United Church of Christ (UCC), uses inclusive language; one of its concerns while being authored was reducing the solely-masculine use of language for God, and/or balancing masculine images with feminine and non-gendered images, while retaining masculine imagery for Jesus regarding his earthly life.
At least two UCC conferences (Massachusetts[26] and Ohio[27]) have adopted guidelines for using inclusive language, and the majority of clergy and laity in the UCC report using inclusive language when referring to God during worship.[28]
Metropolitan Community Church
The Metropolitan Community Church encourages inclusive language[29] and uses "God—our Parent-Creator", "Jesus Christ the only begotten son of God", and "the Holy Spirit" in its Statement of Faith to refer to the three persons of the Trinity.[30]
Methodism
Gender-inclusive language
Multiple groups consider gender-neutral language (e.g. referring to God as "they" or only as "God") as inadequate in reflecting the nature of God; however, in recent history, several liberal and mainline Protestant denominations have adopted or encouraged its use when referring to God. These include the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the Metropolitan Community Church. Still others object on aesthetic grounds that gender-inclusive constructions, such as invented gender or alternating gender, are clumsy.[citation needed]
Inclusive language in media
There is some level of debate in popular culture, particularly in American popular culture as to what pronouns are appropriate for describing God.[32]
List of some media depictions of God as feminine
Writer Glennon Doyle is famous for using feminine pronouns for God,[third-party source needed] when asked by someone why she thinks of God as a woman she says:
I don't. I think it's ridiculous to think of God as anything that could possibly be gendered. But as long as the expression of God as female is unimaginable to many while the expression of God as male feels perfectly acceptable – and as long as women continue to be undervalued and abused and controlled here on Earth – I'll keep using it.[33]
Alanis Morissette plays God in the 1999 film Dogma.[citation needed]
The 2007 novel (and later[when?] movie) The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity by William P. Young depicts God as a female.[34][third-party source needed]
See also
References
- ^ Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1990), p. 1.
- ^ "Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel – Yahweh Elohim". sites.google.com.
- ^ "ברא", Wiktionary, the free dictionary, 2023-11-05, retrieved 2023-11-17
- ^ (Sexism is a Sin, by J.R. Hyland).
- ISBN 978-0-446-54525-9. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
humans are modeled on elohim, specifically in their sexual differences.
- ^ Coogan (2010:176)
- ^ ASV 1901, Public Domain
- ^ Isaiah ch. 42, 66
- ^ Isaiah 66 a
- ^ Neumann, The Origins and History of Consciousness pages 177–178.
- ^ Francis Landy, The Song of Songs chapter of The Literary Guide to the Bible, page 314.
- ^ Matthew 23:37–39 NRSV
- ^ "Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol II: CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Who is the Rich Man that shall be saved? | St-Takla.org". st-takla.org. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
- OCLC 13377997.
- ISBN 978-0-86012-324-8page 84
- ^ a b c d "Deum humanam sexuum transcendere distinctionem. Ille nec vir est nec femina, Ille est Deus." From "Pater per Filium revelatus", Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae. (Citta del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1993): 1-2-1-1-2 ¶ 239. (Official English translation Archived March 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ Liturgiam Authenticam Archived January 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Aquinas, Thomas. "First part: Question 3: The simplicity of God: Article 1: Whether God is a body?". Summa Theologica. New Advent.
- ^ William G. T. Shedd, ed. (1885). "The Seventh". The Confessions of Augustine. Warren F. Draper.
- ISBN 978-1931709347.
- ISBN 978-0-664-24059-2.
- ^ "Lesson 1: The Godhead", Aaronic Priesthood Manual 3, LDS Church, 1995
- ^ Cannon, Donald Q.; Dahl, Larry; Welch, John (January 1989), "The Restoration of Major Doctrines through Joseph Smith: The Godhead, Mankind, and Creation", Ensign, LDS Church
- ^ Hinckley, Gordon B. (November 1991), "Daughters of God", Ensign, LDS Church
- ^ First Presidency; Council of the Twelve Apostles (September 23, 1995), "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", LDS Church, retrieved 2013-12-11. See also: The Family: A Proclamation to the World
- ^ "Inclusive Language Guidelines". Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ. Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ "Inclusive Language Guidelines". Ohio Conference – United Church of Chris. Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ Worshipping into God's Future: Summary and Strategies 2005, United Church of Christ.
- ^ Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Pulling. "Study Guide To Inclusive Language". UFMCC. Retrieved 2008-07-09.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Metropolitan Community Church Statement of Faith". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ "Our Mother who art in Methodism". BBC News. 17 February 1999. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
- ^ Thornton, Christy (20 January 2022). "'They' Is Not a Pronoun for God". ChristianityToday.com. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
- ISBN 978-1-9848-0126-5.
- ISBN 978-0964729247.