God is Female, Too

When I was growing up, the churches that my family attended NEVER used feminine pronouns for God. Of course, there was the occasional sermon about how God has feminine attributes (God gathers people like “a hen gathers her chicks,” Matthew 23:37). But the discussion would go nowhere beyond a brief discussion of that passage.

The reasons why those churches never used feminine pronouns for God, if the issue was considered at all, often went like this:

1. The biblical writers only referred to God as a “He,” therefore God should be called “He.”
2. Throughout church history, churches have almost exclusively used male pronouns for God. We should not go against “Holy Tradition.”
3. Jesus himself refers to God as a “Father” in the Lord’s Prayer, not a Mother, so we should imitate the language of Jesus.

These are legitimate arguments and difficult to counter. But if using only male language for God comes at the cost of excluding 50% of the population from seeing themselves clearly in God’s image, then this is a serious problem. Here are some reasonable responses to these arguments:

Argument 1: The biblical writers only referred to God as a “He,” therefore God should be called “He.”

This argument is very challenging if you read the Bible literally. But if you do not read the Bible literally, you can appreciate that the biblical writers were influenced by their own time and culture. Women in those times were viewed as property and lower than the animals, so it is not surprising that the biblical writers would not think to compare God to a woman. In addition, for much of human history, women were not literate, so the only people writing the Scriptures were male. People tend to write about what they know. If you are male, then it is easy to see God as male. Now that women have more power and education in society, there are voices growing stronger and stronger that want to use female pronouns.

Argument 2: Throughout church history, churches have almost exclusively used male pronouns for God. We should not go against “Holy Tradition.”

This argument has very little support unless you are a person who follows tradition for tradition’s sake only. Just because something has been done for a long time does not mean that it is right. People kept slaves for most of human history, but that does not mean that slavery is right. Humans have used lead to treat various illnesses for much of human history, but that does not mean that lead is healthy. There may be some benefit to keeping with tradition if there are legitimate reasons behind it, but keeping with tradition for the sake of tradition alone, when the practice is harming 50% of the population, is not a good reason.

Argument 3: Jesus himself refers to God as a “Father” in the Lord’s Prayer, not a Mother, so we should imitate the language of Jesus.

This is a very challenging argument to counter because it comes from Jesus’ mouth himself. But the answer is similar to the answer to the first argument. Jesus was a product of his time and culture. It may have been totally incomprehensible for the disciples to hear God called as a “Mother” in the Lord’s Prayer. In addition, the Gospels were written by Jesus’ followers long after Jesus had died, not by Jesus himself. It is possible that the Gospel writers and early Christian churches inserted their own beliefs about God into the Lord’s Prayer. If we focus on Jesus’ treatment of women in the Gospels, as equals, this behavior supports the argument that both women and men are of equal worth in God’s eyes and therefore that women are equally made in the image of God.

In this 21st Century when women are growing tired of centuries of exclusion, the argument should instead go this way:

1. Men have been in power in churches for a long time, either consciously or unconsciously, and they want to keep that power.
2. Women have largely been illiterate until recent human history, and the Scriptures were almost exclusively written by men.
3. In the very first book of the Bible, God says humans were created in God’s image, male AND female. If females were created in God’s image, then God is, at least partly, FEMALE.
4. If God is female, then we should have no issues with using feminine pronouns for God.

There have been whole books and dissertations written on this topic, but these are my thoughts. Churches are going to lose a lot of members as women become more empowered if they continue to refuse to only use male pronouns for God.