Labels: Gender Issues, Theology
At 8/14/2007 09:20:00 PM, Elizabeth Chapin
Julie, I started on this journey of re-examining my beliefs about God and gender after I read a book by then Wheaton professor Lisa Graham-McMinn - I wonder if you had classes with her? Her book, "Growing Strong Daughters" shook some of my beliefs about God and the roles of men and women to the foundation. I have since read "The Dance of the Dissident Daughter" which has some unique perspectives and am still exploring this topic. I appreciate your blog on this topic - I have so many books on my list to read about this and so little time!
I visit the Emerging Women blog on occasion and hope to join in the dialog more often. I think this issue is a very critical issue. I asked my husband his opinion on a question that was burning in my mind as I first started on this journey: If Christ has set us free from the curse, why has it taken over 2000 years for some of the effects to be realized - like that in Christ there is neither male nor female - we are all one.
At 8/15/2007 08:54:00 AM, Julie
Elizabeth - I didn't have any classes with her, but I vaguely recall hearing about that book before. I'll have to look for it. I think a lot of women are encountering these ideas in Dance of the Dissident Daughter, even if they don't at all agree where Sue Monk Kidd ends up. I really need to read more and find some "good" books on this topic. I get asked often what book I would recommend on this topic that isn't too "out there", but so far I haven't found a good one. All the ones I find either talk around the issue ignoring the gender stuff, go pretty far into goddess worship, or spend the entire book making fun of feminists and goddess worshipers (or alternately conservative patriarchs) instead of expressing any positive thoughts. And none of them are really intellectual. Its frustrating.
I can remember about 3 years ago doing an IKON service in Belfast called 'CHRISTA' which explored the 'feminine' in our God-talk via liturgy, ritual and photography which was very powerful as it seemed to touch the repressed part of the Christian tradition in a very real way. I had read a bit about feminine theology but this had much more of an impact om me.
Perhaps the EC could creatively explore more ideas for services to bring out this theme?
A random musing
Rodney (from church and pomo board)
At 8/16/2007 08:18:00 AM, Julie
Cheryl - Sally McFague is on my "to read soon' list. I have her book Metaphorical Theology, but I'll look into Models of God.
Rodney - Thanks for dropping by. I think it will take experiential services to really help people open up to feminine God-talk. But people have to be intellectually okay with even talking about the issue first (or at least the leaders do) in order to start doing stuff like that.
At 8/21/2007 03:29:00 AM, Unknown
it's a good point Julie, many men have equal problems praying to a 'Father/daddy' after having a crap time with their own dad. Like me. Of course I and other people opt out of it by picking another member of the trinity or talking about God in general.
But why not explore more the attributes/images/signposts of God, male, female or gender neutral - if it helps us in our expression of our relationship with the divine rather than as a barrier, what is in a name?
Well, Jesus was and is a guy. We can discuss why, in that time and place, the incarnation had to be male for it to have the significance and weight it did, but we have to agree that Jesus is male or we lose the whole historical anchor of Christianity.
Beyond that, I think Genesis 1 shows most clearly that humanity is created in the image and likeness of God -- male and female. I do not believe that God is neuter, but rather that God both encompasses and transcends gender.
The Father is known as the Father within Christianity because that is how Jesus named him. It's not to imply gender, I think, but I would hesitate to abandon the name. We do know that the Father and the Spirit are both spirit and do not have the physicality that the Son assumed. And making the Father 'male' and the Spirit 'female' breaks the unity of the Trinity.
It is difficult because clearly all of the Trinity must somehow transcend gender. But at the same time, we don't think that way. It's a difficult conundrum to unravel.