September 2018

From the Draft Statement, Basic Statement, Section III, Resources for Resisting Patriarchy and Sexism

16) While God’s Word of Law and Gospel speaks through the Scriptures, there are words and images, social patterns, and moral beliefs in them that reflect the patriarchal values of the cultures and societies in which they arose. Their continued misuse contributes to maintaining hierarchies and patterns of inequity and harm.

17) The Christian theological tradition also bears this dual character. In particular, some doctrines affect our understanding about humanity and God more than others. These teachings affect our use of language. The teachings about the image of God, the Body of Christ, and the Trinity have sometimes been misused to support patriarchal beliefs, attitudes, church practices, behaviors, and structures. At the same time, these doctrines also provide liberating resources for healing the effects of the sins of patriarchy and sexism.

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I want to start with the two paragraphs above which, I believe, encapsulate the reason why we need to take care to examine the language that we use during religious services or when discussing God in general.

The Scriptures, like anything written by humans, reflects the cultural and personal biases that are present at the time it was written.  While we cannot dismiss the Scriptures out of hand, we also should not accept them uncritically.  We need to be aware of the biases that may creep into what was written and reflect on how those biases may affect how we personally (or collectively) interpret the Scriptures.

For example, the first Person of the Trinity has historically been referred to as God the Father.  This stems partly from the belief that, when it came to bringing children into the world, the purpose of the father was to create and the purpose of the mother was to bear the child.  As an aside, this is why Mary is often called the “Mother of God” (in Greek “theotokos” which can be translated as “God-bearer”).  It also stems from patriarchal notions that were (and are) present in many societies.  A lot of people continue to call the first Person of the Trinity “God the Father”, but there are also a lot of people who call the first Person “Mother” or just “God” to reflect that God is genderless and also to reflect that all of humanity, regardless of gender, is created in the image and likeness of God (“imago Dei”).

This understanding of using language to more accurately reflect the genderlessness of God is also why people have written alternative forms of the “Our Father”.  These are not written out of any sense of disrespect, but to show a much more profound respect for the diversity that exists in the creation that God has made.  After all, is God not also our Mother?  Historically, a mother’s role has been to nurture her children and to offer succor when needed.  Does God not do this throughout the Old and New Testaments?  So calling God our Mother is an equally valid option.

Then we also have to reflect that, since gender is a social construct and sex is biological and God has no physical form, it would also be accurate to use language that reflects that God is without gender or sex, and therefore using gender-neutral or non-binary language is also appropriate.

I know that when I write, I try and flip between these different options to reflect the multidimensional understanding that we have of God as Father and Mother and non-binary Parent.  Other people prefer one or another of these choices, but I prefer to use them all.

What do you think?

- Matt Vandover