Johnson, a Roman Catholic sister in the Congregation of St. Joseph was interviewed in a post of God’s Politics about the image of God being male or female. She states that new seekers are not satisfied with “stale images of God” used today. She states that the symbol of God functions in certain ways; “The male symbol of God functions to privilege a certain way of male rule in the world and to undercut women's spiritual power, women's own sense of themselves as made in the image of God.” She argues that women are therefore forced to “abstract ourselves” from our bodies in order to see ourselves in the image of God, which continually has consequences for women’s spirituality. She argues that the Vatican denied the proposal for nonsexist language in 1992 because there is fear that it will empower women to a social and political movement which will challenge the church structure.
A few semesters ago I had a religion professor who used male and female connotations when referring to God, and asked for the same of everyone in the class. He said that he attended a church where they only referred to God as a woman, and it was extremely hard for him to concentrate and imagine God in those terms. He told our class that he felt convicted because that must be what women feel like when they attend most churches that only refer to a male God.
I am not sure if I completely agree with Johnson or my previous professor. I don’t believe that I have to disregard my femininity in order to view myself in the image of God. I am God’s child, and he is my father. The leadership and strength that usually accompany male stereotypes greatly affect my view of my Savior, and I am not sure if referring to God as “she” would have that same effect. I have grown up considering Christ my father and bridegroom, and I believe that changing what I have known my entire life would be beneficial to my relationship with Christ. But worrying so much about God’s gender detracts from his power and his might. We should not be concerned with pronouns but rather praise!
1 comment:
I totally agree with you. I have always grown up with God being my "father" and i'm not sure if it would do me any good to switch my thinking of God to a women. actually i think it would be pointless! Like you said...we just need to focus on worshipping him (or her)!
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