God Beyond Gender: Feminist Christian God-Language

by Gail Ramshaw (Editor)

The Christian use of God-language has become a matter of debate among laypersons, theologians, worship leaders, and others. Such debates are often heated, because the address of God impinges on what many persons find to be close to the heart of their spirituality. Combining doxological, Christian, and feminist concerns, Gail Ramshaw examines each of the primary types of Christian language about God and in the process, evaluates gender issues and proposes helpful guideline and solutions. Many questions are involved in this issue. Can masculine pronouns for God be retained on the basis of biblical usage? Can Trinitarian language be gender-inclusive? What should be the Christian understanding of the divine name of God (YHWH) in the Old Testament? What are the possibilities and what are the hazards of using human images ('judge,' 'shepherd,' 'father,' 'mother,' 'Sophia') for God? Is all human language-and possibly all human thought-necessarily metaphorical?

Genres: Theology

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 1995

Reviews

[Larry Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know, i get it, i really do. I understand that God is too big for any one gender. I understand that God incorporates in his nature attributes traditionally considered male (provision, protection, power) and female (love, nurture, comfort). I understand that some women go through things that no man could ever understand, like a miscarriage, for example, and need to know that God is not an old guy on a cloud. And, i understand that women have been put down, abused, and shut out by a lot of religious traditions as well as by a male-dominated society. I get it. But, honestly, now, why do we have to say, "God said to God-self" instead of "God said to himself"? Some of this is on the level of changing the name of a "manhole cover" to "person-hole cover". We can get so open minded our brains fall out.