Women and the Gender of God

by Amy Peeler

A robust theological argument against the assumption that God is male.

God values women.

While many Christians would readily affirm this truth, the widely held assumption that the Bible depicts a male God persists—as it has for centuries. This misperception of Christianity not only perniciously implies that men deserve an elevated place over women but also compromises the glory of God by making God appear to be part of creation, subject to it and its categories, rather than in transcendence of it.

Through a deep reading of the incarnation narratives of the New Testament and other relevant scriptural texts, Amy Peeler shows how the Bible depicts a God beyond gender and a savior who, while embodied as a man, is the unification in one person of the image of God that resides in both male and female. Peeler begins with a study of Mary and her response to the annunciation, through which it becomes clear that God empowers women and honors their agency. Then Peeler describes from a theological standpoint how the virgin birth of Jesus—the second Adam—reverses the gendered division enacted in the garden of Eden.

While acknowledging the significance of the Bible’s frequent use of “Father” language to represent God as a caring parent, Peeler goes beneath the surface of this metaphor to show how God is never sexualized by biblical writers or described as being physically involved in procreation—making the concept of a masculine God dubious, at best. From these doctrinal centers of Christianity, Peeler leads the way in reasserting the value of women in the church and prophetically speaking out against the destructive idolatry of masculinity.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Religion, Christianity, Faith, Christian, Gender

286 pages, Paperback

Published October 4, 2022

Reviews

[Carmen Imes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a daring book. Amy Peeler tackles a controversial issue: the gender of God and its implications for women. For some, to raise these questions at all is objectionable. For others, Peeler's high view of Scripture will suggest that she herself is captive to patriarchy. However, readers who take the time to engage her argument will find that neither critique has merit.

Like it or not, many people today reject the Christian faith because of their perception that the Bible portrays God as masculine/male. Is the Bible even good for women? Peeler patiently shows why these questions are worth asking and how the Bible itself offers a robust response that both affirms women and glorifies God, without making God male. Part of her answer is to help Protestants recover the biblical portrait of Mary.

Peeler's grasp of the secondary literature is impressive. Her arguments are sophisticated and theologically astute. She is attentive to nuance in Scripture, and her faithful reading yields an illuminating vision of a good God who invites women to be full participants in God's work in the world. I'm so grateful for her work. I expect it will be an essential resource for years to come.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peeler's provocative title considers the implications of the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus on the Triune God. Peeler is a New Testament scholar, so her work here largely focuses on the Gospels. (So refreshing to not have a Paul-centric study of gender, huzzah!) She invites us to consider "The Father Who Is Not Male" (chapter 1), the "God [Who] Is Not Masculine" (chapter 4), and "The Male Savior" (chapter 5), among other things. What does it mean for Christian theology that a genderless God was born of a woman, as a man, in the person of Jesus Christ?

I found her work thought-provoking and illuminating, especially regarding the annunciation and magnificat of Mary in Luke's account. I would love to see Peeler work on other women from the Gospels, namely the Bethany siblings and Mary Magdalene and their unique roles of understanding and testifying in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

This is quite an academic work, with oodles of fun footnote conversations, but I am not a New Testament scholar and I found it accessible enough. She remains faithful to Christian tradition, but the ways in which she does so depart from recent history and appeal more to pre-Constantinopolitan Christianity. Peeler provides helpful correctives for certain alleys of evangelicalism that want to claim a genderless God but affirm some essential masculinity, which based on past experience they will refuse to hear.

Overall, I find this another useful example of Protestant Mariology. It's fitting that Peeler and Milliner co-teach a Mariology class and are having their books published on the same day. Their angles (and even the stuff of their conclusions) are quite different, but complementary and worth reading together. Yet, I have hope for Peeler's book making waves in New Testament studies and inviting us Protestants to consider Mary more deeply, not as a vessel, but as a Spirit-filled agent in the drama of redemption.

End matter includes an appendix on God the Father, a list of works cited, and Eerdmans' tripartite indexes, of authors, subjects, and Scripture references/ancient sources.

[Jenna Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basically underlined every line. The conclusion made me tear up. How’s that for an academic book?

So grateful to have studied under this brilliant scholar.

[Josh Sumrall · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s so much to unpack with this book. Peeler here tackles exactly what you’d expect: Women and the gender of God.

This book was incredibly engaging and academic, and Peeler fearlessly asks some hard but good questions like: Does the Levitical law privilege and prefer men over women? Was Mary a passive vessel of God, or even worse was she a victim of his imposed will? Was Jesus REALLY conceived by a virgin and does it matter? Is Christianity even a good thing for women?

Peeler offers a lot of good in this book. The first two chapters may be worth the whole price of admission— her treatment of Mary (specifically) and her analysis of the treatment of women in the Bible can leave no doubt in reader’s minds: God loves women intensely, and has shown that He values them infinitely. These are important chapters.

Peeler however, was less convincing of her premise about the gender of God. I felt like she spent so much time countering detractors of her point of view (that God has no gender because he is Spirit) that she does not elaborate well on what God being spirit actually means.

This book is a discussion starter, that’s for sure. Peeler is incredibly orthodox in many ways, while advocating for abandoning church tradition in others. She argues that God has no gender and is spirit, but she also willingly dies on the hill that He should be called Father and that this term should be privileged for Him. She has lots of great exegesis throughout the book, but she also quotes the Wisdom of Solomon as inspired scripture. She engages all three major streams of the church. She quotes and uses conservative theologians while engaging with a great breadth of feminist, womanist, and liberal theologians as well.

While I don’t agree with every conclusion Peeler draws, I think this book is going to generate great discussions about the Word, and will leave me chewing on a lot for some time to come.

[Grant Klinefelter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phenomenal book. Fat review pending.

[SarahO · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read that talked about Mary of Nazareth so deeply and I loved it! I had fallen into the common Protestant mistake of thinking of Mary as a bit of a dull character but I was proven wrong! Her prophetic voice in her song, everything she pondered in her heart, her life as a disciple, and her self recognition as a slave of God is very inspiring for the rest of us fellow disciples.

I have also been following the discussion about the gender of God recently and Dr. Peeler breaks it down very satisfactory and though she affirms the proper name of Father for God she denies emphatically that the name makes God masculine/male. I'll let you read the book to see her argument as to why.

This book is definitely going on my wishlist!

[Kristel Acevedo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent! It’s so well-researched and articulated. It’s definitely more on the academic side. I had to really slow down and read thoroughly, but it is worth it to stick with it and engage the text. The author presents her case on a gender-less God while maintaining orthodox beliefs. The way she talks about Mary (and all women) was a blessing and deeply meaningful for me. She challenges the reader to think deeply about gender and read scripture with an attention to detail most would never recognize. Definitely recommend this book. Oh, and don’t sleep on the footnotes. They add so much to the reading!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very dense and theological, and she lost me on a few points where I felt they weren’t explained super well, but overall I felt like it was a really enlightening book. It works so hard to stay within Christian orthodoxy while making its points that God is neither male nor exclusively masculine, and nothing about God the Father nor the incarnation of the Son show any preference on God’s part for men. As she says: God values women.

Some of my favorite points were that: 1) The unique mode of the incarnation, a male body born with its flesh exclusively from a woman, is actually the only possible way Christ could have included both so thoroughly; and 2) we call God “Father” because Christ did, and he called God “Father” because he already had a mother (and thus with this label he’s actually emphasizing how he was incarnated), not because God is necessarily somehow masculine.

I also appreciated how the author dialogues a lot with a variety of different viewpoints and quotes quite a bit even those she disagrees with. There aren’t straw men here, nor is she ignoring evidence to the contrary.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite possibly the deepest, most incisive dive into this subject matter yet. Dr. Peeler will, at varying points, frustrate more progressive readers of Scripture while flustering patriarchal and conservative students. She painstakingly avoids invective or condescending, ivory tower insult. Indeed, Amy finds a way to honor the wisdom we gain from all strains of biblical interpretation and ecclesiology, without failing to note - with good will - the mistakes and errors of centuries of patriarchy and decades of feminist theology.

This is a scholarly work unlike any other to date. Amy should take her rightful place among the best of the best - Tom Wright, Bradley Jersak, Pete Enns, Karl Barth, Walter Brueggeman, Luke Timothy Johnson and Raymond Brown.

I’m honored to have worked in ministry with her and even more blessed to call her my friend.

[Meredith Storrs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough and Deep

This book was an incredibly insightful look at the theology of God who is neither male nor female, which answered the questions I had when picking it up. What I did not expect, and yet impacted me even more profoundly, was Peeler’s attention to Mary and the significance of several passages concerning her in the gospels. I cried when I got to the part about her involvement at Pentecost—truly a testament to God’s inclusion and care for women.

[Adelaide]

A fairly academic work of theology, interesting in,that the writer centers her arguments on the incarnation of Jesus.

[Heather Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful exploration of God's embrace of both genders in the Incarnation, with an extended meditation on Mary's vital role. It was both thrilling and deeply moving to read. Highly recommend this!

[Cole Ragsdale]

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