Question: .

As an Episcopalian theological student it really bothers me when God is referred to as He...God is neither female or male...God is BOTH feminine and masculine and it bothers and saddens me that some denominations use only the masculine to refer to God.

By doing this it really shuts the door in the faces of people who do not view their God in this fashion. We in the Episcopal church try to use the term Creator because we want to respect and value the beliefs of all our community and it would be refreshing to see other denominations do the same.

-Mary

Answer:

Dear Mary,

I cannot say that I completely understand what you are saying, for a variety of reasons, among them my gender and my church background. But, I am a husband and the father of a married daughter. So I have been helped/forced/coerced/threatened !?!?! to see the other side of life from time to time! History tells us that both men and women have tried to appropriate God, to put him (there I go again!) into a box and own him (once again!). The fruit of such exclusivism has been sad, pathetic, and anything but Christian. We Christians who do desire to serve God must first acknowledge our pathetic attempts to justify our own narrow minded and petty ideas in his (once again!) name in the past. We have misrepresented God so badly that many have been turned away, rather than toward him (masculine pronoun again - just want you to know that I recognize the usage).

On that topic, we should all repent - re-think, reconsider, etc. On the specific topic you raise, I have to say up front that the Father God of the Bible is the basis of the revelation we have been given. I believe that Christians must have a high view of Scripture. The Fatherhood of God is represented throughout the great doctrines of the church, the Trinity, etc. To suggest that these terms have been, and should now be, culturally interpreted is to go beyond the pale of what I would accept as orthodox and acceptable biblical interpretation (hermeneutics).

This is not to deny that while the dominant gender in Christian history and the biblical revelation has been male, and that dominant gender has used the Bible for its own purposes. Just as any other group that has dominated (racism being an example) - the dominant group should face its shortcomings and errors. But - for example, because the church has done a poor/inadequate job of representing God it does not follow that God does not exist. Had the dominant gender been female I know that the same problem would have occurred, since sin is not confined to gender (or race, culture etc.). We should be careful about throwing the baby out with the bathwater (and the baby Jesus was a male Jew, probably olive skinned, did not speak English, and did not know or care much about apple pie, baseball, or Chevrolet!).

I do not have a problem using Creator instead of God, but I would suggest that we may be playing games of semantics (i.e. let's say personhole cover instead of manhole cover!?!). Language must have its conventions. Creator is one of the names of God, but only one. God is the inclusive term for the Godhead as well as the first person of the Trinity. We could also speak of Jesus as Savior, Redeemer (which we do, and those terms do not have to be gender specific). But we also worship him as Lord and Master and Son of God (gender specific terms).

I know a number of people who have a real problem calling God "Father" simply because their own human father did such a poor job of parenting. I am sure you would admit that many would have the same dilemma had God been revealed as "Mother" (which we only find in paganism by the way, and is one of the immediate pitfalls we must avoid when we point out the gender specific problems that face women with the Father God).

I may not be as familiar with this topic as you are, but I am familiar enough to know that we must try to see through some of the "flak" that would distort our understanding of and more importantly our relationship with God. I am sure that God hears all prayers addressed to Creator!

May God be with you and bless you in your studies.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht