On Mother God

Our Mother, who art in Heaven, hollowed be thy name.
I believe in God, the Mother Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.
In the Name of the Mother, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our heavenly Mother, we come before your holy presence.

Do any of these sayings sound familiar to you?  Of course they do.  The only thing that sounds strange is the insertion of the word "Mother" in place of the word "Father."

Why would anyone in their right mind want to refer to God as "Mother" instead of "Father?"
After all, the Bible refers to God in masculine and not in feminine terms.   In addition to that,
it has been argued, Jesus Himself referred to God as His "Father," not as His "Mother." Furthermore,
the community of faith (Jewish and Christian) has historically referred to God in masculine terms.

Let me point out the weaknesses of the above three defenses for retaining a masculine God.

1.  The Bible refers to God as "Father," and as "He."   The reason for this should be obvious, i.e.,
the Bible was written primarily by men and is a product of a male-dominated society.  Some may wish to argue that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible "Word of God," and should not be tampered with.  While I will not argue with that position, I also acknowledge that the "Word of God" comes to us filtered through human experience and human language.  We cannot bypass the historical and cultural mediation of the Bible just because we consider it to be "the Word of God." If we attempt to do that, we are being careless, dishonest, irresponsible, and sloppy in our use of the Bible.

2.  Jesus referred to God as His "Father."  The major weakness of this argument is that Jesus as a human being, lived in a male-dominated society and therefore, adhered to the cultural and social norms of His time.  While He did clash with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes, the clashes were not regarding the gender nature of God, but rather about how they interpreted the Law.

3.  The community of faith (both Jewish and Christian) has traditionally referred to God in masculine terms.  The major problem with this argument is that what is being said here, directly, or indirectly, is that we should keep tradition for tradition's sake and not tamper with it.  It is the attitude of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  In other words, what is being said is that if it has been a certain way all along, we shouldn't bother to change things.  Well, "all along" there has been classism, racism, and sexism.  Should we not try to do away with these forms of discrimination and dismantle these structures of oppression just because "it's been that way all along?"

There are Scripture portions which present feminine imagery of God.  We are told in the opening portion of Genesis (the Creation Story) that the Spirit of God "hovered" over the face of the deep.
It is the image of a mother hovering over her child.
The writer of the book of Proverbs personifies "wisdom" in feminine terms, and then later on in the New Testament, we are told that Jesus constitutes the "wisdom of God."
The Gospel accounts of Jesus's' baptism speaks about the Holy Spirit descending upon Him in the form of "a dove," an image of female gentleness and softness.

What then, do we do with the masculine images of God?  Do we retain them for the sake of retaining them?  Do we allow feminine images of God to co-exist side by side with the masculine images? Do we replace the masculine images and put feminine images in their place?

This writer has witnessed efforts to write translations of the Bible that are more inclusive in their language about God and other issues.  He has also gladly seen some of the traditional hymns of the Church revised to include more inclusive language.

Please share with us where you stand on this matter.  Tell us why you favor one position or the other.

Grace and peace,

Dr. Juan A. Ayala-Carmona