In my year as interim executive director of Women of the ELCA, I have been part of a number of conversations about God’s pronouns. There are the people who have let me know that they really hate how Christians insist God is a male. There are more than a few Facebook comments suggesting that only He/Him pronouns are appropriate whenever a post suggests otherwise. After my blog
What the Filioque?, a reader commented that the Nicene Creed should be updated to use language that is not just patriarchal. This blog is in response to this issue.
The historical facts are that the Nicene Creed uses the Scriptural formulation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is neuter in Greek, and all the words connected to the Holy Spirit in the Creed are not masculine but neutered. It is an interesting thing that in English we have no gender neutral word for a respected person with authority, nothing but Lord and Lady or Sir and Madam. But the Greek epithet for the Spirit: To Kurion kai Zwopoion (frequently translated as the Lord and Giver of Life) is a gender-neutral phrase that indicates the Holy Spirit is a person of authority and the giver of life.
Beyond the Creed, Ancient and Medieval Christian writers used a variety of terms for God in all three persons and a variety of pronouns. St. Augustine for example, speaks of God as Father, of course, but also as Mother, School Mistress, Truth, and Wisdom—all using she/her pronouns and as Word, Bread, and Being—using it/its pronouns.
Why does this matter? First, we each have our own relationship with God, and that includes an image of God that feels holy and right to us. No one should feel compelled to take away an image of God that is comforting, empowering, and reassuring to a prayerful person. Those who pray with an image of Michelangelo’s bearded creator in the sky should know that if this icon is a portal for them to divine mercy, then they should keep it. But in the same way, we each should be encouraged to look for images that help us individually connect with God, that there is no one correct image, there is no photograph of God in any of the three persons available to us.
Second, there is some evidence that using primarily masculine words for, as well as using primarily white images for God, and aristocratic titles for God, can lead us to unconsciously think of human males of European descent with a certain socio-economic class as being stand-ins for God. While Christians know that none of us are gods, at some level, using words over and over like Father, Lord, King, and seeing paintings of God as a person of European descent can make us forget that women, non-binary people, people of color, and the poor are also made in the divine image according to Genesis.
Third, there is some evidence that those who do use feminine and gender neutral images and pronouns for God alongside of masculine pronouns, seem to look at human patriarchy a little differently. As an example, Augustine, as mentioned above, lived in a patriarchal society. The father had the legal right to have any child born in his household left to die. If the father took a newborn into his arms, it was a signal that the child would be allowed to live. Augustine faced this right and responsibility as a teenager when his concubine gave birth to their son. Augustine hugged the child and named him “Adeodatus,” gift of God. He also never forgot the look of pain on the child’s mother’s face as she wondered what he would do. She had no legal power to stop him. Augustine wrote that this practice was a product of sin. He also wrote about the sin of domestic abuse that left women’s faces disfigured in the marketplace. He also wrote letters to women encouraging them to study, teach, and preach. In general, Augustine was a product of his time—not a feminist crusader by any means. But, he had a strong sense that women were maltreated in society and that they should have more authority than they did in the home, school, and church. Was that connected to a prayer life where his God held him on her lap, whispered in his ear, and promised to teach him as his schoolmistress? Perhaps.
Next month, October, is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. In the home, in our most intimate settings, we should each find acceptance, love, and security. Whatever our pronouns, God has created us and makes us worthy with love poured upon us from a friendly heart. Abuse of our person and violence towards our bodies is a crime against God, who is love. Thinking more broadly about God’s pronouns can remind us of our own worth as children of God made in God’s image. Thinking more broadly about God’s pronouns can help us realize that no human, regardless of their pronouns or position of power, has a right to abuse us. Thinking more broadly about God’s image can help us see God, abiding with us and holding us.
Dr. Jennifer Hockenbery is interim executive director for Women of the ELCA and editor of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics.
So thoughtful; so sensitive; so Christ-like. Thank you!
Thakn you for that, Joanne!