Feminine nature of God? Trying to identify a religious group.

Well there are several movements that go down this road.

- Gnostics conceive of a sort of pantheon of male-female syzygies, emanating from the genderless, entirely transcendant and unknown Bythos. Notable among the female emanations os Sophia, who is usually rescued by the Gnostic conception of our Lord after unsuccessfully attempting to reduce asexually, creating the incompetent Demiurge who is depicted as God in the Old Testament (this is why in answer to the thread "What are the demonic doctrines warned of in Timothy?" I instinctively outlined Gnosticism).
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103.htm

- Contemporary liberal Christians following in the footsteps of Elaine Pagels have enthusiastically embraced this error.

- Because the Syriac word for Spirit is of the feminine gender, some have erroneously attempted to claim my church and the Assyrian Church of the East believe the Holy Spirit to be female.

- In Orthodox Judaism, taking a cue from Gnosticism, the concept of a divine feminine principle was developed in the Kabbalah, a series of divine emanations or sephirot. This sounds most like what your friend was referring to; there are liberal Christians who embrace something called Cabala which is an attempt to introduce Kabbalah into Christian theology.

- In the Russian Orthodox Church, two priests, Fr. Pavel Florensky and Fr. Sergei Bulgakov developed a scheme of theology known as Sophianism which revived elements of Gnosticism and proposed that the Theotokos became hypostatically linked with the Holy Spirit in order to become the divine feminine principle of Sophia, or some nonsense. This was condemned as a heresy by ROCOR and also the Moscow Patriarchate in the 1930s, although Florensky and Bulgakov managed to avoid being anathematized; Florensky had been martyred by the Soviets in the 1920s and was thus glorified by default, creating a rare example of a saint who advocated a theology which was later condemned as heresy. http://orthodoxwiki.org/Sophianism

- In Roman Catholicism, there is a group pushing for Mary to be labelled co-Redemptrix, based on the discredited "revelations" to Ida Peerdeman. This is called the "Fifth Dogma" and has been much criticized by traditionalists.

- One is most likely to encounter the error of the Divine Feminine in a liberal Episcopalian, UCC or Unitarian Universalist parish, where a number of clergy enjoy various permutations of the above.

Might be an emergent movement christian. Proverbs chapter 8 tends to illustrate the Holy Spirit is where Eve received her unique image and likeness.

God was both male and female, spirit and soul, how else could He birth a Son? Gen. 1:26---
The New city Jerusalem which is above and free, is called The Mother of us all, and is also in God, is she not? Gal 4:26
When our spirit and our soul are ONE, we also birth The Son.
The pattern is seen here in Mary as she believes, she conceives and brings forth....

Luk 1:46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
Luk 1:47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

When they are in agreement within us, with The Truth, then and only then can we birth/bring forth The Son in this earth.
The Lord rules over the soul, and God is The Saviour of our spirit that causes us to rejoice in Him.
This is the process, we die to the things that have corrupted our soul through Adam's fall, and we live in the Spirit with Him, therefore converting the soul to be one with Him while still in this present corrupt body of death.
When this takes place, we are now no more two, but ONE, we are no more male or female, but One.
For the two shall become ONE.

Gal_2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

1Ti 2:11 Let the woman/soul learn in silence with all subjection.
1Ti 2:12 But I suffer not a woman/soul to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man/spirit, but to be in silence.
1Ti 2:13 For Adam/spirit was first formed, then Eve/soul.
1Ti 2:14 And Adam/spirit was not deceived, but the woman/soul being deceived was in the transgression.
1Ti 2:15 Notwithstanding she/soul shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Michael Collum said:

Might be an emergent movement christian. Proverbs chapter 8 tends to illustrate the Holy Spirit is where Eve received her unique image and likeness.

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Indeed, this deviant theology is popular with the so called "emerging church" set.

Wgw said:

Indeed, this deviant theology is popular with the so called "emerging church" set.

Click to expand...

It's pretty obviously a subset of FEMINISM !

2KnowHim said:

God was both male and female, spirit and soul, how else could He birth a Son? Gen. 1:26---
The New city Jerusalem which is above and free, is called The Mother of us all, and is also in God, is she not? Gal 4:26
When our spirit and our soul are ONE, we also birth The Son.
The pattern is seen here in Mary as she believes, she conceives and brings forth....

Luk 1:46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
Luk 1:47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

When they are in agreement within us, with The Truth, then and only then can we birth/bring forth The Son in this earth.
The Lord rules over the soul, and God is The Saviour of our spirit that causes us to rejoice in Him.
This is the process, we die to the things that have corrupted our soul through Adam's fall, and we live in the Spirit with Him, therefore converting the soul to be one with Him while still in this present corrupt body of death.
When this takes place, we are now no more two, but ONE, we are no more male or female, but One.
For the two shall become ONE.

Click to expand...

* * * * * **********************************
First, when the two (male and female) become one (flesh) that is sex, the marriage act.
Do you mean to be talking about sex?
We do not birth or give birth to a Son (of God).
God does not give birth. That is what the Virgin Mary did.
That is what we celebrate at Christmas!

There is little (or no) Scriptural warrant for identifying "male" with "spirit" and "female" with "soul," if that is what you are doing.

It's not unusual for questioners like this fellow to cite the Bible and act approvingly of the fact that you say you're a Christian, but this is because they know that most of the people they are approaching are likely to claim to be Christians of some sort, so this is a way of gaining their attention and introducing the purpose of the overture, which is "You're right to a large extent, but you have X or Y wrong. We'll show you where you've misread the Bible."

It's essentially the Jehovah's Witness approach to evangelizing, and this man could well have been a JW, although I'm not aware of the "feminine" God slant.

They do have different themes that are promoted during various campaigns. At one time it could be that "Jesus didn't claim to be God" and at another it could be "Would you like to live forever?" Always somewhat startling, but also a twist on something Christians of all denominations are acquainted with. This "feminine God" idea could be another of those themes.

Douglas Hendrickson said:

There is little Scriptural warrant for identifying "male" with "spirit" and "female" with "soul," if that is what you are doing.

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There is if your not blinded by traditions and doctrines of men. God declares His image to be male and female from the beginning.
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Gen 5:2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
(Eve was no doubt Adam's female part, until she was taken out of him, because of the hardness of Adam's heart.)

Mat 19:3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
Mat 19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
Mat 19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Mat 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Mat 19:7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
Mat 19:8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

Wgw said:

Indeed, this deviant theology is popular with the so called "emerging church" set.

Click to expand...

Douglas Hendrickson said:

It's pretty obviously a subset of FEMINISM !

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However, it is quite an awesome question to ask .. if Adam, Jesus and the Father look alike .. who of the trinity did Eve look like?

Douglas Hendrickson said:

It's pretty obviously a subset of FEMINISM !

Click to expand...

Feminism did not exist when the Gnostics thought of this rubbish (to be precise, when Simon Magus decided to claim the prostitute he travelled with was an incarnation of the Paraclete, see Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus, Book 1).

Douglas Hendrickson said:

* * * * * **********************************
First, when the two (male and female) become one (flesh) that is sex, the marriage act.
Do you mean to be talking about sex?
We do not birth or give birth to a Son (of God).
God does not give birth. That is what the Virgin Mary did.
That is what we celebrate at Christmas!

There is little (or no) Scriptural warrant for identifying "male" with "spirit" and "female" with "soul," if that is what you are doing.

Click to expand...

On this point your post falls a bit short of what is required, in that it could be read as implying that the existence of Jesus Christ began at the Nativity, which is of course refuted by John 1:1.

There is no divine feminine aspect. The Virgin Mary did bear God, facilitating the incarnation of the Logos, but the Logos was begotten of the Father without any form of sexual intercourse before all ages as per the Nicene Creed. There is no divine feminine principle.

Michael Collum said:

However, it is quite an awesome question to ask .. if Adam, Jesus and the Father look alike .. who of the trinity did Eve look like?

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Both Adam and Eve can be viewed as images of God in the same way that you or I are images of God; there is no reason to say that Adam looked precisely like Jesus and much reason to say that he did not, since in His incarnation Christ was descended from Noah's son Shem through countless generations and thus had a specific ethnic appearance which Adam would have lacked.

Albion said:

It's not unusual for questioners like this fellow to cite the Bible and act approvingly of the fact that you say you're a Christian, but this is because they know that most of the people they are approaching are likely to claim to be Christians of some sort, so this is a way of gaining their attention and introducing the purpose of the overture, which is "You're right to a large extent, but you have X or Y wrong. We'll show you where you've misread the Bible."

It's essentially the Jehovah's Witness approach to evangelizing, and this man could well have been a JW, although I'm not aware of the "feminine" God slant.

They do have different themes that are promoted during various campaigns. At one time it could be that "Jesus didn't claim to be God" and at another it could be "Would you like to live forever?" Always somewhat startling, but also a twist on something Christians of all denominations are acquainted with. This "feminine God" idea could be another of those themes.

Click to expand...

Agreed, with a very specific appeal.

People lacking theological erudition or proper catechesis can easily be lead astray by questions like "Why isnt one member of the Trinity female?"

Wgw said:

Both Adam and Eve can be viewed as images of God in the same way that you or I are images of God; there is no reason to say that Adam looked precisely like Jesus and much reason to say that he did not, since in His incarnation Christ was descended from Noah's son Shem through countless generations and thus had a specific ethnic appearance which Adam would have lacked.

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I remain convinced that this is glazing over the terms image and likeness, because the scripture clearly says both male and female were made not only in the image but also likeness of God .. I perceive this imbalanced perspective leads to a lot of injustice in the way the church treats people outside.

In proverbs chapter 8 Wisdom is taken out of God in the beginning in the same way Eve was taken out of the androgynous Adam.

I recalled the unity of the two was called a profound mystery .. but at the time Paul was speaking of the church.

The motherheart of God from Jack Frost is all I know. He's charismatic.
That's in the Bible. I nursed you like a mother or something.
He is not a man like men. He became a Man and He is our Father, but He's not a man who doesn't understand women like the rest of the men.

Messy said:

He is not a man like men. He became a Man and He is our Father, but He's not a man who doesn't understand women like the rest of the men.

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Yeah God isn't like the women who don't understand the rest of the men either. God is God, we came from God and reflect God in some way .. but how are we to know that some characteristics only display in the fullness of unity?

NebraskaLuke said:

Let me back up a few steps. I was on a walk across campus today (no longer a student, but I live nearby) and a guy approached me and asked if I attended church - I said yes. He asked what my faith was, I responded that I was a Christian. He asked me if I knew what God's promise to us was - I responded that we are offered salvation through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. He then asked if I was aware that Scripture clearly outlines a feminine nature of God. I replied that I was surprised to hear that. He finally invited me to a Bible study they were holding there on campus.

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I'm also leaning towards a feminine God but if anyone invited me like that, I'm gonna run away like a rocket!

Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

So Adam is created in His Image and Jesus is a Man, but people, also women, are also created in Their Image.

Michael Collum said:

I remain convinced that this is glazing over the terms image and likeness, because the scripture clearly says both male and female were made not only in the image but also likeness of God .. I perceive this imbalanced perspective leads to a lot of injustice in the way the church treats people outside.

In proverbs chapter 8 Wisdom is taken out of God in the beginning in the same way Eve was taken out of the androgynous Adam.

I recalled the unity of the two was called a profound mystery .. but at the time Paul was speaking of the church.

Click to expand...

I dont think Adam before the creation of Eve can properly be regarded as androgynous. However one can apply the principles of sexual dymorphism in order to reconcile the divine likeness with the appearance of Eve; femininity should not be regarded as a disfigurement but as a variation; there is no qunitessential variation in the prosopa that cannot be rationalized with divinely created sexual dymorphism, which does not require that God have a pre-existant (in fact, non-existant) internalized femininity.