God the Mother

Sure. Our Lord is like a mother hen who desires to gather her brood under her wings. It's an image of providence and motherly concern. All of creation speaks of the glory of God. I see no reason why that should exclude motherly metaphors and analogies.

Can't do it.

I can't do it.
He is our Father plain and simple, never does the Bible allude that He is ever feminine.
Perhaps a female's nurturing side is a reflection of one of Gods attributes.
(And I myself am female)
When Jesus spoke of wanting to gather Jerusalem like a mother hen gathers her chicks, I take that as wanting to protect them, not because of femininity.

Tellyontellyon said:

"Our Savior is our true Mother in whom we are endlessly born and out of whom we shall never come."
- Julian of Norwich

Usually He/Him are God's pronouns, but God does also have all the aspects or qualities of a mother as well as a father.

Can it be helpful to think of God as feminine?
Do you?

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Both male and female came out of God who were made in God's image and likeness.

Jesus came and revealed God as a male, the nuance of "where Eve's unique appearance and behavioral likeness came from" is in the scriptures and seems to relate to the inner workings of God.

Originally, before there was male and female, the first human had all of humanity within him, and this person was called Adam. However, then Adam became as we are today being male and female, and male recognized the female as part of him and they were one though technically separate, this is a profound mystery. The female was not given a name until the exit from the garden, because there was no reason for another name.

In one passage in the proverbs it is said God took Wisdom out of himself before doing His works of old. Wisdom in that body of literature in the scriptures is identified as feminine. The way in which this taking out is described is similar to the rib being taken out of Adam, but since it is a mystery - there are varied opinions on what this means. I take this to mean the Father took Wisdom out of himself and spoke forth the words that created everything, those words became flesh and we know that person as Jesus Christ.

Since the feminine aspect of humanity as well as the masculine aspect of humanity both proceeded from God, looking at humanity from a balanced perspective as far as being in God's image is very helpful.

However, since Christianity isn't about building up energy through libido as is the practice in some of the other religions, the significance of acknowledging God as the source of femininity has a different role in terms of the unique non-mathematical oneness expressed in the teachings.

Also it is important to note that the ancient traditions also have the mother of God theology in regards to Mary who gave birth to his humanity. Though this theology is not my area of expertise, you might find exploring this line of study beneficial as well.

In conclusion, I think it is helpful to know where male and female came from within God, but I think that seeing that both male and female came from within God means that there's more to being human than we thought, and God being the origin is the best teacher.

Don't misunderstand Julian of Norwich. Use of the metaphor of God as our mother was common in the High Middle Ages, for instance in Bernard of Clairvaux. The Reformation helped to kill off this metaphor somewhat, even though it is also Biblical (though less common as in Isaiah or Psalms; or the Hebrew words ruach and shekinah, for the Holy Spirit and God's energies in creation, are both feminine), as well as the tendency to focus the feminine aspects onto Mary. In a strict generative sense, we always use some female sense.

It is not that God is a woman, as that all Good is in some sense of God. The mother that nourishes her children is taking on an aspect of the goodness of God. What should be remembered, is that all this is a metaphor. After all, Paul says in Galatians 3:28 that in Jesus Christ we are neither male nor female. God is our Father as a metaphor to understand His care for us, and in the patriarchal societies it originated, His majesty and the idea that we are lost children. God is one, so in a strict sense He cannot be male, or any one gender, as genders denote differentiation from another. We are like God as fathers to children, but we are also brides to Christ.

For some it is helpful to think of God as Mother. I imagine that a woman who had been abused by her father would have great difficulty with God as Father. Some scholars believe that the ancient Biblical concept of Wisdom/Sophia as female is carried forward in the Christian concept of the Holy Spirit. The earliest known artistic portrayal of the Trinity is a well-preserved fourth century mosaic. God the Father, as you might expect, is depicted as a white bearded old patriarch. Jesus, surprisingly enough, is pictured as a clean-shaven, short-haired man in a Roman style short toga. The Holy Spirit is portrayed as a very comely but modestly dressed young woman.

For, myself I can no longer conceive of God in gender terms

Tellyontellyon said:

"Our Savior is our true Mother in whom we are endlessly born and out of whom we shall never come."
- Julian of Norwich

Usually He/Him are God's pronouns, but God does also have all the aspects or qualities of a mother as well as a father.

Can it be helpful to think of God as feminine?
Do you?

Click to expand...

I think of God as Father primarily. I never think of God as feminine. It's true that God has all the qualities of both genders. Male and female are human terms. In Christ, there is neither male or female. There will be no male or female distinction in heaven.

Tellyontellyon said:

Can it be helpful to think of God as feminine?
Do you?

Click to expand...

I'm actually reasonably OK with this. Which is kind of a big deal, since I tend to be true blue traditional on most stuff.

The male identification in the Bible is a sort of literalism of case endings, and a traditional honorific for a patriarchal society, shows proper respect etc. that is expected. But when it comes to what we believe literally about God, especially God the Father we don't believe that he literally is male etc. (Jesus with the Incarnation, is another story).

A) I have met some folks who seem to believe that God the Father is a literal male which is problematic...

B) But some people, especially woman tend to want to think of God in more feminine terms. God also sometimes likens himself in feminine terms sometimes in the scriptures, e.g. as a mother hen taking care of his chicks), and the scriptures sometimes use those kinds of idioms etc. as well as used other imagery of things like doves etc. that also fit the more of a traditional feminine type role of gentleness, sensitivity etc.

C) I'm not really in favor of rewriting the Bible, or reediting the Bible for feminist causes etc. but there is some room for things like Folk Religion where you can have a more informal approach to the subject where you can have saints make comments like in the OP, as well as a more informal approach to the subject when not in church etc.

Female humans are made in his image and likeness - the fact that females exist, not only in humans, but in animals and plants, testify that there is some sort of feminine/female aspect to God’s nature, yet God is still our Father

Romans 1:20 ESV
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

God’s creation tells us about His power & His divine nature.

I see God in both of my parents. They reflect aspects of Gods love and care.
I have no problem at all looking to God as Mother as well as Father.

God is male, but even men can have female qualities such as nurturing and gentleness. I see Jesus as being very gentle and nurturing as well as powerful and authoratative.

JackRT said:

For, myself I can no longer conceive of God in gender terms

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This. I assume any conception of God I have falls short of the reality, especially when it comes to anthropomorphic conceptions. As Calvin put it, God "lisps with us as nurses are wont to do with little children" (Institutes 1.13.1).

Tellyontellyon said:

"Our Savior is our true Mother in whom we are endlessly born and out of whom we shall never come."
- Julian of Norwich

Usually He/Him are God's pronouns, but God does also have all the aspects or qualities of a mother as well as a father.

Can it be helpful to think of God as feminine?
Do you?

Click to expand...

It can.

I see God first and foremost as Ineffable, Eternal, Almighty Spirit. But being that the term "spirit" is "feminine in Hebrew (רוּחַ, rūaḥ), neuter in Greek (πνεῦμα, pneûma) and masculine in Latin (spiritus)," I think there's room for some level of feminine nuance to be valued within our conception of our Lord.

There's that, and there's also those parts in Proverbs Chapters 2, 8 & 9 where God's Wisdom is personified as a feminine entity ...

Is there a feminine aspect to Elohim? Yes.


Is this aspect female? No.


Male and female are made. Elohim is not the creation; He Is the Creator.

Tellyontellyon said:

If God the Father is Male, what exactly does that mean? What makes him essentially male?

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Who said Elohim was male?


Elohim is not male or female.


Elohim has Masculine and Feminine aspects (for lack of a better word), but male and female are created beings, which He is not.

Tellyontellyon said:

"Our Savior is our true Mother in whom we are endlessly born and out of whom we shall never come."
- Julian of Norwich

Usually He/Him are God's pronouns, but God does also have all the aspects or qualities of a mother as well as a father.

Can it be helpful to think of God as feminine?
Do you?

Click to expand...

Feminine language in reference to God isn't foreign to the Christian tradition. Even though we usually use the masculine pronoun in reference to God in English, God is neither male nor female--God is God. But, at the very least, feminine poetic language is used, including in the Bible. For example Jesus Himself in His lamentation over Jerusalem compares Himself to a mother hen wishing to protect her chicks under her wings.

Here is what one of the 20th centuries most influential Catholic theologians has to say in his work Credo: Meditations on the Apostles' Creed,

"That he is Father we know in utmost fullness from Jesus Christ, who constantly makes loving, thankful, and reverent reference to him as his Origin. It is because he bears fruit out of himself and requires no fructifying that he is called Father, and not in the sexual sense, for he will be the Creator of man and woman, and thus contains the primal qualities of woman in himself in the same simultaneously transcending way as those of man. (The Greek gennad can imply both siring and bearing, as can the word for to come into being: ginomai.) Jesus’ words indicate that this fruitful self-surrender by the primal Origin has neither beginning nor end: It is a perpetual occurrence in which essence and activity coincide. Herein lies the most unfathomable aspect of the Mystery of God: that what is absolutely primal is no statically self-contained and comprehensible reality, but one that exists solely in dispensing itself: a flowing wellspring with no holding-trough beneath it, an act of procreation with no seminal vesicle, with no organism at all to perform the act. In the pure act of self-pouring-forth, God the Father is his self, or, if one wishes, a “person” (in a transcending way)." - Hans Urs von Balthasar, Credo

-CryptoLutheran

I just came across this quote and thought of this thread.

"So Jesus Christ, who opposes good to evil, is our true Mother. We have our being from him, where the foundation of motherhood begins, with all the sweet protection of love which endlessly follows. As truly as God is our Father, so truly God is our Mother." Julian of Norwich from Revelations of Divine Love

And, yet, Julian of Norwich uses the pronoun "him."