thesoulpurposedotorg

I graduated from seminary two decades ago. At that time, I was adamantly NOT a feminist. I usually began my prayers with “Father God” and balanced this (in my own mind) with the belief that the Holy Spirit was the divine feminine principle of the Trinity. I recently re-read some of those seminary papers and was surprised at all I once knew about this subject. In truth, the whole question of the gender of God has always seemed very silly and a moot point. How could the Divine be confined to any sense of gender?
At the same time, I naively thought my energy should not be “wasted” on women’s rights when the abuse of children and the horrors of racism were far more worthy causes. I’ve begun to think I was very wrong and that the hatred of the feminine is far more dangerous to our souls than I had ever imagined. Perhaps the popularity of the DaVinci Code speaks to some part of our collective psyche that knows that belief in the masculinity of God has been quite destructive.
I’ve heard two interviews with Islamic Imams in the past week: one in Canada and one in Afghanistan. Each was asked what about western society caused them to believe we were satanic. The first said it was satanic for women to be “free to make choices independent of their husbands or fathers” and this was the root of sinfulness. (This according to today’s Morning Edition by Brian Mann of North Country Radio.) The second, pointed to the fact that we allow women to come out of the house as evidence of our satanic ways. These interview struck terror in my heart (perhaps that is their purpose) and I find myself becoming hawkish about the war.
But this isn’t limited to this 7th century-based religion of Islam. An interview with religion scholar Bart D. Ehrman in Fresh Air back in April was revealing about the early Christian understanding of gender. The Gospel of Thomas is quoted in this interview. It seems that Peter did not want Mary Magdalene to be part of the discipleship group. He said to Jesus “Women are not worthy of the life!” To which Jesus replied “I will make her male.” The scholar goes on to explain that in ancient culture, gender was seen as a continuum with the perfect human being a strong, virile male and the least perfect to be women. Women were seen as men who haven’t grown male body parts and therefore are imperfect. I’m not sure how this was supposed to work but I imagine reincarnation must have been assumed because in order to be worthy of “the life” (i.e. eternal life) one had to evolve into a perfect human (i.e. virile male). Makes me thankful to the church “fathers” who decided NOT to include these Gnostic gospels in the canon.
Perhaps the feminists back in the day were right. When we view God as male, we are much like the ancient people seeing maleness as perfection and femaleness as evil and unworthy. This makes Jesus embracing of women as equal to men in the Kingdom of God as basic to the Christian faith and not just a footnote. This makes the writings of Paul in the book of Galatians (In Christ there is neither male nor female) not a choice but a foundational fact of life in Christ. In the very first book of the Bible we are told that we are made in God’s image as male and female. God has no gender. However, remembering that both male and female are necessary to being fully human reminds us that both are also necessary to being divine.