This entry discusses how the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam deal with God and gender. It includes both traditional religious views, and modern views of these faiths, especially as to how modern feminism has influenced the theology of these religions.

Monotheists hold a belief in one God as a fundamental religious principle.

• In Judaism and Islam, God is believed to be sexless, but has been traditionally referred to using male grammatical gender.

• In Christianity, God is believed to be a Trinity, consisting of three persons in one God. The three persons of the Trinity are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God the Father has traditionally been described with male imagery, and God the Son is believed to literally be a male, with male sexual anatomy. According to Christianity God literally became incarnate as a human male, and many Christian teachings are derived from this point. God the Holy Spirit has been referred to using male, female or neutral grammatical gender.

God in the Hebrew Bible

In the first book of the Hebrew Bible, Genesis 1:26, God states "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Exactly what Genesis means by the word "image" is not clear, but there is an analogy being made between God and humans.

In some ways this passage is anthropomorphic; it is attributing human characteristics to God. However, less recognized is that the viewpoint of the Israelite biblical writers was theomorphic: humans are seen as having Godly characteristics.

The Hebrew Bible often refers to God as a father, but sometimes uses female imagery as well.

For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon sides, and be dandled upon knees.

"As one whom his mother comforts, so I (God) will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem." (Isaiah 66:12-13)

The Biblical Hebrew word for spirit is ruah, meaning wind, breath, inspiration; the noun is grammatically feminine.

Jewish views of God and gender

In regard to translating Hebrew names of God into English, most Orthodox Jews and many Conservative Jews hold that it is wrong to use English female pronouns for God; their reason is not because God is of the male gender, but because doing so among English speakers tends to draw attention to God as having gender. Another reason is that the Hebrew Bible usually uses names of God that are grammatically masculine.

Among many Reconstructionist Jews and Reform Jews there has been an increasing tendency to stress feminine characteristics of God. In these communities God is sometimes spoken of as a "She". Classical Hebrew names for God such as HaQadosh Baruch Hu ("The Holy One, praised be He") are sometimes being rewritten in both Hebrew and English as HaQ'dosha B'rucha He ("The Holy One, praised be She"). However, those in Reform Judaism who hold more closely to traditional Jewish belief (as well as most Conservative Jews and nearly all Orthodox Jews) hold that this rewriting of Hebrew names for God is both a theological and linguistic error; it presupposes the belief that grammatical gender implies sexual gender, which it does not. The implication is that other Jews worship a male God; which they do not.

Some Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis have experimented with incorporating explicit anthropomorphic characteristics into their prayers. Reform Rabbi Rebecca Alpert (Reform Judaism, Winter 1991) writes about a feminist siddur (Jewish prayerbook) she used:

The experience of praying with Siddur Nashim .. transformed my relationship with God. For the first time, I understood what it meant to be made in God's image. To think of God as a woman like myself, to see Her as both powerful and nurturing, to see Her imaged with a woman's body, with womb, with breasts-this was an experience of ultimate significance. Was this the relationship that men have had with God for all these millennia? How wonderful to gain access to those feelings and perceptions.

Most Jews reject this theology as unacceptable; a separate criticism is that it misrepresents what other Jews actually believe. Classical rabbinic Jews in the past, and Orthodox Jews today, would vehemently dispute the claim that they imagine that God has male sexual characteristics, and that they use these beliefs to create a close relationship to God. Many traditional rabbinic commentators, such as Maimonides, viewed any such beliefs as avidah zarah, "idolatry".

While primary male sexual characteristics are absent from Jewish descriptions of God, secondary male sexual characteristics occur in some piyuttim (religious poems.) Some of these poems incorporate allegorical male images of God, such as a description of the beard of God Shir Hakavod, "The Hymn of Glory", and similar poetic imagery in the midrash Song of the Seas Rabbah. Traditional meforshim (rabbinic commentators) hold that this is valid imagery, but purely metaphorical, and warn readers not to imagine that this describes God as being male.

Some traditional Jewish prayers refer to God as Avinu Malkeinu, "Our Father, Our King". Feminine forms of this phrase "Our Mother, Our Queen" have traditionally never been used in Jewish prayers. Some hold that there is no a priori reason why such terminology is not used, but nonetheless most Jews today do not use this terminology, as they see these terms as being associated with polytheism.

Christian views of God and gender

In Christianity, one person of God, the Son, is believed to have become incarnate as a human male. Most Christians believe that the other two persons in the trinity, the Father and the Holy Spirit, have never been incarnated.

Female terms for the Holy Spirit were used in some early Christian communities, specifically within the hymn book, entitled "Odes

God the Father is often pictured as a male in traditional Christian artwork. In Western Christianity, the Holy Spirit has been referred to using male pronouns and, in languages with grammatical noun gender, the masculine grammatical gender.

Some Christians today, especially those inspired by feminism, do not consider this tradition to be binding. These Christians claim that the first century church worshipped the Holy Spirit as a female deity. Though there is no archaeological evidence for this claim, passages in the Nag Hammadi library scrolls from second-century Gnosticism refer to the Holy Spirit as female. The grammatical gender of "Spirit" in Hebrew is feminine (ruah) and in Greek is neuter (pneuma); debate rages about what significance this holds for the person of the Holy Spirit in Christianity.

The Greek pronoun (αὐτός) translated "Him" in John 14, speaking of the Holy Spirit, refers to self in all persons: him, her, it. Otherwise the New Testament refers to the Spirit (πνεῦμα) with grammatical neuter. "Him" in John 14 is a pronoun without gender.

Some modern Christians feel that it is important to speak of the Holy Spirit, especially in the role of Comforter and Reconciler, with a feminine pronoun. One argument used is that the functions of the Holy Spirit as characterized in Biblical texts are often those which have been associated with women: consolation, inspiration, emotional warmth, and birth of the spirit. Others dispute this. Some claim that assigning the Holy Spirit gender in accord with its role is a subconscious endorsement of stereotypical gender roles. Others argue that since Mary gave birth to Jesus, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, this makes the Holy Spirit analogous to a male; however, this argument misses the fact that it is God the Father, and never the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus calls "Father".

Several passages in the Jewish scriptures used by Christians refer to the divine Wisdom as if she were a person (e.g., Proverbs 8-9, Sirach 24, Wisdom 6:22-11:1, Baruch 3:9-4:4), and this Wisdom is given female gender. The most common opinion among the Church Fathers was that this Wisdom was the Second Person of the Trinity before his incarnation. Others held that it refers to the Holy Spirit, or that it refers to created wisdom rather than to God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that God is not male, but that his role in our world makes the term "Father" more appropriate than "Mother", although both terms remain informative:

In no way is God in man's image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the differences between the sexes. But the respective "perfections" of man and woman reflect something of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother (Isaiah 49:14-15, 66:13; Psalm 131:2-3) and those of a father (Job 31:18; Jer 3:4-20) and husband (Jer 3:6-19)."

By calling God "Father," the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that He is at the same time goodness and loving care for all His children. God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood (Isaiah 66:13; Psalm 131:2), which emphasizes God's immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents.. (CCC 239)

Mormon views

As viewed by many Latter Day Saint (Mormon) churches, both God the Father and Jesus are thought to have distinct, perfect male bodies of flesh and bones. God is literally a man. The Holy Spirit, is thought to have a body composed of "spirit matter", and is generally considered to be male.

In addition, many Latter Day Saints believe in a distinct Heavenly Mother, who is thought to have a perfect, physical female body, although she is rarely worshipped.

Because of these beliefs, and a number of other beliefs, most Christians disavow Mormonism as a form of Christianity. The Latter Day Saints adamantly reject this rejection, and insist that their religion is in fact the only true form of Christianity. See Godhead (Mormonism); Mormonism and Christianity.

Islamic views of God in the Qur'an

In the Qur'an, God is always referred to as "He". However, Islam is said to maintain that God has no gender.

Translating the names of God into English

There are a number of ways that one can translate the names of God into English from Hebrew. The Tetragrammaton is composed of the Hebrew letters Yod-Heh-Waw-Heh. (If your web-browser supports a Hebrew font it is written thus: יהוה.)

In English the tetragrammaton is usually written as YHWH or YHVH. The original meaning of this form is connected with the "I AM" of Exodus 3:14 (and it probably contains a Hebrew masculine verb prefix). This word is usually rendered into English by translating Hebrew Adonai (instead of attempting to directly translate YHWH), in accordance with ancient Jewish practices.

The Hebrew word "Adonai" literally means "my lords" (with pseudo-plural), and is usually translated as "Lord" or "LORD" (in small capitals). A gender-neutral translation of this is "Sovereign". The Hebrew names "Elohim", "El", "Shaddai",and "Yah" are usually translated as "God". "Elyon" translates as "Most High".

There are a number of compound names for God. "YHVH Tzevaot" is translated as "Lord of Hosts"; a gender-neutral translation is "Sovereign of Hosts". YHVH Elohe tzevaot would be "Lord God of Hosts". Among non-Orthodox Jews, there is a growing tendency to avoid translation-created gender problems, and to simultaneously reclaim the vocabulary of Hebrew itself, by not translating these names in English prayers.

An example of a traditional translation is: "The earth belongs to the Lord, and all it contains; the world and its inhabitants." (Psalm 24)

An alternative translation is: "The earth belongs to Adonai, and all it contains; the world and its inhabitants."

Shekhinah is Hebrew for the immanent presence of God; this name of God appears in some traditional Jewish prayers. Within Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) the Shekhinah represents the feminine aspect of God's essence; other terms represent the male aspect of God.

See also Names of God

Third person



pronouns: He, She or It?

Many prayers use one or more of the names for God many times within the same paragraph. The first time it appears a proper name is used, while further instances use a third person pronoun. English speakers usually use masculine or feminine third person pronouns to refer to people, and the third person pronoun "it" to refer to non-people. Traditionally, in both Jewish and Christian cultures, the third-person pronoun "He" has been used to refer to God in English translations. Functionally, even in non-religious contexts, English speakers have generally used the word "he" as a substitute for a gender-neutral third person pronoun. While grammatically male, the word "he" is often functionally used in a non-male sense.

In all languages with grammatical gender, the grammatical gender of words often has little or no relation to biological or sexual gender. With regard to the pronouns employed in speaking of the Holy Spirit, in Indo-European languages (and some other languages as well), the masculine pronoun can be used in either a masculine or a gender-indefinite sense, while the feminine pronoun is always feminine.

In English, it is improper to speak of a person with the neuter pronoun "it". Since the Bible teaches that God is in many ways like a person, English speakers have avoided using "It", and instead used "He". Further, all Christians that believe in the Trinity by definition believe in the Three Persons that are One God. Thus many say referring to God as “It” not only is improper, but heretical.

The idea of God being an "It" rather than a "he" or "she" does have some support in Jewish, Christian and Islamic medieval thought, much of which was based on Neo-Aristotelian philosophy. Some medieval philosophers of all three of these religions took great pains to make clear that God was in no way like a person, and that all apparently physical descriptions of God were only poetic metaphors. Given their description of God as a process, or as a prime-mover, or as an ultimate source of reality, the reference to God as "It" could well be justifiable.

Mankind and Humankind

Translations of the Bible and prayerbooks traditionally have used words such as: man, men, his, mankind, brotherhood, etc., In their historical usage these words in most places have always meant human, human beings, his and hers, humankind, peoplehood, etc. For a number of reasons women are frequently left out of both the mental structures and the social structures of many cultures. Some believe that the usage of these words when speaking of all people, and not men only, contributes to this condition, which they perceive as an injustice. As such, many liberal religious Jews and Christians now translate works in a more gender-neutral fashion.

The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible tries to correct this by changing words like "man" to "person", and "brothers" to "brothers and sisters", in all cases where the text is not referring to specific individuals but to people in general, or to a group of people that is most likely comprised of both men and women. In keeping with this approach, the NRSV does not change the traditional male pronouns that refer to God.

A recent translation known as Today's New International Version (TNIV - sometimes referred to derisively as "The Neutered International Version") attempts to avoid sexist language by using "they" as the pronoun for a single person of unknown gender, a practice that has been common in spoken English for over six hundred years but is often avoided in formal writing. Critics of this translation dislike the usage of "singular they" both because conservative prescriptive grammarians sometimes consider it improper grammar, and because it sometimes may obscure the meaning of verses where it is significant that the pronoun is singular.

However, the continued usage of words such as Father, men, mankind, brotherhood, etc., has been increasingly called into question by some readers who believe these words destroy the Bible's original prose style. Convsersely, traditionalists believe the use of gender-neutral turns itself is an aberration from the original books.

New translation solutions

Most modern-day readers of English Bible translations are not familiar with Hebrew; they read the translations literally, through the view of modern feminist thought, and thus sometimes read the text as if it were describing a male God. Many readers feel removed from the text, as they either do not want to worship a male God, or they also want to worship a female God as well as a male God.

While this problem does not exist if one prays in the original Hebrew (or Arabic, Aramaic, etc.), many prayer-book editors in the non-Orthodox denominations of Judaism, and in liberal denominations of Christianity, have become sensitive to this issue. Several solutions have been proposed:

• Keeping the standard translation, which uses the term "He", and using commentary to explain the issue more fully. This is the approach used by Orthodox Judaism and most branches of Christianity.

• Translating God as "It". For theological reasons, this has been rejected by all branches of Judaism and of Christianity. But, see above for a discussion of why it could be considered legitimate.

• Translating God as both "He" and "She". A few experimental prayerbooks by Reconstructionist Jewish feminists have tried alternating "he" and "she" within the same prayerbook, and sometimes even within the same prayer. This approach has failed to win widespread approval; critics object to it for many reasons, one of which is that this gives the appearance of dualism or goddess worship. Some liberal Protestant Christian denominations use this approach on occasion.

• Rewriting all prayers in the second person, only using the term "You". A few experimental prayerbooks by Reconstructionist Jewish feminists have tried this, but this approach has failed to win widespread approval. Interestingly, Contemporary Christian Music often addresses God in this manner, although probably for different theological reasons (that is, to emphasize a personal relationship with the Divine).

• Gender-neutral translation involves rewriting prayers to remove all third-person pronouns. Sometimes this involves changing sentence and paragraph structure. This approach has been adopted by the editors of all new Reform and Reconstructionist Jewish prayerbooks. Some liberal Protestant Christians also have rewritten prayerbooks in this way. Conservative Judaism has rejected this approach because there are many cases where no such changes are possible without totally rewriting the sentence, thereby moving the English far from the Hebrew structure. (Gender-neutral translation can also be accomplished by replacing third-person singular pronouns with third-person plural pronouns, repeating "God" each time to avoid "he". Some Christian translations of Scripture, including the New Jerusalem Bible, use this technique when referring to humans, but naturally this technique is not used in the case of God.)

• Gender-sensitive translation. This approach is a modified form of the above. In this approach, one rewrites most sentences to remove third-person pronouns, but occasionally the pronoun "he" is allowed in order to preserve readability and the original sentence structure. This is the approach taken by Conservative Judaism. Most inclusive-language Christian translations take this approach.

• Some Christian groups have created a new pronoun: God (subject or object), God's (possessive), Godself (reflexive). While the Catholic Church officially frowns on this, a significant number of American Catholic parishes alter the Mass responses by repeating "God" each time to avoid the third-person singular male pronoun. The use of the reflexive Godself is more rare.

(It should be noted that some critics object to this terminology. Particularly for those who believe feminist interpretation is misogynist (see above), terms such as “gender-neutral” and “gender-sensitive” can be offensive. Critics charge that these terms imply traditional interpretations are not sensitive to women. Nevertheless, in the lack of acceptable alternatives these phrases are used in this article.)

Over the last twenty years many Jewish prayerbooks have been rewritten to be gender-neutral (Reform, Reconstructionist Judaism) or gender-sensitive (Conservative). Examples are shown in the following translations of Psalm 24. The following is a traditional translation excerpted from Siddur Sim Shalom, a Conservative siddur. (Ed. Jules Harlow)

A Psalm of David.

The earth belongs to the Lord, and all it contains; the world and its inhabitants.

He founded it upon the seas, and set it firm upon flowing waters.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may rise in His sanctuary?

One who has a clean hand and a pure heart, who has not used God's name in false oaths, who has not sworn deceitfully.

he shall receive a blessing from the God of his deliverance.

A modern gender-sensitive translation of Psalm 24 now appears in the revised editions of Siddur Sim Shalom.

A Psalm of David.

The earth and its grandeur belong to Adonai; the world and its inhabitants.

God founded it upon the seas, and set it firm upon flowing waters.

Who may ascend the mountain of Adonai? Who may rise in God's sanctuary?

One who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not used God's name in false oaths, who has not sworn deceitfully.

shall receive a blessing from Adonai, a just reward from the God of deliverance.

Criticism of feminine reconstructions of theology

Grammatically, most of the Hebrew names for God are masculine; a few are grammatically feminine; the grammatical form of words has no biological or literal significance. Many modern readers of the Bible, especially those influenced by 20th century feminism, often misread English translations of the Bible as literal translations of the Hebrew text; this leads to errors of understanding, as for grammatical reasons literal translations are not always possible. English does not have grammatical gender in nouns, but it does have grammatical gender in pronouns. In contrast, all Hebrew nouns have grammatical gender.

For example, the Hebrew words "yom tov" and "shavua tov" are grammatically male, and are translated as "day" and "week"; the Hebrew phrase "shanah tovah" ("Have a good year") is grammatically feminine. Both religious and non-religious Bible readers conversant in Hebrew should not imagine that days and weeks are conceived of by Jews as being male, and that years are thought of as female. However, when it comes to translating Biblical names of God this is precisely the idea that exists among many modern day English speakers. The reader often assumes that the Hebrew text is referring to a male God (which it does not). In response, some feminists have attempted to construct a female-God image, or feminine way of speaking about God, to rebut the male-God image that they perceive.

Others claim the above argument is incorrect. Many say the society in which the Bible is written was patriarchal, and that the use of male words for God would have been expected.

An argument for using female symbols for God arises from the practical effects of God-language on the readers. Imagery for God helps us understand the world. The way a faith community talks about God indicates what it considers the highest good, the profoundest truth. This language, in turn, molds the community's behavior, as well as its members' self-understanding. The fact that Jews and Christians ordinarily speak about God in the image of a male ruler can be problematic. For feminist theology, the difficulty does not lie with the male metaphors. Men as well as women are created in the image of God. The problem lies in the fact that the specific male images reflect a patriarchal arrangement of the world, casting God into the mold of an omnipotent, even if benevolent, monarch. God's maternal relation to the world is eclipsed.

Likewise, a similar argument arises for using male symbols for God. God is all powerful and the judge of the universe. Though numerous women in the Bible have strong roles, the various social systems described are patriarchal. Some believe using language to mask these facts leads to a "watered-down" creed and a loss of faith.

Other languages

Many languages have a neuter pronoun that could be used to refer to God.

In the Chinese language, Modern Christian Bible translators have created a new Chinese character to act as a gender-neutral pronoun: 祂 (Pinyin: tā). Tā, in essence, is the universal pronoun for all objects and persons; however, gender (as well as personhood) can be distinguished in writing. The normal pronoun for "He", 他, not only implies gender, but the radical 亻(rén) also implies that God is human. The radical in 祂, 礻 (shì), is associated with divinity.

See also

• Feminism
• God
• God (male deity)
• Goddess
• Sky father
• Hindu views on God and gender

Bibliography

• Elliot N. Dorff Male and Female God Created Them: Equality with Distinction, University Papers, University of Judaism, Los Angeles, 1984, pp. 13-23.
• Paula Reimers Feminism, Judaism, and God the Mother, Fall 1993, Conservative Judaism
• Jules Harlow Feminist Linguistics and Jewish Liturgy Conservative Judaism Vol.XLIX(2) Winter 1997, p.3-25.
• Matthew Berke God and Gender in Judaism in First Things, June 1996
  
• Bible Translation and the Gender of God, S. T. Kimbrough, Jr. Theology Today, Vol.46, No. 2, July 1989
• The Incomprehensibility of God and the Image of God Male and Female, Elizabeth Johnson, Theological Studies, Vol.45, no.3, 1984, pp.441-465.