She
My dad recently asked why I sometimes refer to God as "She." I'm assuming some of you might have that same question since I have written that in this space, so I thought I'd tell you my (expanded) answer too.
Caveat
I believe that God is both masculine & feminine. Of course, God is also neither. Naming God is impossible since S/he is much bigger than any words or images that we can use. But in an attempt to know God, we use words & images to the best of our ability & acknowledge our limitations along the way.
Preface
Language is important. It shapes & possibly even defines our experiences & our perception of reality. This is in fact the premise of my previous work as a therapist. It is talk therapy, and there's buckets of research that shows how people can literally heal (changes in brain chemistry) from past trauma through this process whose primarily tool is language. We can change our experience by our language.
What that means for our view & experience of God is that a) we're never going to fully know or understand God in this lifetime; b) we will be such a better people if we think critically about the words we use and why we use them; and c) we are called to use our amazing, God-given creativity to use our words in a way that is healing & good & true, which does not always coincide with what is culturally acceptable or 'normal.' We need each other (i.e., all people) to do this work & to discern what "the work" actually is.
The Point
The Bible is full of both masculine & feminine imagery for God. I use both pronouns (He & She) when I talk, think, and pray to God. But lately, I've been using the feminine more often, because I feel like I don't know God in that way yet. And that makes me sad. Obviously, I grew up thinking of God almost exclusively as masculine. I think that is incomplete & very problematic for both my understanding of God & myself - i.e., a woman made in the image of God.
Conclusion
This is a very short answer to a complex & controversial question - the answer to which has many important implications. Honestly though, I think much of the controversy around this is purely cultural. Even for myself, as much as I believe that a large and important part of God is feminine, my heart races when I use feminine pronouns. It's uncomfortable, because it's not how I was raised to think about God. Oh, but I love the thought that my children will not be as anxious as I am about this, and that God as male, female - both & neither - will be so very normal for my children. That is a lovely thing to think about. It makes the struggle for truer language, and thus a truer experience, far worth it.
Caveat
I believe that God is both masculine & feminine. Of course, God is also neither. Naming God is impossible since S/he is much bigger than any words or images that we can use. But in an attempt to know God, we use words & images to the best of our ability & acknowledge our limitations along the way.
Preface
Language is important. It shapes & possibly even defines our experiences & our perception of reality. This is in fact the premise of my previous work as a therapist. It is talk therapy, and there's buckets of research that shows how people can literally heal (changes in brain chemistry) from past trauma through this process whose primarily tool is language. We can change our experience by our language.
What that means for our view & experience of God is that a) we're never going to fully know or understand God in this lifetime; b) we will be such a better people if we think critically about the words we use and why we use them; and c) we are called to use our amazing, God-given creativity to use our words in a way that is healing & good & true, which does not always coincide with what is culturally acceptable or 'normal.' We need each other (i.e., all people) to do this work & to discern what "the work" actually is.
The Bible is full of both masculine & feminine imagery for God. I use both pronouns (He & She) when I talk, think, and pray to God. But lately, I've been using the feminine more often, because I feel like I don't know God in that way yet. And that makes me sad. Obviously, I grew up thinking of God almost exclusively as masculine. I think that is incomplete & very problematic for both my understanding of God & myself - i.e., a woman made in the image of God.
Conclusion
This is a very short answer to a complex & controversial question - the answer to which has many important implications. Honestly though, I think much of the controversy around this is purely cultural. Even for myself, as much as I believe that a large and important part of God is feminine, my heart races when I use feminine pronouns. It's uncomfortable, because it's not how I was raised to think about God. Oh, but I love the thought that my children will not be as anxious as I am about this, and that God as male, female - both & neither - will be so very normal for my children. That is a lovely thing to think about. It makes the struggle for truer language, and thus a truer experience, far worth it.
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