Evidence for and Significance of Feminine -Language from the Church Fathers to the Modern Era

MIMI HADDAD

hroughout history why did the church frequently use turn shapes the way we construct our experience of the feminine language for God? In what way did this world.”1 Tfeminine language serve the church? Why do we According to Judith Plaskow of Yale University, “once evangelicals, in contrast, appear so uncomfortable with images become socially, politically, or morally inadequate feminine imagery for God? ... they are also religiously inadequate. Instead of pointing To examine the church’s to and evoking the reality of historical use of feminine God, they block the possibili- metaphors for God concerns ty of religious experience.”2 the realm of historical theol- Hence we are not surprised to ogy, and as such I will not observe some within the radi- explore the biblical material cal feminist movement modi- upon which the historical fying the male language for writers based their work. God that they find offensive. Moreover, by offering exam- In Distorting Scripture? The ples of how the church Challenges of Trans- throughout its history lation and Accuracy, engaged feminine imagery Mark Strauss documents fem- for God, however uncom- inist versions of the Bible that fortable and unusual it may alter masculine terms and seem for us today, it is not pronouns in relation to lan- my purpose here to advocate guage about God and for feminine language for Christ. For radical feminists, God. My present concern, these alterations are viewed as rather, is to observe how a corrective to the historical feminine language for God oppression of women.3 assisted the church as it was Such feminists object to a challenged by various theo- religious system that for them logical concerns over the renders “male” as pre-emi- years. nent as evidenced in male- The breadth of this topic dominant language for God is enormous, and therefore that is exclusive, literal, and this review is a mere air- patriarchal.4 However, through- plane ride over the terrain, out the history of the church and a Concord flight at that. we find there were theolo- “The early church resisted making Christ’s gender pre-eminent We will have time only to for fear that this might be transferred on to God. Why would the gians and reformers, crafters touch upon the highest peaks church seek to avoid this? The early Christians were surround- of councils and creeds, from ed by a Greek religious system that worshiped pagan, gendered of this fascinating mountain . However, the Judeo-Christian God is spirit.” the Patristic period through range. the Modern Era, all of whom As evangelicals, our tendency to avoid feminine lan- worked within a patriarchal culture and yet used feminine guage may be understandable in light of the current radical imagery for God. By doing so, they brought theological feminist literature on language for God. By radical femi- understanding of God, which is not male in an exclusive, nist, I refer to those who place their feminist commitments literal, or patriarchal sense. above their commitment to the authority and inspiration of Why did these theologians use feminine language for scripture. These feminists often object to masculine lan- God? While the theological challenges of each generation guage for God because, in their opinion, language shapes or were different, feminine God-language was often a useful creates reality. For example, Neil Gillman, a Jewish femi- tool whereby the church was able to understand God's nist, suggested that the “language we use reflects and in immanence. By contrast, and as might be expected, mascu-

PRISCILLA PAPERS / Summer 2004 18:3 3 womb of the Father, and that God is not only transcendent but also immanent. Though willing to engage feminine “Teresa of Avila used feminine metaphors for God, the early church was clear about one matter: God is not a gendered because God is spirit. images to connote God’s Thus in the fourth century, Jerome insisted that God is immanence, nurture, and comfort. spirit.10 Likewise, Ambrose (340-397 AD), Bishop of Milan, understood the person of Jesus as vir which desig- She wrote: ‘For from those divine nates gender. However, gender is “attributed to human nature but never to the God-head.”11 Hence the gender of breasts where it seems God is Jesus was not transferred to God. Ambrose, using the image of womb and breast, empha- always sustaining the soul, there sized not the gender of God, but the concept that God is a nurturing God. Christ arises from the womb of God there- flow streams of milk bringing by suggesting that Jesus is of the same substance as God. Jesus is therefore fully divine. By coming from the womb comfort to all the people.’” of Mary, Christ is also fully human. Augustine, Ambrose’s student, also takes up this argument. Ambrose wrote: line images for God were ways of noting God’s transcen- The two begettings of the Jesus, that accord- dence. ing to the and that according to the flesh, To say that God is immanent is to propose that God is because he was begotten from the Father before all close to or dwells within the limits of human experience. ages … because the Son has proceeded from the The word “immanence” comes from the Latin, in manere, most profound and incomprehensible substance of which means, “to dwell within.”5 By contrast, to say and is always in him. For this reason is transcendent is to suggest God is above, apart, or exter- also the evangelist says, “No one has at any time nal to creation. Transcendence derives from the Latin, trans seen God, except the only begotten Son, who is in scandere, which literally means to climb across or to climb the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him.” over.6 “The bosom of the Father,” then, is to be under- As Christians, we believe that God is both immanent as stood in a spiritual sense, as in a kind of innermost well as transcendent. God is “distinct from, yet at work in dwelling of the Father’s love and of his nature, in the world.”7 However, throughout history some have exag- which the Son always dwells. Even so, the Father’s gerated or placed unmerited emphasis on God’s transcen- womb is the spiritual womb of an inner sanctuary, dence, and others have unduly stressed God’s immanence. from which the Son has proceeded....12 “The history of the problem of divine immanence and tran- scendence consists largely in a constant swinging of the By using the image of womb and bosom, Ambrose does not theological pendulum from one extreme to the other, seek- transfer gender to God in an ontological way. Rather, these ing for a ‘vital center.’”8 That vital center, where God’s metaphors are used to connote likeness or sameness of immanence and transcendence converge, can be found in Christ to both God and to the human race. Likewise, David the person of Christ.9 Clark suggests God is often imaged as immanent when Let us observe, then, how the feminine language for feminine metaphors are used and as transcendent when God assisted the early church in articulating God’s imma- masculine images are used.13 It is interesting, therefore, to nence in the full humanity and deity of Christ. note how many within the Patristic period and beyond used both feminine and masculine images for God almost in tan- The Early Church dem with each other, as if to say God is both knowable and unknowable. God is immanent or close to us, just as God is “God is spirit.” John 4:24 transcendent or outside our experiences. Here are a few examples. During the early centuries, the church repeated, with slight variations, several themes. First, that God is spirit; second Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine; and third that Jesus’ salvation is universal. While some in the early God himself is love; and out of love to us became church used gendered language for God, they always resis- feminine. In his ineffable essence he is father; in ted rendering God a gendered deity. Rather, feminine his compassion to us he became mother. The father metaphors were used to suggest that Christ came from the by loving became feminine, and the great proof of

4 PRISCILLA PAPERS / Summer 2004 18:3 this is he whom he begot of himself; the first fruit God—like a mother—gives birth, nurtures, and personally brought forth by God is love.14 rears the faithful. He writes:

The Word [Christ] is everything to his little ones, There are often mothers that after the travail of both father and mother.15 birth send out their children to other women as nurses; but he endureth not to do this, but himself Chrysostom (347- 407 AD) feeds us with his own blood, and by all means entwines us with himself … With each one of the Thou art my Father, thou art my Mother, thou my faithful doth he mingle himself in the mysteries, Brother, thou art Friend, thou art Servant, thou art and whom he begat, he nourishes by himself… Let House-keeper; thou art the All, and the All is in us not then be remiss, having been counted worthy thee; thou art Being, and there is nothing that is, of so much both of love and honor. See ye not the except thou.16 infants with how much eagerness they lay hold of the breast? … With the like let us also approach Here we note Chrysostom and Clement imaging God as this table … as infants at the breast, draw out the both “mother and father” in combination with each other, a grace of the spirit, let it be our one sorrow, not to tradition that continues throughout church history. Let us partake of this food.19 also observe the special role feminine metaphors played in connoting God’s immanence, often through Christ. Did the early church leaders absolutize feminine metaphors for God? No. In the same way they did not abso- Augustine lutize the gender of Christ. Rather, they wished to see his sacrifice as universal—as available to both men and Augustine used the image of God as mother to show women. By taking on human flesh, Christ bore the of that God nurses and tenderly cares for the faithful. God's transcendent wisdom and sustenance is accessible through Christ. Augustine wrote: “As when the hen concerned for He who has promised us heavenly food has nour- her brood gathers her chickens ished us on milk, having recourse to a mother's ten- derness. For just as a mother, suckling her infant, under her wings at the instant of transfers from her flesh the very same food which otherwise would be unsuited to a babe ... so our danger, covering them completely Lord, in order to convert his wisdom into milk for our benefit, came to us clothed in flesh. It is the and ready to give her life rather Body of Christ, then, which here says: “And thou shalt nourish me.”17 than deprive them of this shelter

Gregory of Nyssa which makes it impossible for the

Likewise, Gregory of Nyssa engaged feminine imagery to enemy's eye to discover them— illustrate how God’s transcendence—God’s unknowable essence—is apprehended through Christ. Nyssa wrote: precisely thus does he hide thy .

The divine power, though exalted far above our Precisely thus: For he too is nature and inaccessible to all approach, like a ten- der mother who joins in the inarticulate utterances concerned, infinitely concerned in of her babe, gives to our human nature what it is capable of receiving; and thus in the various mani- love, ready to give his life rather festations of God to humanity, God both adapts to than deprive thee of thy secure humanity and speaks in human language.18 shelter under his love.” John Chrysostom suggested that though human mothers may relinquish the nurture of their children to servants, Soren Kierkegaard

PRISCILLA PAPERS / Summer 2004 18:3 5 all people. To make one aspect of Christ’s humanity pre- nine metaphor for God during this period is that of mother. eminent (i.e., his gender, class, or race) minimizes the vic- In order to emphasize the tender, immanent forgiveness tories Christ won at Calvary. Therefore, the early church of God, Bernard of Clairvaux used the mother motif. sought to advance all that Christ had achieved on the cross. Bernard wrote: As stated by Gregory of Nazianzus: “To Gar Aprosleptom atherapeuton. What is not assumed is not redeemed.”20 Do not let the roughness of our life frighten your Similarly, Augustine underscored the gospel message that tender years. If you feel the stings of temptation ... Christ bore the sins of all flesh when he wrote: suck not so much the wounds as the breasts of the Crucified. He will be your mother, and you will be [God] has honoured both sexes, at once the male his son.24 and the female, and has made it plain that not only that sex which he assumed pertains to God’s care, Julian of Norwich, perhaps the most profound British spir- but also that sex by which he did assume this other, itual theologian, described God as both father and mother. in that he bore [the nature of] of the man [virum Julian used the “Jesus as mother” motif to emphasize God's gerendo], [and] in that he was born of the woman.21 Trinitarian love. As Christ gives birth to a new race, Christ makes known the will of the Father, which is also con- According to Patristic thinkers, Christ was male in order to firmed by the . God’s transcendent love represent men at the Cross. Christ was also born of woman becomes immanently known through Christ. Julian writes: so that Christ might also represent women at Calvary. The early church resisted making Christ’s gender pre-eminent As truly as God is our Father, so is truly God our for fear that this might be transferred on to God. Why Mother. Our Father wills, our Mother works, our would the church seek to avoid this? The early Christians good Lord the Holy Spirit confirms ... And so Jesus were surrounded by a Greek religious system that wor- is our true Mother in nature by our first creation, shiped pagan, gendered deities. However, the Judeo- and he is our true Mother in grace by taking our Christian God is spirit.22 The Patristic writers engaged feminine imagery, such as womb and breast to teach that Christ is of the same sub- stance as God. Christ was also born of a woman’s womb, and is therefore of the same substance as humankind. As the Council of Toledo stated in the seventh century, “We must believe that the Son came from the womb of the Father (de utero patris).” Womb was understood metaphor- ically, to suggest that Christ is fully divine, and born of a woman to suggest Christ is fully human. Christ was also male, to represent men, and born of a woman to represent woman, and so all humanity is represented or assumed in Christ. Christ’s sacrifice was therefore seen as universal— or available to everyone. Feminine imagery was also used during the Patristic Period to indicate the immanence or the nearness of God to humanity. These gendered metaphors functioned as metaphors and thus had limited points of meaning or con- tact. They were not construed as or as transferring gender to God. Hence, gendered imagery functioned in a analogical sense.

The Middle Ages

Compared to the early church period, which was rich in its use of feminine imagery for God, the medieval theologians use fewer feminine metaphors for God. Perhaps the most important work on this topic is Carolyn Bynum’s book, “Christ arises from the womb of the God thereby suggesting that Jesus is of the same substance as God. Jesus is therefore fully Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High divine. By coming from the womb of Mary, Christ is also fully Middle Ages.23 As the title suggests, the predominant, femi- human.”

6 PRISCILLA PAPERS / Summer 2004 18:3 created nature. God Almighty is our loving Father, and God all wisdom is our loving Mother, with the love and goodness of the Holy Spirit.25 “To absolutize Christ’s gender is

Likewise, Teresa of Avila used feminine images to connote to lose the universality of Christ's God’s immanence, nurture, and comfort. She wrote: “For sacrifice, which is pronounced in from those divine breasts where it seems God is always sustaining the soul, there flow streams of milk bringing scripture, affirmed by the creeds comfort to all the people.”26 Teresa restored the Carmelites to their roots of simplicity and holiness as part of the and councils, and advanced by the Counter Reformation, and by doing so she is recognized as an able church reformer. Having faced many challenges in church throughout history. The her life, Teresa must have known intimately God's sustain- ing presence, and communicated this through feminine point of the incarnation is that God-language. Anselm, who developed the , also Christ represents the flesh of all imaged Christ as mother. Christ not only gives birth to the church, but also as a tender mother Christ loves and rears people. Thus, Christ is far more us. Note how Anselm engages all the senses to connote God's nurture. He wrote: often understood as human

And you, Jesus, are you not also a mother? Are you (anthropos) than as male (aner).” not the mother who, like a hen, gathers her chick- ens under her wings? ... It is by your death that they have been born, for if you had not been in labour ... an everlasting maternal heart and feeling.”30 Commenting and if you had not died, you would not have on :15, Luther further highlights God’s imma- brought forth ... run under the wings of Jesus your nence in these words: “I will not forsake you, because I am mother and lament your griefs under his feathers ... your mother. I cannot desert you.”31 For the reformers such For by your gentleness the badly frightened are as Luther, God is accessible through scripture, which he comforted, by your sweet smell the despairing are imaged as the womb of God.32 Through and an revived, your warmth gives life to the dead, your encounter with scripture, Luther suggests that we receive touch justifies sinners.27 “paternal love and thoroughly Maternal Caresses.”33 Luther also said that God was the feminine breast upon which he Though deeply steeped in Aristotelian thought, in which cast himself in moments of utter exhaustion. Through fem- women were misbegotten males,28 even Aquinas refers to inine imagery, therefore, Luther illustrated the tenderness Christ as “Our Mother, Wisdom of God.”29 and accessibility of God. While not nearly as prolific as in the early church, fem- For Calvin, all knowledge of God arises through bibli- inine metaphors were clearly part of the theological dis- cal . Therefore, to create an image of God in course throughout the church of the Middle Ages. material form was contrary to scripture, he argued. Calvin Reformers, theologians, mystics, and monastics employed said: “God’s glory is corrupted by an impious falsehood gendered language, often centered on the motherhood of whenever any form is attached to him.”34 Scripture thus Christ, rendering the invisible, transcendent, and other- prohibits creating graven idol for God “by any visible worldliness of God more personal. image.”35 Yet like Luther, Calvin makes use of maternal The Reformation metaphors for God in Isaiah. Again, the immanence of God is illuminated through the mother motif. Isaiah, Calvin A commitment to the centrality of scripture may have argued, used maternal images to help us understand God’s inspired the reformers to consider anew the feminine immanent care and love. God does not rely solely upon metaphors for God found in scripture. Thus, throughout the paternal images, but “in order to express his very strong Reformation we observe Luther, Calvin, Zinzendorf, and affection, [God] chose to liken himself to a mother.”36 God, others continuing the tradition of feminine language for like a mother (:14), “expresses astonishing God. warmth of love and tenderness of affection.”37 God “singu- Martin Luther’s commentary on Isaiah 46:3 suggested larly loves her child, though she brought him forth with that God has not spoken “more sweetly than in transferring extreme pain.”38 Thus God has “manifested himself to be a mother’s experiences to Himself … God cares for us with both their father and their mother, [and] will always assist

PRISCILLA PAPERS / Summer 2004 18:3 7 them.”39 In defense of his maternal images of God, Calvin suggests that “in no other way than by such figures of speech can his ardent love toward us be expressed.”40 “In the same way we stress Christ's Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760 AD) identified the maternal not only in Christ, but also through the Holy Spirit humanity over his gender, it is as noted in the following poem. important to also see the humanity The Church’s to the Holy Spirit of men and women as pre-eeminent Thou, who from the Father hast to their gender. In this way ’Fore all Time proceeded, Spirit, by whom the Virgin Blest humankind reflects the Triune The Son here conceived! Since the Lamb of God, so red, God.” Is his People’s Brother, And Christ’s God their Father’s made, Thou’rt the Church’s Mother. fore observe the reformers engaging biblical feminine Of thy Name, O God, and Breath metaphors for God found in scripture. By doing so, the Grant us still the Nearness! reformers enabled God's revelation to impart knowledge of, That the Word of Jesus and faith in, a loving, . Shine to Souls with Clearness. Whom from Death-Sleep of the Fall Modern Church Our dear Lord doth quicken, Fetch into thy Church-Ark all; As we move into the modern era, however, we discover the Help their Abba speaking. use of feminine metaphors waning. Hence, the maker of As in greatest Things thy Will Modern , Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1832), Meets with Execution: emphasized experiential faith, and therefore avoided using So in small shall it fulfil analogical language to describe God. Though Soren His Church-Constitution. Kierkegaard (1813-1855) had great appreciation for the Of the Righteousness of God role of personal experience within faith, he also acknowl- Thro’ the Blood-Effusion, edged the limitations of language to define God. He writes, Of that daily Bread and Food “Lo, language as it were bursts and cracks under the strain Thou mak’st Distribution. of expressing God's greatness in showing mercy.”42 While MOTHER! all the Church’s Life Kierkegaard admits to the confines of language, he does Is the Father’s Kindness, use feminine images to illustrate the self-giving of Christ. Our Lord’s Patience with his Wife, He writes: And thy rich Forgiveness. We would fain not tempted be, As when the hen concerned for her brood gathers With none thus distressed; her chickens under her wings at the instant of dan- Yet if one’s chastis’d by Thee, ger, covering them completely and ready to give It to him be blessed. her life rather than deprive them of this shelter And till once the wicked Fiend which makes it impossible for the enemy's eye to Is at God’s Feet lying, (Ps. cx.1. Heb. ii.8.) discover them—precisely thus does he hide thy sin. Sleeps within thy Cradle screen'd Precisely thus: For he too is concerned, infinitely The Church from his Trying. concerned in love, ready to give his life rather than Amen, Ruach Elohim! deprive thee of thy secure shelter under his love.43 Come in th’ Name of Jesus, Thy Children’s whole Sanhedrim Paul Tillich (1886-1965 AD) argued that Jesus, as self-sac- Rule with Instinct gracious.41 rificing , transcends gendered images of God. He writes: Like their orthodox predecessors, key leaders within the Reformation relied upon gendered, metaphoric language to Self-sacrifice is not a character of male as male or enlarge and render intimate our grasp of God. As the of female as female, but it is, in the very act of self- Reformation was a return to a biblical revelation, we there- sacrifice, the negation of the one or the other in

8 PRISCILLA PAPERS / Summer 2004 18:3 exclusion. Self-sacrifice breaks the contrast of the and reasonable majority within the church understood that sexes, and this is symbolically manifest in the pic- these metaphors had specific rather than complete or ture of the suffering Christ, in which Christians of absolute points of reference. All metaphors serve a finite both sexes have participated with equal psycholog- purpose when articulating an infinite God. Yet some radical ical and spiritual intensity.44 feminists,46 as well as some Christians,47 insist upon the masculinity of God. The danger of rendering God a gen- Perhaps because many modern theologians assumed that dered deity is that such notions advance theological inac- faith was personal and experiential, this in itself replaced curacy, which the church has labored to avoid. the need to use the kinds of feminine metaphors that had Thus, we have suggested that the historic church used been used to connote God’s immanence. What is fascinat- feminine language to describe God; and this enabled ing however, is the way in which God’s immanence and Christians throughout history to understand that God is not transcendence are reflected in the person of Christ, as noted male, in a literal, exclusive, and patriarchal sense. Rather, by Tillich. while metaphors, even gendered metaphors, are used to expand our comprehension of God, at the same time we Concluding Thoughts understand that metaphors cannot fully express God, whose infinite being is ultimately beyond all human perception. As we have observed, the use of feminine metaphors for As Augustine said: Si comprehendis, non est .48 If you God is clearly part of the church’s tradition, though each have understood, then what you have understood is not era used metaphoric gendered language somewhat differ- God. Or, as the modern classicist C. S. Lewis wrote: ently as they labored to clarify the nature of God. In general, feminine metaphors tended to function as a My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be means of understanding God’s immanence. Thus, the early shattered time after time. He shatters it himself. He church spoke of the womb of God to suggest that Jesus was is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say of the same substance as the Father, again an image of one- that this shattering is one of the marks of his pres- ness with, or arising from God the Father. ence? … And most are offended by the icono- While the church throughout history used gendered clasm; and blessed are those who are not.49 metaphors for God, including feminine images, there was a consensus that these images were not used to transfer gen- While the church has used gendered images for God, and der onto God. Rather, it seemed clear that breast, milk, though the church has functioned within a patriarchal sys- womb, and motherhood motifs used to describe God were tem, the church has never taught that God is male or metaphors, and therefore have limited points of contact or female. Gendered metaphors functioned as metaphors. meaning. To render these metaphors as absolute was to That is, each metaphor possessed an “is,” and an “is not” misunderstand them. Thus, the church never ascribed gen- component. der to God. Gendered were pagan deities. In our day, however, it seems that gendered metaphors Though the church used feminine imagery to connote for God have lost the “is not” property. Hence, some have God’s immanence, and masculine imagery to connote rendered God as fully transcendent, as male, and as God’s transcendence, in the person of Christ God’s imma- unknowable, while others have conceived of God as god- nence and transcendence converge. Jesus’ acts are therefore dess, as fully immanent and as wholly part of the created nurturing and mother-like. Christ is said to give birth to a order. Yet, two errors accomplish little. We must press for- new race, which He also nurtures and rears. Yet, Christ is ward with a careful awareness that when we use metaphor- also above all things. He is the great invasion from God, ical language for God we are not creating God in our own enfleshed in Mary’s womb. Christ is fully immanent and image as male or as female. For God is spirit, and Jesus, yet fully transcendent, fully human and fully divine. though male, was human (anthropos) theologically, in Though gender was part of Christ’s humanity, Christ’s which both the immanence and transcendence of God are humanity is more central than his gender. To absolutize wholly knit together.50 Christ’s gender is to lose the universality of Christ’s sacri- In the same way we stress Christ’s humanity over his fice, which is pronounced in scripture, affirmed by the gender, it is important to also see the humanity of men and creeds and councils, and advanced by the church through- women as pre-eminent to their gender. In this way out history. The point of the incarnation is that Christ rep- humankind reflects the Triune God. “The should resents the flesh of all people. Thus, Christ is far more often be clear. In the same way as human is one entity, but two understood as human (anthropos) than as male (aner).45 , so too God is one God, but three persons.”51 While scripture, church leaders, and reformers have used metaphors to enlarge our understanding of God, and though some of these metaphors are gendered, the sober

PRISCILLA PAPERS / Summer 2004 18:3 9 ed by Jennifer Heimmel in “God our Mother”: Julian of Mimi Haddad is the president of Christians for Norwich and the Medieval Image of Christian Feminine Divinity Biblical Equality. She is also a doctoral candi- (Salzburg, Austria: Institute for Anglistick Und Amerikanistik, date at Durham University. This paper is based 1982), pp. 14-15. on a lecture presented at The Evangelical 15. Clement of Alexandria, Christ the Educator, trans. S. Wood: Theological Society, 2003. (New York: Fathers of the Church Inc., 1954), p. 40. 16. John Chrysostom, “Homilies on the Gospel of Saint The author wishes to thank her research assis- Matthew,” The Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, no. 10, 1st ser., tant, Elizabeth McGrew, for help with the sup- ed. Philip Schaff (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing CO., porting material in this paper. 1956), p. 447, as quoted by Jennifer P. Heimmel, “God is our Mother”: Julian of Norwich and the Medieval Image of Christian Feminine Divinity (Published by the Institut fur Anglistik und 1. Neil Gillman, The Feminist Critique of God Language: A sur- Amerikanistik Universitat Salzburg, 1982), p. 17. vey of Jewish feminist challenges and responses to traditionally 17. Augustine, “On the Psalms,” trans. Dame Scholastica Hebgin male language for God. Reprinted with permission from The and Dame Felicitas Corrigan, Ancient Christian Writers, No. 30, Way into Encountering , published by Jewish eds. Johannes Quasten and Walter J. Burghardt (Westminster: Lights. http://www.myjewishlearning.com/ideas_belief/god/ The Newman Press, 1961), II, pp. 20-21., quoted by Jennifer P. God_TO_Modern_2/God_Feminism_Gillman.htm Heimmel, “God is our Mother”: Julian of Norwich and the 2. Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai (San Francisco: Medieval Image of Christian Feminine Divinity. (Published by HarperRow, 1991), p. 135. the Institut fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universitat Salzburg, 3. Mark Strauss, Distorting Scripture? The Challenges of Bible 1982), p. 21. Translation and Gender Accuracy (Downers Grove: InterVarsity 18. Gregory of Nyssa, http://www.javacasa.com/wts/intro_femi- Press , 1998), pp. 63ff. ningod.htm 4. Elizabeth Johnson, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in 19. Chrysostom, pp. 495-96, as quoted by Jennifer P. Heimmel, Feminist Theological Discourse (New York: The Crossroad “God is our Mother”: Julian of Norwich and the Medieval Image Publishing Company, 2002.), p. 33 of Christian Feminine Divinity. (Published by the Institut fur 5. William H. Gentz, ed., The Dictionary of the Bible and Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universitat Salzburg, 1982), pp. 18- (Nashville: Abingdon, 1986), p. 482. 19. (Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, p. 495-496) 6. Ibid., p. 1061. See also New 20th-Century Encyclopedia of 20. Gregory of Nazianzus, “Epistle 101,” ed. Edward R. Hardy. Religious Knowledge, second edition. ed. J. D. Douglas. (Grand of the Later Fathers. ed. J. Baillie et al. Library of Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991), p. 418. Christian Classics, Vol. 3. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1995), p. 218. 7. Ibid. 21. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine: The Enchridion. trans. J.F. 8. Ibid. Shaw (Edinburgh: T &T Clark, 1893), p. 352. See also Thomas 9. See Aída Besançon Spencer, Donna F.G. Hailson, Catherine Oden's Systematic Theology Vol. II., p.117. http://trushare.com/ Clark Kroeger, and William David Spencer's Revival 57FEB00/fe00fafa.htm (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1995), p. 133ff. 22. John 4:24. 10. Jerome, Comm. In Isaiah 11 (PL 24.419b). Jerome wrote: In 23. Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the the Gospel of the Hebrews that the Nazarenes read it says, “‘Just Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Berkeley: University of now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me.’ Now no one should be California Press, 1982). offended by this, because ‘spirit’ in Hebrew is feminine, while in 24. Bernard of Clairvaux, “Letter 322 PL 182: col. 303B-C,” as our language (Latin) it is masculine and in Greek it is neuter. In quoted by Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in divinity, however, there is no gender.” See http://www.faithfu- the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages. (Berkeley: University of tures.org/JDB/jdb134.html California Press), p. 117. 11. Ambrose, The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ed. Philip 25. Julian of Norwich: Showings. trans. Edmund Colledge and Schaff (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1955), “De Fide” James Walsh. (New York: Paulist Press, 1978), pp. 293-6. III, 10:63, p. 253. 26. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle. trans. K. Kavanaugh and 12. Ambrose, Seven Exegetical Works, trans. Michael P. McHugh, O. Rodriquez. (New York: Paulist, 1979), pp. 179-80. The Fathers of the Church, No. 65, ed. Bernard M. Peebles 27. Anselm, The and Meditations of Anselm, p. 19 quot- (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, ed by Jennifer P. Heimmel, “God is our Mother”: Julian of 1972), pp. 268-269, quoted by Jennifer P. Heimmel, “God is our Norwich and the Medieval Image of Christian Feminine Divinity. Mother”: Julian of Norwich and the Medieval Image of Christian (Published by the Institut fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik Feminine Divinity. (Published by the Institut fur Anglistik und Universitat Salzburg, 1982), pp. 153-156. Amerikanistik Universitat Salzburg, 1982), pp. 19-20. 28. Jane Dempsey Douglass, “The Image of God in Women as 13. David Clark is professor of Theology at Bethel Seminary, St. seen by Luther and Calvin,” The Image of God: Gender Models Paul. He lectured for the Minneapolis Chapter of Christians for in Judaeo-Christian Tradition. ed. Kari Elisabeth Borresen Biblical Equality in 1998. Clark's lecture was titled: “Little (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995), p. 236. Horrid Red Things: The Fatherhood of God.” 29. Aquinas, trans. R. J. Batten, vol. 34, 2a, 23, 2, 13, as quoted 14. Clement of Alexandria. trans. G.W. Butterworth. (Cambridge, by Jann Aldredge-Clanton, In Whose Image?: God and Gender. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1953), p. 347, as quot- (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1991), p. 51.

10 PRISCILLA PAPERS / Summer 2004 18:3 30. Luther, Lectures on Isaiah, Chapters 40-66, ed. Hilton C. 44. Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, vol. 3 (Chicago: Oswald, Luther's Works, vol. 17. (St Louis: Concordia, 1972), pp. University of Chicago Press, 1963), pp. 293-294. 139, 183, 410. See also, Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis, vol- 45. Spencer, Hailson, Kroeger, and Spencer, The Goddess ume I of Luther's Works, pp. 69, 151, 202. See also Margaret Revival, p. 253ff. Miles, Carnal Knowing (New York: Vintage, 1991), pp. 107-112. 46. Grace Jantzen, Power, Gender and Christian The works of Luther can be found on the Wittenberg Project's (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 65ff. site: http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/witten- 47. C. Cowan, Our “Mother” in ? A Evaluation of berg-luther.html. Feminine Language for God, http://www.cbmw.org/resources/ 31. Ibid. articles/mother_god.pdf 32. Ibid. 48. Augustine, Sermo 52. c.6 16 (PL38.360) 33. Ibid. 49. C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (London: Faber, 1966), p. 52. 34. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. 50. See Ephesians 1:21-23 “[Christ is] far above all rule and McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is Westminster Press, 1969), book 1, chapter 10, p. 100. named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he 35. Ibid. has put all things under his feet and made him the head over all 36. John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who trans. William Pringle vol. 4 (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation fills all in all.” See also Col 1:15-20. NRSV. Aída Besançon Society, 1853), p. 30. Spencer has argued that only a transcendent God can become 37. John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, immanent. See Goddess Revival. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, trans. William Pringle vol. 3 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948), 1995), p. 139ff. pp. 302-303. 51. Spencer, Hailson, Kroeger, and Spencer, Goddess Revival. 38. Ibid. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1995), p. 90. 39. Ibid., p. 436. 40. Ibid., p. 302. 41. Zinzendorf, The Church's Prayer to the Holy Ghost (1759) http://www.zinzendorf.com/prayertospirit.htm. See Gary S. Kindel, Out of Dear Mother the Spirit: An Investigation of Count Zinzendorf's Theology and Praxis (Lanham: University Press of America, 1990). See also Church History Studies in and Culture. Vol. 68 No. 4, December 1999. 42. Soren Kierkegaard, Christian Discourses, trans. Walter Lowrie (London: Oxford University Press, 1939), pp. 298-300. 43. Soren Kierkegaard, “Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays,” A Kierkegaard Anthology, ed. Robert Bretall (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1946), pp. 423-24. Special Recognition

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