God Is Genderless

743 Words3 Pages
Historically in Western culture, God is seen as a father figure, and has been assigned an authoritative male persona. Rosemary Radford Ruether, author of Sexism and God-Talk, explains how this tradition has led to a male-dominant society in which women are oppressed.1 She discusses possible social origins, gender biases associated with this patriarchal model, and why it should change. Ultimately she recommends using inclusive language, which involves calling God both he and she, and using analogies that show God as both powerful and nurturing.2 Despite what Ruether proposes, God should not be referred to as a he, or a she, or both, because it is the abstract qualities of God that characterize its uniquely divine and non-human nature. Ruether suggests the origin of God as male could have started with the Nomadic religions, where there was no female role in agriculture, and God was the Sky Father.3 The abstractness of God is very difficult to understand for many people, in an attempt to better understand God and religion, the divine has been given human characteristics that it does not actually posses. These often times not only include gender but also race, even attire depicted through artwork. Ruether suggests this problem still persists because while prophets were aware of the rich oppressing the poor, they did not recognize their own oppression over women and slaves.4 Also, that it was hard to see women as a secondary gender when there were women in power roles such as queen.5 Male monotheism has become so dominant in Western culture that even ancient Hebrew myths have been altered to show male dominance.6 The problem with God being given primarily male qualities is that it creates a gender bias and symbolic hierarchy of God—Male—Female.7 This implies that women no longer stand in direct relation to God and must obtain a relationship to God through a man.8 This
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