God, gender and freedom
http://blog.mlive.com/readreact/2009/07/god_gender_and_freedom.htmlRev. Matthew Laney
7/8/09
No longer a simple designation assigned at birth, gender is now seen as a dynamic interplay of physical traits, social expectations and personal identity. The gender of God, who Jews and Christians affirm is without physical form, is all the more complex and mysterious.
As an inspired document produced by a patriarchal culture, the Bible speaks of God in primarily masculine terms, but not exclusively. There are well over a dozen references to God in feminine or motherly terms not to mention that God's wisdom, "Sophia," is always feminine and that the biblical name for God "El Shaddai" can either be translated "God of the Mountain" or "The Breasted One" which is not about anatomy so much as to say that God nurtures and cares for Her own.
