It’s a wonderful mercy that much of the more extreme elements of
radical feminist theology in the churches peaked in the 1990s and
have since faded. The high tide of radical feminist theology was
the 1993 ecumenical Re-Imagining Conference, endorsed by nearly all
the Mainline Protestant denominations or their women’s agencies,
where speakers condemned traditional Christianity as patriarchal
and instead acclaimed ancient feminine deities like Astarte, Isis,
and Athena. God was also commonly called “Sophia,” based on the
Greek word for wisdom. There was a special altar call for lesbians,
not for repentance, but for acclamation. A milk and honey ritual
replaced the traditional Eucharist.
Of course, Re-Imagining was enormously controversial, even
earning an episode on Ted Koppel’s Nightline. Although
there were subsequent Re-Imagining reunions, few of the Mainline
groups again endorsed, and the Re-Imagining
Community eventually dissolved. Radical feminist theology, which
deemed the traditional Jewish-Christian deity as unacceptably
patriarchal, has mostly retreated into the tenured faculty of the
most liberal Protestant seminaries. Its constituency never fully
expanded beyond mostly older, white, upper income church women in
declining denominations or from small, dissident Catholic groups.
Predictably, no orthodox church group has been able to thrive while
minimizing historic core doctrines, like the Trinity or Atonement,
which radical feminist theology dismissed as the imagined fancies
of ancient chauvinistic men in robes. Like most liberal theology,
radical feminist theology assumes that God does not self-disclose
as objective reality but rather is a human-projection, and
therefore can be routinely reinvented to suit desires and
fashion.
But strains of feminist theology persist, though often
more subtle. It is not uncommon in some Protestant circles for
sometimes otherwise orthodox preachers to persistently avoid all
personal pronouns for the deity. Since “he” and “him” are deemed
potentially offensive, “God” instead is cited repeatedly like
rapid, repetitious fire from a Gatling gun. This semantic ploy, if
it must be used, might be somewhat less grating if some traditional
alternative names were also used, like the “Almighty,” or simply
“Lord.” Some preachers say “God-God-God” without personal pronouns
based on conviction, or imagined potential offense for a feminist
in the congregation, or because a seminary demanded this practice.
Some Mainline Protestant seminaries require “inclusive” language
for all references to the deity. Ardent liberals will even avoid
traditional Trinitarian language, substituting
“Creator-Redeemer-Sustainer” for “Father-Son-Holy
Ghost.”
Christians and Jews worship a Spirit who is not a man or
woman, though Christians of course believe that God did become man
in Jesus Christ. Jewish and Christian Scriptures always refer to
God in masculine terms, while sometimes metaphorically likening
God’s love to a hen protecting her chicks or a woman searching for
a lost coin. God in neither Old or New Testament is ever referred
to as “she” or “her.” Some theologians speculate that, among other
reasons, the transcendent God of the Jews was entirely distinct
from the very gendered and sexualized pagan deities, some of which
literally gave birth to creation. The Jewish God created by fiat,
not birthing. Jesus called God “Father,” and there is no scriptural
reference of a Heavenly Mother. An unauthorized United Methodist
hymnal supplement of 10 years ago included hymns titled: “I Am Your
Mother,” “Mothering God You Gave Me Birth,” and “Womb of Life,”
benignly intertwined with more traditional anthems like “Eternal
Father, Strong to Save,” the Navy’s traditional hymn. There’s no
evidence that any of these “Mother” hymns has gained a wide
following.
The rising new Evangelical Left is anxious to repeat many
of the same mistakes that took Mainline Protestantism from the
center of America’s religious to the sideline. So it was inevitable
that some Evangelical Left voices would encourage feminist friendly
gender-neutral God language. A recent commentary in Jim Wallis’
Sojourners comes from a woman Presbyterian minister, who
apparently learned “inclusive language” at McCormick Theological
Seminary in Chicago. “Using inclusive language makes room for the
diversity of God’s people to feel equally valued, included,
acknowledged, and invited to participate in God’s community,” she
explains, as she struggled to overcome her conservative
Southern Baptist background. She recalled attending a feminist
theological conference where “Godde” was offered as a compromise
between God and “Goddess.” Apparently this was advocated by older
women, while the younger women were somewhat discomfited. Currently
based at a “diverse” San Francisco church, this minister now feels
a “connection with God as Mother, Bosom, and Nurturer.”
We can wish her well. But a deity who lacks personal
pronouns, or who is gender fluid, is ultimately depersonalized and
distant, defeating the purpose of Judaism and Christianity to
relate fallen humanity to a very personal, redemptive deity whom
Jesus asked be called “Father.” While the gender-neutral or
feminine versions of God touted by remnant feminist theologians are
supposed to be “inclusive,” in fact their appeal is mostly limited
to small, liberal urban audiences. Growing Christianity, Protestant
or Catholic, in America, or around the world, is not commonly
singing “I Am Your Mother,” or looking to “Godde.”
My late predecessor Diane Knippers, a sharp critic of
feminist theology, once encountered famed “Feminist Mystique”
author Betty Friedan, who told her she had once asked her own rabbi
why she, though obviously a liberal, was so uncomfortable with the
idea of goddess. “Because you are a Jew,” he succinctly replied.
Christians and Jews believe they worship a deity who reveals His
own identity, not one who is randomly invented by His adherents.
Such a deity seems to inspire more widespread and lasting devotion
than His “inclusive” alternatives.
