Can God Give Birth? – Introduction

Exploring the notion of a divine feminine in Christianity & Mormonism
A couple of weeks ago, an LDS commentator brought up Genesis 1:26-27 and its application for traditional Christianity.1 This passage reads:
26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.2
He seemed quite certain that this passage creates a problem for Christians which Mormonism neatly solves by teaching the existence of at least one divine female person, usually known as Heavenly Mother.3 In Mormonism, he argued, men are created in the image of Heavenly Father while women are created in the image of at least one Heavenly Mother. In contrast, traditional Christianity is stuck with an all-male or all-masculine God with few tools for explaining how it is that women are created in the image of this male or masculine being.
Or so he thought. The purpose of this series is to explore what both religions have proposed to explain this issue and share my own beliefs on the matter. It is my contention that those who conclude that the Bible teaches a strictly male or masculine God are in error and that Mormonism holds no clear advantage over traditional Christianity for explaining this issue. It is a problematic issue for both camps, but one can even make the case that Mormon theology is less woman-friendly than traditional Christian theology.
Some Notes on the Series
Let’s get a few things out of the way so that they don’t come up over and over again as we try to discuss this:
  • We are distinguishing between gender and sex. Sex “refers to biological differences; chromosomes, hormonal profiles, internal and external sex organs” while gender “describes the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine.”4 For example, Mormons believe that God the Father has the body of a man and is therefore both masculine and male. Traditional Christians reject the idea the God the Father has a body, so the only thing up for discussion is whether He is masculine, feminine, neither or both.
  • We are not discussing divine embodiment. That is a related issue, but I am doing my best to isolate the matter of God & gender in each religious system. The debate over whether or not God has a body deserves a discussion of its own. 
  • We are only discussing what it means to be made in “the image of God” in so much as it applies to gender. As an evangelical Christian, my interpretation of what it means to be made in the image of God is that it refers to humanity’s role as God’s authorized representatives on earth, or in other words, it is an affirmation of our dominion and authority over the earth. Mormons might agree with that definition, but most would also add that it refers to a physical similarity between God and mankind.5 For the purposes of this discussion, I’m content to let these differences stand.
  • I write from an egalitarian perspective. I’ve seen numerous Mormons across the Bloggernacle express outrage over Calvinism, calling it ugly and monstrous and saying that’s enough reason to reject it even if it is true. It just so happens that I feel the same way about any theological system which mandates the subordination of women to men. I’m wary of proposals regarding God and gender which can be used to support the idea that women are meant to take a subordinate role to men, and I will see this as a con to any proposed system which calls for such views. Such systems might be consistent, but I do not believe they are very satisfactory.
All that said, please remember that I have never taken a theology or philosophy class in my life. This series represents my own formative thoughts on the issue and I am very much a neophyte, but I am open to constructive criticism of and expansion on these ideas.
So, enjoy the posts.
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Other Posts:
  • Can God Give Birth? – Introduction – Exploring the notion of a divine feminine in Christianity & Mormonism
  • Can God Give Birth? – Part I – Traditional Christian theories on whether or not God is an essentially engendered being
  • Can God Give Birth – Part II – The biblical data on God’s gender
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[1] This happened during the discussion with diligentdave on the “How to Witness to Mormon Missionaries” thread. His first comment on the matter (now disemvoweled) can be found here. To read the comment in full with vowels, go here. It should be noted that I don’t believe diligentdave’s assessment represents the best Mormonism has to offer; I only bring it up because that’s how I decided I would write about this topic.
[2] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations for this series are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[3] Throughout this series I will often refer to traditional Christianity as simply “Christianity.” This is not meant to imply that Mormons are not Christians, it is merely a shorthand form of distinguishing between the two religious traditions.
[5] See James Patrick Holding, The Mormon Defenders: How Latter-day Saint Apologists Misinterpret the Bible, p. 12-15 for a discussion of this definition of “image” in contrast to the LDS view.T

Comments

Can God Give Birth? – Introduction — 5 Comments

  1. I’m psyched about this series. I took a couple courses involving feminist philosophy back in college, so I’ll do my best to contribute whatever abstract theories I can remember.
  2. Jack,
    This is so funny! I am currently writing this very minute a paper for a class in which I discuss the evolution of concepts of deity and divinity in ancient Israelite religion, and my focus is on the contributions of the Deuteronomistic and Priestly groups through their conceptions of gender, sex, physicality and anthropomorphism, and death. The paper first sets the stage by discussing current biblical scholarship regarding notions of polytheism, henotheism, monolatry, and monotheism, and then I delve into my discussion and arguments for how I believe the aforementioned groups shaped concepts of YHWH and contributed to the evolution of the idea of monotheism. I also go over Genesis 1 in some detail and lay out the issues for a number of texts relevant to this discussion. The paper looks as though it will be about 30 or so pages long, but it is by far the best thing I have ever written in my life. I wish I could get it posted before you write this series! Oh well.
    Best wishes,
    TYD
  3. I’m curious to see where this series goes since you spent this first post restricting and narrowing it. And I’ll go ahead and say it now that I’m not sure I will be able to abide by your rules of “what we will not discuss.” We’ll see.
    Now just a thought about “created in the image of.” We often call one of my children “Little Brian”—we share so many personality traits that she is almost a clone of me. So no, I’m not at all persuaded by diligentdave’s logic.
  4. Whitney ~ I haven’t taken any feminist philosophy courses, so maybe you’ll teach me a few things.
    TYD ~ Sounds like your project is a lot more ambitious than this. But you’re no doubt familiar with the feminine imagery for God in the Old Testament then. Maybe you can give us some feedback on that when we get to it.
    As it turns out, there’s a bit of feminine imagery for the Father in the New Testament in the form of James 1:15-18. I’m looking forward to discussing that.
    Brian ~ They aren’t ironclad rules, I’m mostly just laying them out to keep newcomers from trying to delve into those topics willy-nilly.
    I don’t really agree that a gender connection is necessary to be an imitation of something, either. After all, aren’t men and women alike supposed to be imitators of Christ? But you’ll find that some evangelicals (mostly complementarians) do believe that God is a strictly masculine being and they still think women are made in His image, so they don’t agree with dd’s logic, either.
  5. THANK YOU for pointing out that gender and sex are not the same thing. So many people can’t seem to wrap their heads around the idea that sex is biological and gender is social. I am planning on working on sex/gender issues for my dissertation, and it can be hard to communicate using correct terminology since “sex” usually makes people thing of “intercourse”, so I am excited to see how you handle it.
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