Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site usfbobo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!unc!mcnc!duke!ucf-cs!usfbobo!brunson From: brunson@usfbobo.UUCP (David Brunson) Newsgroups: net.religion,net.women Subject: Re: Deific gender question Message-ID: <157@usfbobo.UUCP> Date: Wed, 8-Aug-84 23:23:11 EDT Article-I.D.: usfbobo.157 Posted: Wed Aug 8 23:23:11 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 9-Aug-84 06:55:07 EDT References: <254@siemens.UUCP> <957@pyuxn.UUCP>, <178@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> Organization: Univ. of South Florida, Tampa Lines: 43 re: >I'll agree with Rich Rosen (are those shocked gasps I hear?), it doesn't >make sense to assign a gender to God. Quite bluntly, what would God do >with a penis or vagina? What is the purpose of either without someone / >something to share it? If there is one God, who / what is an appropriate >sexual partner? If there are no conceivable partners, does it make >sense to speak of gender? (Particularly if you deny the physical reality >of the hardware.) > >I think attempts to ascribe a sex to God are based on pop psychology. >E.g., God is powerful (and therefore male), or God is nurturing (and >therefore female). Like most pop psychology, its entertaining, but bunk. > >Stuart Kurtz True. But the question is which pronoun do we use to refer to God? he, she, or it? The name "God" refers to the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob about whom we can read in the Bible. The pronoun *it* is used to refer to non-persons: objects, ideas, figments of the imagination. Since God is definitely a person (after all, we are made in his image), we must reject the use of *it* to talk about him. The use of *it* is perfectly acceptable, however, in discussing the gods of the heathen ("wood and stone" -- see the Prophets). Use of *he* vs *she* is not so clear. For example, one of the names of God used in the Bible can be translated "The breasty one", giving cause for the nurturing mother concept. Also much imagery in the Prophets is female. I stick to *he/him* because this is the common convention, and there doesn't seem to be much reason to switch. Also, men would be much more uptight about a female God than women seem to be about the male. After all, it is not wise to go around offending the sensibilities of people without good reason! -- David Brunson (decvax or duke)!ucf-cs!usfbobo!brunson ... better understanding through higher education.