wfn.org | Faith and Life commentary: Is God both 'mother' and 'father'?

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 19, 1999 News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71BP{279}

NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photograph of the Rev. Phil Wogaman is available.
Editors might want to use this commentary as a companion piece to UMNS #278.

A UMNS Commentary
by the Rev. Phil Wogaman*

The British Methodists have created quite a stir with their new worship
book. 

It is not that the very secular British press has suddenly acquired an
interest in prayer, although that would not be a bad idea. What has
attracted notice is reference to "God our Father and God our Mother" in one
of the new communion liturgies.

Could God be "Mother" as well as "Father"? The question has also been
debated on this side of the Atlantic, where a number of churches have gone
to some lengths to avoid using exclusively male language for God. Backlash
movements have arisen to challenge such modern deviations from settled
Christian tradition.

I am not quite sure what the fuss is all about. God, after all, is neither
male nor female. To Christians (as well as Jews and Moslems), God is the
Creator of everything. As theologian Paul Tillich liked to put it, God is
the "ground of all being."   

Human words can point in the right direction, but they cannot hope to
portray everything that God is. The Bible uses different words, drawn from
human experience, to help us understand God. For instance, God is spoken of
as "King," judge, rock, light, shepherd, warrior, fortress, even a woman in
labor (Isaiah 42:14).  None of these words encompasses the full reality of
God; each could, in fact, contribute to confusion if taken literally. Yet
each points to some quality of God that helps us understand better.

One of the greatest of the early Christian theologians, Clement of
Alexandria (who died in the year 215), pointed out that we cannot know God's
name as such, but "we use good names, in order that the mind may have these
as points of support. ... For each one by itself does not express God; but
all together are indicative of the power of the Omnipotent." He went on to
say, concerning God, that "in His ineffable essence He is Father; in His
compassion to us He became Mother." When I first read that, years ago, I was
surprised to discover that one of the early church "fathers" actually spoke
of God not only as "Father" but also as "Mother"!

But why should we be surprised by that? When Jesus spoke of God as "Father,"
it was surely to convey a deep sense of relationship. God is something like
a good earthly father - like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son
who was eager to receive his wayward son back home again.  Surely it is not
too great a stretch to say that God is also something like a good earthly
mother.

There may be a more practical issue here. People who insist upon using only
male language to characterize God would be the first to say that they do not
mean to disparage women. Most of them doubtless believe that women are equal
to men, and they certainly believe that God loves women just as much as men.
But, let's face it. If God (exclusively portrayed as Father) is really more
like men, then doesn't that also mean that men are more like God than women
are? But can we really say that men are more "Godlike" than women - fathers
more than mothers? Many people, including many men, might say exactly the
opposite!  

 I would rather say neither. God is much, much more than any human
characterization. But surely that must include the best of the feminine
qualities as well as the masculine. Both help us see the deeply personal
character of our relationship with God and of God's caring for us. I do not
want to abandon either one. And so, we can welcome the British Methodist
contribution to our thinking and our worship.

# # # 

*Wogaman, pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, is a
seminary professor of Christian ethics and author. He is a clergy member of
the Baltimore-Washington United Methodist (regional) conference.

Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily
represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church.

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