God's pronoun

[Grace_and_Glory]

the Hatter:

Hey, whoa! (puts hands in the air) I never said I thought God should be called “she”, and I agree with everything that you guys have been saying. Words from Genesis are absolutely hunky-dory for me. As I said, I have no interest in swapping pronouns around for the sake of political correctness, just being weird, or whatever.

Another question just popped into my head: I remember hearing that God is both male and female (that is, He posseses the qualities of both). Is this correct, or is He above having gender at all?

In answer to your question:

CCC 370
“In no way is God in man’s image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes. But the respective ‘perfections’ of man and woman reflect something of the infinite pefection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband.”

So God possesses the ‘perfections’ of both genders, but He is also above having a gender because He is pure spirit.

 

[Listener]

As one other person pointed out, the word “He” can be used as a generic form in the English language, which includes both male and female. This is not true for the word “She.” Therefore, it is correct to call God “He” and incorrect to refer to God as “She.”

When I was in grade school back in the 1950’s, there was no such thing as politically correct language. When the nun was explaining the scripture, “Man shall not live by bread alone,” she explained that the word “man” included both men and women. She made sure that we girls understood that we were not exempt when the Bible commanded “man” to do something. Since this was made so clear to me, to this day I don’t have a problem when a book always says “he” and “him” when talking about people in general. I also don’t like the way they butcher songs with inclusive language. The song “Turn to Me” becomes “Turn to Me, Oh Turn and Be Saved,” where the original song went “Turn to Me, Oh Man and Be Saved,” which, to me, is much more poetic and meaningful.

I don’t know whether or not all other languages have this concept in their personal pronouns. I know that Spanish speaking people refer to God as El Senor rather that Senorita. It’s possible that there is a language someplace that does have a personal pronoun that has a word for one person that includes both “he” and “she” like our plural personal pronoun, “they.” Are there any language scholars posting here who are language experts and who know how God is referred to in other languages?

The CCC explains very clearly that God is neither male nor female, and I don’t know why it upsets some people when it is pointed out that God does have both masculine and feminine qualities.

 

[Katie1723]

You want to be the one to tell God that HE just had a sex change operation? You go ahead…not me.
God is a HE , plain and simple.
~ Kathy ~

 

[Deo_Volente]

Grace & Peace!

I think we need to be wary of confusing mere human language with the reality it describes.

Thank you to the one who posted the section from the catechism regarding God’s lack of gender. I think this is always something that must be kept in mind. Personally, I’m indifferent to the pronoun “He”, recognizing that it can be a generic pronoun, but it surprises me that so many would vehemently defend its use, as if to say that calling God She somehow reduces God’s power or presents to the mind a less-than-Godly image. I think this clearly demonstrates a misogynistic current that must be dealt with.

For me, the pronoun is not as important as the title. The Father is the Father. “He” is appropriate as Father conjures a masculine image, but the Father is not male, nor is the Father female. Father describes what this Hypostasis is and describes the nature of a certain relationship that this Hypostasis has to the other Persons of the Trinity and to the whole of Creation. Insofar as “She” could be perceived as jarring in relation to the name “Father”, I think it’s use should be critically evaluated–it is not worth using it if it takes one out of prayer, out of the liturgy, etc. But theologically and theoretically, I do not think “She” is any less appropriate than “He” given the theology we have. That having been said, and as contradictory as the following may sound, given the centuries of tradition that have been passed down to us, I believe that “He” is the appropriate pronoun.

If people wish to introduce a “She”, I think it is more appropriate to use the pronoun “She” when describing the Spirit. The Greek, after all, is feminine–Hagia Pneuma.

–Mark

Deo Gratias!