Can Christianity only be defined in masculine terms?

[fourgrtkidos]

I do not know any other way to word this question.


I have been a Christian all of my life. I have found however that Christianity is defined entirely in masculine terms. God as "Our Father"..... etc.


God himself is defined in a manly way and envisioned in their image. Men hold the positions of authority in most churches.

How can I reconnect with my feminine soul and remain a Christian? How can I relate to Christianity as a woman in any other role than, secondary, daughter, handmaiden?

[TiredX2]

IMO, you may not be able to be "Christian" but you can definately believe in the G-d of the Hebrew Testament and the trinity, etc... Chrisitianity, itself, though, has been set up excluding the female half of G-d (which doesn't translate into English). Finding a faith community to back you will be the hard part

[arthead]

Originally Posted by fourgrtkidos

How can I reconnect with my feminine soul and remain a Christian? How can I relate to Christianity as a woman in any other role than, secondary, daughter, handmaiden?

Not that anyone's thoughts could become between you & your relation with God, but I think that God goes beyond what is written by *man* (aka, bible & christian teachings). Meaning that you could find your comfort within the bible & Christianity, but also that maybe God is working in your mind & heart to help you to make that long lost connection with female/God/Godess, even if it has not been written about in the published laws of Christianity, yk??

Just my thoughts... I was born & raised Catholic, but at age 7 I just *knew* somehow that my personal relation with *my* God went far beyond what they were telling me in bible school... & even so young I convinced my mom to not make me go to sunday school, but to instead help me find out about how other people made connections with God... & she did!
Now, I find comfort within the thought that: each one of us is so individual in all ways, even with our very personal connections with our God. being Christian doesn't nec. mean you have to give up your strengths in being female at all IMO... I also think Jesus would've written far more if He were actually the one doing the writing if you know what I mean. Lost In Translation effect! In my eyes, no one's beliefs are anything more or less than their neighbor's... God is ALL-loving & ALL-helping & ALL-positive.

best love to you!

[TiredX2]

Not that anyone's thoughts could become between you & your relation with God, but I think that God goes beyond what is written by *man* (aka, bible & christian teachings).

Thank you for putting that so concisely.

IMO, Christianity is very much a product of it's time (300-400 AD). Much of the "truth" has probably been lost, but you can find it in an individual relationship with G-d.

[Annoia]

One of the (many) things that drew me to Islam was the conceptualization of Gd as gender/form less (but even that doesn't describe it too well). The pronoun He is used in reference, but that is said to be a drawback of humankinds language (for Gd has no drawbacks!).

I still, however, struggle with my internal conceptualization of Allah (swt) which is based on what I learned through by experiences in church. I'm am actively working on changing that. If you are otherwise happy in you religion, perhaps you could focus on changing your internal conceptualization?

[Ary99]

This has been a struggle for me as well. I am a Catholic convert but have long been drawn to the feminine side of spirituality that I feel is lacking within the Christian faith. Before I knew I was pregnant, I wrote extensively about my struggle in my journal. I was feeling what I called a "Goddess Urge", an unidentifiable need to connect with this feminine energy. Then I found out I was pregnant, and it seemed to make sense to me.

I still haven't found a way to reconcile this with my life though. They seem mutually exclusive.

[fourgrtkidos]

I do not believe G-d has a gender. I think male and female are made in his image (and become one to complete this bi-gendered) entity that both sexes' characteristics are made up of. So, I am sure it is not G-d/ or Goddess that I have a problem with but instead the Church. However, the Church would consider it heretical for me to name Goddess as the great I AM. It would say I was not Christian.

This is what is angering me. I feel betrayed by my own religion. I have a deep wound , all women have a deep wound that comes from simply being born female in a world that does not value female to the extent it does male. And my religion has perpetuated this! Women suffer for this ingrained and great imbalance!

The patriarchal world has a principle that basically lies at the heart of how this planet operates: Life is a hierarchy with men and so called masculine values at the top. Women have been ruled over, stiffeled, abused and disregarded from the beginning of recorded history. My religion had a chance to change this and did not! I am outraged!

I Galations 3:28 Paul says .... in Christ there is no male or female. In the early days of the Church there was a tradition or form of Christianity that preached a gospel of liberation and mutuality, women were equals; women taught, baptized and carried out priestly functions. But another tradition of Christianity that embodied in it a more familiar form : patriarchal rule overcame the more revolutionary form. This form of Christianity, with a tradition that had started long before Christianity, viewed women as naturally inferior. (property of men, associating women with earth, sin, evil and even debated if women had souls)

Jesus had given the world a chance to reverse patriarchy.

Now the church teaches .... your desire shall be for your husband and he will rule over you.......... indeed, man was not made for a woman, but woman for man..... women should learn in silence and should not teach men.


How do I find a church that is both Christian and feminist. I can not deny that most churches opperate with women as second class citizens. And, I no longer want to accept or be a part of that. I will not play out this scripted role!

Now, where do I go?

[dave]

you are not alone...

...but we are lonely! DW and I have struggled with this as well, to the point where we are currently not attending church. However, there is a feminine aspect to Christianity, which was supressed beginning in the first generation. Legend has it that Jesus was married to Mary of Bethany, aka the Magdalene, and that she escaped persecution after the resurrection by going first to Egypt, then the south of France, with Joseph of Arimathea. She bore a daughter, Sarah, in Egypt-this was Jesus' daughter. The bloodline survived at east to medieval times, and all the Black Madonnas are a reflection of this.

Others here are more versed in this than I; you can do a thread search for "sacred feminine" or some such. Be assured, though, you are not wrong, but wronged! There is much written on the topic; google Margaret Starbird for a start.

you are on a "Grail Quest"-
the truth is out there-
"Seek, and you shall find."

[stafl]

Originally Posted by fourgrtkidos

How do I find a church that is both Christian and feminist. I can not deny that most churches opperate with women as second class citizens. And, I no longer want to accept or be a part of that. I will not play out this scripted role!

Now, where do I go?

IMO, such a church does not exist. so I am moving this thread to religious studies, as this issue is quite debatable.

[hotmamacita]

No, those churches DO exist. And they are growing in number.

I choose not to attend one, however.

God is both male and female, IMO. We are created in Gods image. Therefore God is both male and female. There IS, i believe, something unique about the maleness of God just as there is something unique about the femaleness of God.

I have more to say, but i see raspberries on the carpet....gotta run.

[boysrus]

DO a search for Gnostic Churches.
I have been getting emails from HAgia Sophia church in Seattle. Look it up. I dont have time right now, but if you cant find it, I will forward my info to you
I havent read the whole thread, so I am not completely sure what you are looking for, but we are attending an Epsicopal church and they are pretty feminist. Also, Meetropolitan Churches are, and UMC tend to be.

[DaryLLL]

Originally Posted by dave

Others here are more versed in this than I; you can do a thread search for "sacred feminine" or some such. Be assured, though, you are not wrong, but wronged! There is much written on the topic; google Margaret Starbird for a start.

you are on a "Grail Quest"-
the truth is out there-
"Seek, and you shall find."

Yes, Starbird's book the Woman with the Alabaster Jar is the book for you!

The Holy Spirit is female, IMO. J's Mum.

MM was his consort.

Hebrews worshipped Asherah as YHWH's consort, but this was suppressed by those priests, Levites, who felt it best to centralize worship in Jerusalem, ban all other altars, and get YHWH's sacrifices delivered to them, as they "deserved."

There are a few gnostic churches in California where you would find this preached. Perhaps there will be few more soon, gnosticism is growing fast.

Meanwhile you could go UU.

And here is a previous thread on the subject:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...=jesus+married

[hotmamacita]

Originally Posted by DaryLLL

The Holy Spirit is female, IMO.

Ah, good thought DaryLLL.

I wonder if the HS, being God as well, is more feminine with women and male with men given that the HS is one method of communication with God and people.


What does MM stand for?

[indie]

Originally Posted by fourgrtkidos

How do I find a church that is both Christian and feminist.

They are out there, but they can be hard to find depending on where you live. I have often been frustrated with this too, but after thousands of years of women being seen as second class citizens and thousands of years of the Church sanctioning this idea it takes time for a change to be made. I have found that there are many people who do want to see this change made and I am working along with them to see that change happen rather than leaving the church. We are at a turning point in history, I think, as we move into a postmodern age. Some churches and individual Christians will get on board and dump some of the things from past eras that have become idols so imbedded in the church that it seems to be almost heresy to oppose them (sexism for example), while other churches will slowly die or be marginalized. You are not the only one feeling lost. I think the most productive thing to do is to work on the changes instead of waiting for the huge institutionalized church to do so.

[fourgrtkidos]

Originally Posted by hotmamacita

No, those churches DO exist. And they are growing in number.

I choose not to attend one, however.

God is both male and female, IMO. We are created in Gods image. Therefore God is both male and female. There IS, i believe, something unique about the maleness of God just as there is something unique about the femaleness of God.

.

G-d is both male and female.I agree, and is the reason for this post. I want to find a Church that honours both the male and the female. I do not want to go in the complete opposite direction and go to a Church that only recognizes the femaleness of G-d. I am not against male, and that is a misconception I am running into when I say the word FEMINIST.

[PurpleBasil]

Originally Posted by hotmamacita

What does MM stand for?

Mary Magdalene, Jesus' beloved.

[fourgrtkidos]

I love the way the universe works: My neighbor came over today with a book. She says "I was packing things up to give to Goodwill and instead I thought maybe you need this". She hands me a book called The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd. I started reading it, and OMG it is exactly what I am talking about. Check it out. www.suemonkkidd.com

How did she know? I have never talked with her about what I am going through.

[DaryLLL]

How did she know?

[Rainbow]

awesome!!!! It sounds like you're getting something you really need right now. And so cool that it came at such a perfect time.

[cappuccinosmom]

I think a lot depends one how you look at Scripture. (Is it all divinely inspired, or only some? Or is it purely man-made, and a product of it's time, and not God? Myth? Forgery? Or something different?) And then it depends on how you interpret it. (According to culture, according to preference, according to church traditions?)

IME, there are *many* people in the Christian church who have embraced what you are looking for. Refusing to refer to God as masculine, or only masculine. Some sort of goddess stuff to varying degrees. Definately feminist...

Not that I would agree with them : , but they are out there.

Personally, and as a woman, I am totally comfortable with tradition. I understand that God is not "a man". But, since I believe Scripture is inspired by Him, and He reveals Himself for the most part as male, father, etc. and Jesus was male, that's OK by me. I don't feel at all oppressed or secondary. Although we would be considered a "patriarchal" type of family, and tend towards that type of church, I have never felt anything less than a precious, cherished, child of God.