Women And The Male Representation Of God

Throughout my selected text, Johnson focuses on the church along with the subsequent androcentric image of God, and how it impacts woman around the world. She explains that throughout history, with the help of the church’s patriarchal nature and society’s values as a whole, woman have been seen “as a ‘defective male’…that must live in obedience to her [male counterpart,]…[ and who are often also referred to as the] ‘second sex’” (Johnson 92). This

The stories told about women in the bible illustrate the importance of their role and contribution to society. Although the Bible does not explain God’s relationship with women as with Moses and other prophets, it illustrates love and devotion women had for Him. The stories of the bible describe brave, nurturing, and God fearing women whose decisions impacted the existence of the Israelites.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. - Matthew 6:9. The idea of “God the father” is one that is rooted deep in our society predominantly the ways in which it rejoices men. The almighty all and powerful God is outlined as a male figure in the bible, constructed using almost entirely masculine language. This simple fact has provoked men to assume the position of authority, to oversee over his family. This simple fact leads to an imbalance of power between men and women subconsciously oppressing women within our society. In Mary Daly’s “After the Death of God the Father,” Mary explains how the Judeo-Christian culture has served to bring structure to a sexually imbalanced man driven culture." This male-controlled society has its establishments in the most discernible parts of Christianity.” Mary’s work is a continuation of what is known as “The women's liberation movement” furthering the conversation of societies hold on a woman and bringing change. In this critical evaluation of Mary Daly's work, I will discuss the thesis and argument of the reading, along with an analysis of its assumptions and implications.

The roles that men and women play tend to differ in different works of literature. The roles depend on the culture and the context of a particular work of literature, and even the time the work of literature was written. For instance the roles of gender will differ from African culture to American culture, as well as from ancient America and Modern America. Old stories such as the Book of Genesis and Theogony portray different roles men and men play. Most of these roles are similar in both books, and a few are different.

Whether it is in a polytheistic or a monotheistic religion, the gender of divinity is always a topic given great attention. Although Buddhism doesn’t put much focus on gods in the teaching, it does include certain religious aspects such as praying to the higher beings. The feminine divine traits in Buddhism can be found with a closer examination on the feminine metaphors in the Buddhist scriptures. While Buddhas are predominantly in male form, divine beings like Bodhisattvas often appears to be female figures including Kwan Yin and Tara. The concept of Buddha nature is described as “tathagata garbha” at times, which means Buddha womb. The imagery of this spiritual womb nurturing the nature for all beings implies the significance of this feminine feature. Another example is how the Buddha’s wisdom is referred to as a ‘she’ in some Buddhist texts. The involvement of both feminine and masculine traits seems to underline the irrelevance of gender in Buddhahood. On the other hand, in Christianity a prevailing image of God being the ‘Father’ is developed. The teachings of Jesus powerfully delineate God as a kind and merciful father accepting and guiding his children with no discrimination. In fact, there is only one explicit example in the scriptures comparing God seeking a sinner to a housewife in search of a lost coin. In addition to the masculine image of God, it is argued that between two human sexes, Jesus as a male is

The gender of God is a highly controversial and unanswerable subject. This, however, does not mean that people do not assign a gender to their image of God. In recent times, there has been a call to stop referring to God as a male in the way it is done. Referring to God as a male has been the precedent in Christianity and Judaism since their creation. Many people associated with the movement feel that it has extremely negative effects on our current society in relation to the treatment and empowerment of women.

Following the years of Jesus’ crucifixion and the origins of Christian religion what surprised me the most was the story of Apostle Paul and the brief discussion in the video of the woman’s role in early Christianity. Following Jesus death in 51C.E. Paul’s arrival in the Greek city Corinth brought the message of salvation to not only Jews however gentiles as well. With the presence of pilgrims for centuries in Corinth, the message of a Jewish messiah may have been peculiar to the citizens. Specifically Paul preached about the death and resurrection of Jesus and the salvation that comes with being a follower. In reference to Jesus death, Matthew 27:59-60 states,” 59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock”. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away”. Also I appreciated learning that even though Paul’s message may have come across to some as strange, gentiles seen light in the salvation and rituals that comes with Christianity. Professor Pagle said, “Gentiles were attracted to the claims of salvation, baptism, rituals and the communities.”

or the ancients, sex existed as a religion that became fueled by lust, occurring everywhere, and at anytime. Though Satan’s numerous advocates, the goddesses helped elevate destruction to damage God’s sacred sexual gift persistently. Ultimately, this sexual disgrace thrived nonstop; just as it flourishes today, existing just as much of a religion of lust, as in ancient times.

The Holy Bible is full of advice on every issue known to humanity. This advice varies in topics from society's functions to foreign policy and even gender roles. Today's western culture is very confused when it comes to gender roles, swinging over the last over 50 years from a male-dominated society to a large portion of the feminist society fighting for female dominance and the disappearance of chivalry. Society is always searching for answers from science and philosophy but constantly fails to look in the right places. The Bible is the foundation of truth and it requires the ultimate amount of attention if any community plans to be successful for any length of time. The education of modern society on what the Bible says about gender roles is necessary to achieve mutual understanding of beliefs.

Why is God always presumed to be male? How does society influence God’s identity? Is putting God in a specific gender box a way that humans try to understand God? Can the assumption be changed in the modern world?

First I will discuss how higher spiritual beings (or something that is held sacred in a religion) relate to gender inequalities. In Judaism, G-d is neither male nor female. Though the decision is very personal and there is no right answer. People who practice Islam worship Allah, god that many think of as a male. Hindu’s worship a singular god but in many forms. This is a polytheistic religion. Some forms of this ultimate divine god are female. In Christianity, the trinity is a set of three figures all considered male. In Christianity, Mary is a figure of power.

“Women as Vessel” quote was used in the Bible to describe the role of early women in the Christian era. That period tells that tells women that God set them under the power of men for their security because they are weaker than the men. In any case, a more careful examination of this statement will uncover that it is not alluding to more fragile edge or constitution of the woman, yet to more uncertain status in the Christian era. It is in this way alluding to a common shortcoming wherein the woman is minimized and not given the chances to completely express her blessings and capacities.

This week’s reading is excerpts from A Feminist Companion to The Apocalypse of John which examine the male and female imagery of the Book of Revelation in various ways. Each contributor explained the gendered symbolism in one of four ways: Christian purity, recast of Greco-Roman goddess mythology, character ‘rhetography’ of wealth, and male-deity dominance. While the studies found in previous weeks were fine pointed in their scholastic dissection, more or less, the studies this week pull out details to find broader pictures and showcase the plurality offered during the interpretation of the Book of Revelation.

of god when they are mothers but this is used to control them and they

For most of us, faith development is a process. We grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God. As a Christian woman I know that my consciousness about the feminist agenda has evolved in stages also.