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As more and more women enter the ministry, the question emerges in a new way. The issue has become especially problematic in the Episcopal Church, where more than 800 women have been ordained since 1976 into a priesthood whose ranks include many called “Father.” What do you call a woman priest? Two Episcopal priests, Julia …
Continue reading “Are ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ Appropriate Titles for Protestant Clergy?”
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It was not a typographical error, said Sanders, a professor at the School of Theology at Claremont and president of its Ancient Bible Manuscript Center for Preservation and Research. Citing the familiar theological-linguistic problem of addressing the biblical God with a pronoun other than “he” — despite the consensus that God embraces both the masculine …
Continue reading “Balancing Out the Trinity: The Genders of the Godhead”
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When I was growing up in Detroit, I lived in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. Most of my high school friends went to Hebrew school and followed kosher diets. I was different: I went to church. And in that mixed cultural setting I was not always sure what it meant to be a Christian. I do …
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The study presupposes that the apostolic faith can be expressed in many ways, and that the various Christian communities portray these in their own worship, witness and theologies. Recognizing this rich pluralism, the study seeks a particular expression that could be common to all. This expression would provide a doctrinal basis for recognizing each other …
Continue reading “Gender and Creed: Confessing a Common Faith”
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I first felt the keen edge of the feminist critique many years ago at the hands of two exceedingly able and determined women who often shared a pew and a hymnbook in services at the church where I was pastor. In that church the offering was received near the end of the service, well after …
Continue reading “Inclusive Language, Women’s Ordination, and Another Great Awakening”
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BOOK REVIEW: Speaking the Christian God: The Holy Trinity and the Challenge of Feminism. Edited by Alvin F. Kimel, Jr. Eerdmans, 337 pp., $21.95 paperback. The 18 authors in this collection ask whether the feminist revision of Christian language changes classical Christian doctrines (especially the Trinity) beyond recognition. The answers vary. Robert W. Jenson says …
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We like to think that we’ve made much progress in the pilgrimage toward inclusiveness. Liturgies and hymns are now frequently shorn of generic male references to humankind, and imperialistic stances toward mission have been discarded. Though these are positive steps, it would be premature to conclude that we have achieved inclusiveness. True inclusiveness means more …
Continue reading “Taking the Next Step in Inclusive Language”
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Around the turn of the century, anthropologists realized that they could tell a great deal about a culture by studying its use of language. An anthropologist from, say, one of Saturn’s inhabited moons, on landing in America and managing to untangle our phonemes and morphemes, would soon discover that a word so prevalent as “men” …
Continue reading “The Increasingly Visible Female and the Need for Generic Terms”
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The problem of sexist language in worship has caught up with us; there is no avoiding it any longer, though I still hear many evasions. The most common excuse: “Language is not that important.” My usual rejoinder: “How long has it been since you last used the term ‘nigger’?” So long as someone uses that …
Continue reading “The Words of Worship: Beyond Liturgical Sexism”
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Publishers of America’s best-selling Bible, who a few years ago retreated when the Religious Right scorched their first gender-inclusive version, have unveiled another try with a New Testament endorsed by evangelical supporters and backed by a six-figure marketing campaign. Today’s New International Version (TNIV), expected to be in bookstores by the end of March, is …
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The initial reactions to An Inclusive Language Lectionary: Readings for Year A. published in October 1983, have run the gamut from great joy to bitter hostility. All of us who worked on it expected both. We knew that countless men and women across this country would welcome a version of Scripture readings for worship in …
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The rising feminist consciousness of the past decade is beginning to effect significant changes in the English language. Linguistic sexism, while still dismissed by many with ridicule, is being confronted with increasing concern by those who recognize the concept of inherent sexual inequality as a scandal that must be resolved. It is not surprising, therefore, …
