Catholic Bishops' Attack On 'Quest For The Living God' Concerns Scholars

nytimes.com:

Is God male? The Old Testament uses the masculine pronoun to describe him. Jesus refers to the divinity as Father. So does that make the creator a masculine force -- and mean that men are more godlike than women?

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[Indra]

01:10 PM on 04/14/2011

What is sad is that there is a debate about this issue. It is a patriarchy problem of course and they should have their hands slapped (and their faces too). AS well I should say this is not an issue that one should spend a lifetime on. Better to dump the church and spend your money and time elsewhere. To argue with the church fathers only boosts their legitimacy. IE: you are telling them that they are worth talking to.

[grnmtnkate]

10:35 PM on 04/13/2011

Jesus did elevate women. The RC Church has been determined to keep women in their place. This is not reflective of what we know of Jesus. This is the how man distorted his teachings. My hope is that any religion that excludes people due to sex, sexual orientation or any other classification goes by the wayside. This type of rejection of our fellow humans is against the teaching of Jesus. Unfortunately many women are satisfied being second class citizens. Maybe it is okay with you that you are not "worthy" to be a Catholic priest but is it really okay with you that the church is telling your daughter she is not "worthy"? Never. I will never buy it. Another example of paternalism at its ugliest.

[scoobanchi]

02:41 PM on 04/13/2011

1 Corinthians 14:34 - The women should keep quiet in the churches, for they are not authorized to speak, but should take a secondary and subordinate place, just as the Law also says.
For those without a bible.

[deans2cents]

04:46 PM on 04/13/2011

Paul said women shud be quiet, peaul also said slaves should obey their masters, do you always pick and choose bible verses by your prejudices?

[scoobanchi]

02:37 PM on 04/13/2011

1 Corinthians 14:34

[seacrane]

01:47 PM on 04/13/2011

Who cares what any sect of any of the desert religions does or thinks or legislates? All the desert religions are alike: racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-intellectual, exclusive, tribal, divisive, fissiparous, and, now, verging on the illiterate. Who needs any of them?

[maggiedancer]

10:09 AM on 04/13/2011

Everyone knows that God has a penis. All the male artists knew it, all the male authors of all the Books of the Bible (save one) knew it. So, of course. All the guys agree. God is male. That's so that when every other argument against gender equality fails, we call all go back to those nearly universally male "authorities" who portrayed God as male and say, yup, God's male. Geez. Wonder why women exist...after all, Adam "gave birth" to Eve by loss of a rib, no? Huh, wonder why that model of reproduction didn't take hold.... Don't look at Lilith whom God made in "His" own image...she wouldn't obey Adam so Adam whined to God for a more subservient mate...Eve. Convenient. So we have two women to blame for all the evils that befall men. Same old same old.

[Philip F Harris]

10:04 AM on 04/13/2011

When I wrote the WAKING GOD TRILOGY I took aim at the 'worn out dogma' of religion. This story is just another example that religion, as we know it, as out lived its usefulness. It shows that reasonable and rational debate is still the things of heresy. It is interesting that the Church never talks about "let us make man in our image,' or "did I not say ye are gods." Further, the suppression of the feminine in God's nature is the same as denying the feminine in every aspect of nature. God is certainly not male and has no specific sex at all. Isn't time we ended making God in our own, self-serving egotistical image? The continued failure of the Church to speak to our times is one of the reason it will go the way of the dinosaurs-and it should!

[Pamela Ricci]

08:09 AM on 04/13/2011

Celibacy, which is a discipline, was first instituted in the 4th century. During the Dark Ages the clergy drifted back to marriage, and was tightened back up in the 12th century. The issue of women priests is NOT a discipline, but a basic tenant of the RC Church. The pope does not have the authority to change it. The good sister who authored the book in question did not follow Church doctrine, and therefore it is not a book that accurately reflects Catholicism. Therefore, it cannot be a teaching book used in a Catholic setting. The priesthood was started by Jesus, through St Peter and the Apostles. These were all male. One can disagree with the doctrine, but then that person is in opposition to the teachings and wouldn't be Catholic at that point. As a devout Catholic female, I have never felt as though my role in my parish has been diminished in any way by my gender.

[garyt1205]

08:50 PM on 04/12/2011

That's the catholic church. Women were apostles and leaders in the early church. Male celebacy only goes back to about the year 1100 when a pope wanted to keep property in the church instead of passing to heirs of the priests. The church like evnagelical Christianity is falling far behind with its authoritarian approach. People are hungry for love and community as Christ taught it, not heirarchies of priesthood which Jesus railed against. As someone who grew up in the catholic church and treasure many things about it, I hope the male patriarchy will go by the wayside at some point in both catholism and evangelical churches. Women have the right to be priests and pastors if they choose. Jesus elevated women to a high place. Both Timnothy letters, as is now known, which put women as teachers down, were not even written by Paul. Romans mentions josea at the end, who was an apostle and head of a church. Its time for women to hear their voices in catholic and evangelical churches or those churches will fade away as they have in Europe.