Should we demasculinize God?
In Geneva, pastors are currently working to feminize the one who was then only "Our Father",
to the point of considering characterizing him with the pronoun "iel".
If we have long wondered about the sex of angels, the debate today focuses on the gender of God. While the neutral pronoun "iel" has just entered the Petit Robert, in addition to having been elected "word of the year 2021" in French-speaking Switzerland, the latter could gradually become the one we attach to God. This virile "Our Father", so far designated only by the masculine, could soon be demasculinized, feminized, even neutralized, therefore. It is in any case one of the projects of the Council of the Company of Pastors and Deacons of the Protestant Church of Geneva (EPG). Indeed, according to its moderator Laurence Mottier,
“the way in which we name God influences the way in which he is received”.
A first document produced jointly by the Geneva pastors Nicolas Lüthi and Sandrine Landeau, as well as by the ecclesial respondent of the EPG for LGBTIQ+ issues Adrian Stiefel, clarifies this need for change: “We call it Father, Son and Spirit. If it is represented figuratively it is in the form of a man – preferably white and old”. Or again: “If God is masculine, he is male, and therefore the male is God”. Shocking sentences, but which translate what for these Geneva ministers is obvious: “Women cannot recognize themselves
and include their feminine reality in their life of faith if […]
to the point of considering characterizing him with the pronoun "iel".
If we have long wondered about the sex of angels, the debate today focuses on the gender of God. While the neutral pronoun "iel" has just entered the Petit Robert, in addition to having been elected "word of the year 2021" in French-speaking Switzerland, the latter could gradually become the one we attach to God. This virile "Our Father", so far designated only by the masculine, could soon be demasculinized, feminized, even neutralized, therefore. It is in any case one of the projects of the Council of the Company of Pastors and Deacons of the Protestant Church of Geneva (EPG). Indeed, according to its moderator Laurence Mottier,
“the way in which we name God influences the way in which he is received”.
A first document produced jointly by the Geneva pastors Nicolas Lüthi and Sandrine Landeau, as well as by the ecclesial respondent of the EPG for LGBTIQ+ issues Adrian Stiefel, clarifies this need for change: “We call it Father, Son and Spirit. If it is represented figuratively it is in the form of a man – preferably white and old”. Or again: “If God is masculine, he is male, and therefore the male is God”. Shocking sentences, but which translate what for these Geneva ministers is obvious: “Women cannot recognize themselves
and include their feminine reality in their life of faith if […]
According to some linguists, the use of the masculine would inevitably make us think of male figures, especially when speaking of God. In Geneva, pastors are currently working to feminize the man who was then only "Our Father", to the point of considering characterizing him with the pronoun "iel".
If we have long wondered about the sex of angels , the debate today focuses on the gender of God. While the neuter pronoun "iel" has just entered the Petit Robert , in addition to having been elected "word of the year 2021" in French-speaking Switzerland, the latter could gradually become the one we associate with God. This virile "Our Father", so far designated only by the masculine, could soon be demasculinized, feminized, even neutralized, therefore. It is in any case one of the projects of the Council of the Company of Pastors and Deacons of the Protestant Church of Geneva (EPG). Indeed, according to its moderator Laurence Mottier ,
"the way in which we name God influences the way in which he is received".
A first document produced jointly by the Geneva pastors Nicolas Lüthi and Sandrine Landeau , as well as by the ecclesial respondent of the EPG for LGBTIQ+ issues Adrian Stiefel , explains this need for change: “We call it Father, Son and Spirit. If it is represented figuratively it is in the form of a man – preferably white and old”. Or again: “If God is masculine, he is male, and therefore the male is God”. Shock sentences, but which translate what for these Geneva ministers is obvious: "Women cannot recognize themselves and include their feminine reality in their life of faith if God is only masculine", as Laurence Mottier assures .
Identification required?According to the moderator of the Society, “it is not tolerable that some people can stand before God more easily than others. Before God, we are equal regardless of our gender, class, sexual orientation or life experience.” Is identifying with God therefore essential in order to be able to believe in Him? “Of course this debate is more theological than anthropological. It is essential to speak of God in the feminine because it values the feminine. When we only speak in the masculine, we tend, by a reverse runoff, to make the masculine
something more divine than the rest”, analyzes Sandrine Landeau.
For the doctoral student in theology Jodie Sangiorgio, who is preparing a thesis on these questions, it should not be forgotten that “the biblical texts are located in time and were written by men for men”. This would explain, according to her, that the use of the masculine was favored there. “Not taking this into account would be intellectual dishonesty,” asserts the young researcher. Thus, to speak of God in the masculine and to persevere in this habit would be “exclusive” according to his terms, in addition to being “an expression of patriarchy”. And the academic lamented that "theology does not make it a priority to analyze the effects of theological discourse on people".
The generic masculine, really neutral?On the side of psychologists and linguists, the question seems to be almost no longer a subject of debate. Because if the neutral gender is said to be masculine in the French language, the Biel psycholinguist Pascal Gygax assures us: “Impossible not to use gendered images when using the masculine as a neutral gender.” For the co-author of Does the brain think of the masculine?, “our brain is economical. Between the masculine, easily accessible, and the more complex concept of a neutral gender, our brain will go to the simplest. A vision that, however, is nuanced by the Vaudois linguist Stéphanie Pahud, according to whom “it is not impossible to break away from limiting representations. But this requires work to raise awareness of the habits in place and the stereotypes maintained by them.”
Is the initiative of the EPG therefore intended to extend to all of Reformed theology? On the side of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Switzerland (EERS), the umbrella of the cantonal churches, the fact of degendering God is not an official concern, but they say they are nevertheless sensitive to the issues of language. A document advocating the use of “inclusive language in the Church”has just been produced by the institution, which encourages in the subtext "gender equality". “Even if the new pronouns of God are not yet a concrete project for the EERS, each parish and minister is invited not only to masculinize God”, comments Nadine Manson, doctor of theology and in charge of liturgical questions for the Reformed umbrella. . The latter nevertheless identifies a glass ceiling in the process:
“This can only go through a theological justification.”
Feminine God vs Father of ChristTo do this, Sandrine Landeau willingly quotes the first story of Genesis in which it is mentioned that God “created in man in his image, (…) male and female.” But for some French-speaking ministers, the theological and anthropological arguments do not seem convincing. "I live in the following of Christ who called God his father and who taught us to do the same", declares Véronique Monnard, trainee deacon of the Reformed Evangelical Church of the canton of Vaud (EERV), who assures that this "masculinity is for her only symbolic: "We come from a mother and go to a father, in the same way that we go to God." For Emanuelle Dobler, pastor in Fribourg, "it would be complicated to pray an 'iel', because it does not yet evoke anything and you would have to invent everything behind it."
In order to free herself from the harmful effects of patriarchy, the Valais pastor Agnès Thuégaz, for her part, proposes to broaden the field of reflection. “A Church which prays a “iel” and which continues to observe macho patterns, that bothers me rather”, underlines the one for whom “the Church has remained very masculine in its functioning”. According to Agnès Thuégaz, “acting on language first is a bit incidental. And that doesn't include those people who have always had a relationship with God as a father figure." A data which, at the EPG, however, has not been evacuated: “ The masculine does not have the monopoly of God, but can all the same be used in our liturgies. Our idea is, in the long term, that all the pronouns can relate to God”, adds Laurence Mottier.
"the way in which we name God influences the way in which he is received".
A first document produced jointly by the Geneva pastors Nicolas Lüthi and Sandrine Landeau , as well as by the ecclesial respondent of the EPG for LGBTIQ+ issues Adrian Stiefel , explains this need for change: “We call it Father, Son and Spirit. If it is represented figuratively it is in the form of a man – preferably white and old”. Or again: “If God is masculine, he is male, and therefore the male is God”. Shock sentences, but which translate what for these Geneva ministers is obvious: "Women cannot recognize themselves and include their feminine reality in their life of faith if God is only masculine", as Laurence Mottier assures .
Identification required?According to the moderator of the Society, “it is not tolerable that some people can stand before God more easily than others. Before God, we are equal regardless of our gender, class, sexual orientation or life experience.” Is identifying with God therefore essential in order to be able to believe in Him? “Of course this debate is more theological than anthropological. It is essential to speak of God in the feminine because it values the feminine. When we only speak in the masculine, we tend, by a reverse runoff, to make the masculine
something more divine than the rest”, analyzes Sandrine Landeau.
For the doctoral student in theology Jodie Sangiorgio, who is preparing a thesis on these questions, it should not be forgotten that “the biblical texts are located in time and were written by men for men”. This would explain, according to her, that the use of the masculine was favored there. “Not taking this into account would be intellectual dishonesty,” asserts the young researcher. Thus, to speak of God in the masculine and to persevere in this habit would be “exclusive” according to his terms, in addition to being “an expression of patriarchy”. And the academic lamented that "theology does not make it a priority to analyze the effects of theological discourse on people".
The generic masculine, really neutral?On the side of psychologists and linguists, the question seems to be almost no longer a subject of debate. Because if the neutral gender is said to be masculine in the French language, the Biel psycholinguist Pascal Gygax assures us: “Impossible not to use gendered images when using the masculine as a neutral gender.” For the co-author of Does the brain think of the masculine?, “our brain is economical. Between the masculine, easily accessible, and the more complex concept of a neutral gender, our brain will go to the simplest. A vision that, however, is nuanced by the Vaudois linguist Stéphanie Pahud, according to whom “it is not impossible to break away from limiting representations. But this requires work to raise awareness of the habits in place and the stereotypes maintained by them.”
Is the initiative of the EPG therefore intended to extend to all of Reformed theology? On the side of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Switzerland (EERS), the umbrella of the cantonal churches, the fact of degendering God is not an official concern, but they say they are nevertheless sensitive to the issues of language. A document advocating the use of “inclusive language in the Church”has just been produced by the institution, which encourages in the subtext "gender equality". “Even if the new pronouns of God are not yet a concrete project for the EERS, each parish and minister is invited not only to masculinize God”, comments Nadine Manson, doctor of theology and in charge of liturgical questions for the Reformed umbrella. . The latter nevertheless identifies a glass ceiling in the process:
“This can only go through a theological justification.”
Feminine God vs Father of ChristTo do this, Sandrine Landeau willingly quotes the first story of Genesis in which it is mentioned that God “created in man in his image, (…) male and female.” But for some French-speaking ministers, the theological and anthropological arguments do not seem convincing. "I live in the following of Christ who called God his father and who taught us to do the same", declares Véronique Monnard, trainee deacon of the Reformed Evangelical Church of the canton of Vaud (EERV), who assures that this "masculinity is for her only symbolic: "We come from a mother and go to a father, in the same way that we go to God." For Emanuelle Dobler, pastor in Fribourg, "it would be complicated to pray an 'iel', because it does not yet evoke anything and you would have to invent everything behind it."
In order to free herself from the harmful effects of patriarchy, the Valais pastor Agnès Thuégaz, for her part, proposes to broaden the field of reflection. “A Church which prays a “iel” and which continues to observe macho patterns, that bothers me rather”, underlines the one for whom “the Church has remained very masculine in its functioning”. According to Agnès Thuégaz, “acting on language first is a bit incidental. And that doesn't include those people who have always had a relationship with God as a father figure." A data which, at the EPG, however, has not been evacuated: “ The masculine does not have the monopoly of God, but can all the same be used in our liturgies. Our idea is, in the long term, that all the pronouns can relate to God”, adds Laurence Mottier.
PROTESTINFO
LUCAS VUILLEUMIER
https://www.reformes.ch/demasculiniser_Dieu
LUCAS VUILLEUMIER
https://www.reformes.ch/demasculiniser_Dieu