Does God have gender?

[guybjr]

Hello - I teach a 10th grade Religious Education and something came up about God and Gender that I wasn't sure how to answer. Many of these questions they are getting from their high school History class.

The question was about God being male or female - how they had been told that it's wrong to think of God as strictly male - and that the biblical language was biased due to the patriarchal system and the gender biased toward men.

How do I effectively answer that question and give them the full picture of God? How do I adequately address the masculine and even feminine aspect of God?

Thank you for your help.

[Fr. Vincent Serpa]

Hi Guy,

In Himself, God is pure spirit and is neither male nor female. But Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, besides having a divine nature, also has a human nature and is male. Further, He has taught us to call God, Father. Nowhere does He ever suggest otherwise. In all of the New Testament, he speaks of His Father and teaches His followers to call Him "Abba" which can be translated, "Daddy". For us to do otherwise is the height of arrogance. The field of history deals with chronological facts. It does not have the competance to deal with matters of divine revelation and faith. Such is the proper subject matter of theology.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.