Sansblogue

Photo by iandeth

Link now working, sorry :(

I am still gradually expanding the open book Not Only a Father. I have added a section concerning “The Gender of Yahweh” to chapter five which (as a whole) is about “Theology of God as both Father and Mother“.

This growing book is an experiment in publishing as discussion, not merely a blog, but a coherent book-length exploration of a topic, but not merely a book online, since each thought and idea can be questioned, commented, challenged or expanded by the readers. The trouble is that unless it gets people visiting the material it does not get discussed, and unless YOU, or others like you who find the topic of using motherly language and pictures interesting, link to the material no one will find it, and the experiment will fail :(

Photo by maaco

Mothers’ day yesterday was a double disappointment. It was not that the children forgot to celebrate Barbara, they remembered :) It was not that the service failed to include women who are not mothers, it did include them. But I still had two frustrations.

One was personal, but shared with huge numbers of others in this modern rich world, where so many people live so long. On Fathers’ Day, since my Dad is dead, I can remember his life and celebrate the person he was. But on Mothers’ Day, my Mum is still alive, except she has no memories, of me or of her own life, she is not my mum, and she thinks of me when I visit the UK as a nice man who comes (each day anew) to see her. That pseudo-life can’t be celebrated, yet it seems wrong to remember her as if she were dead…

The other is general, but shared (it seems) by very few. Surely, at the very least on this day of the year, beyond all others, we could talk in church a little (in our prayers and Bible readings if not in our sermon) of the motherly God we meet in Scripture and in the traditions of the Christian church. But no, it seemed that the intention to exclude all feminine language about God is held to equally rigorously even on Mothers’ Day :(

I wish, I really wish, more people would read Not only a Father, and if they disagree comment – or if they agree then make more use in public of the resources Scripture and tradition have provided us!

Aristotle’s Feminist Subject has a post in which various translationsof Psalm 90 are compared. As always I’m astounded by the way most treat verse 2:

בְּטֶרֶם׀  הָרִים  יֻלָּדוּ
וַתְּחֹולֵל  אֶרֶץ  וְתֵבֵל וּמֵעֹולָם
עַד־עֹולָם  אַתָּה  אֵל׃

Before the mountains were born
or you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

It seems quite clear to me. I cannot see how else to render the words!

The nearest to this explicitly (I think) maternal imagery for the creation of our world (among the translations in front of me here) comes from the NASB:

Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting,
You are God.

though the NIV comes close:

Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

But the rest fudge it. Why? (There is a fuller, though still aimed at non specialist readers version of my take on it in chapter two of my Not Only a Father. Since the format of that work invites, needs, discussion, please go there and discuss either this or one of the other things I say!)

Repost first posted in Sept 2004

Maggi Dawn in her “Three Must-Reads in blogville” drew my attention to John Sloas’ post in Crooked Line titled “motherly spirituality for a dad“. I started to post these thoughts as a comment there, but they grew…

My “kids” are now thoroughly grown and have left the nest. I still love sitting with them, but now it’s more often in the spa than over building blocks. I have no small kids to “parent” except when we borrow some from friends at church.

Holding a baby by rumpleteaser

There is something really special about looking after a small one that is different, and lovely. Holding a baby or toddler always helps one get in tune with God. Perhaps that’s why parenting (both mother and father) is such a strong biblical picture of what God is like. (On God as mother see my becoming-book: Not Only a Father.)

It is a great shame that so many Western fathers have missed out over the years. And now, keen as we are to provide equal deprivation for all, many mothers miss out as well. Yet these experiences are times when we are open to those rumors of another world. They should not be missed.