The Hebrew Masculine Pronoun (attend, church, dogma, bible, Jewish)

[Runt]

Bringing this question in after reading something on the religioustolerance.com website. Someone there posted:

"In Hebrew, the masculine is used for the neuter gender, the gender you use when referring to a mixed group of males and females. Since the Bible uses the male gender, it is dogmatic misogyny to suppose that G-d is male, instead of female ... or none of the above."

I don't speak Hebrew, and I bet a lot of Christians don't either. I figured someone who is Jewish would know more about it than I do. Is there in validity in that guy's statement?

[deahca2]

G-d is neither male nor female but a spirit that encompasses both . Hebrew is a tricky language. lol. ah well, that's the Judaic belief about the characteristics of G-d.( and mine).

[Green Gaia]

Obviously no one wants to call their God, "It" so we apply personal pronouns when speaking of them. Historically, for whatever reasons, the masculine "He" or "Him" has been used. As pointed out by Runt in her post it is dogmatic misogyny to suppose that G-d is male, instead of female ... or none of the above. So here's my question: Are those that follow the Judaic religion comfortable using feminine pronouns, such as "Her" and "She" instead of or interchangable with the masculine? Or is this a big no-no? (I ask because I once referred to God as She and my Christian grandmother about had a heart attack.)

[Runt]

I actually have become comfortable with referring to God as "It". For me, this is a reminder that God is everything, everything is part of God, that God is a transcendent, incomprehensible, and yet very personal force. Calling God He or She only works for me when I am trying to deal with a specific ASPECT of God. Otherwise, I feel that I am limiting God by my words.

But then, it is personal preference... :P

[Green Gaia]

I see your point about referring to God as "It". I view God much like you do, but to me "It" seems an impersonal word, like an object or something. So if one feels God is impersonal then maybe they are more comfortable than I with using "It", (not saying that is your feeling about God, but some may be that way). Make sense? :? lol

[Runt]

Aye, it does make sense. For me personally, there is no impersonal connotation to the word unless I GIVE it one. For me, calling God "Him" (or "Her") seems like a falsehood, unless I am actually trying to work with only the masculine or only the feminine aspect of It. Calling God "It" is far more encompassing of God's full nature... as I explained above. :P

Hey, I have a question for you. I was looking at a website on joining the Unitarian ministry, and it mentioned there are three colleges one can attend to be trained, but it didn't say what they are!!! So... do you have any clue? I don't have a Unitarian Church in my area right now *cries* so I can't ask my minister...

[Green Gaia]

Hey, I have a question for you. I was looking at a website on joining the Unitarian ministry, and it mentioned there are three colleges one can attend to be trained, but it didn't say what they are!!! So... do you have any clue? I don't have a Unitarian Church in my area right now *cries* so I can't ask my minister...


Let me ask around, and I'll get back to you... it's something I've been meaning to find out about anyway :wink:

[Runt]

Let me ask around, and I'll get back to you... it's something I've been meaning to find out about anyway

Hey, I just found a lot of information on it. I will post it under the title "Ministry" in the Unitarian Universalist forum, k?

[Green Gaia]

Sounds good to me. 8)