Article November 5, 1984 Issue

The motherhood of God

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

People are beginning to ask more and more why God should be presented as exclusively masculine, as Father but not Mother. The mothering qualities are needed so much in our present world that individuals feel they would like to be able to invoke them more directly.

Christ Jesus' teachings show God as a loving Father. And the Old Testament, referring to God's care for Israel, uses the imagery of the mother eagle: "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him."^{Deut. 32:10-12.}

Christian Science uses the term "Father-Mother" as one way to describe the divine Parent. It also speaks of God as Principle, the source of all true law and government, and as Love itself, one of the Biblical terms for Deity. Principle without Love might appear stern and cold. Love without Principle might seem weak and indulgent. But these synonymous terms taken together give a clear sense of the ideal combination of fathering and mothering qualities inherent in the divine nature. And these qualities are expressed by man, by our true selfhood as God's complete and blessed offspring. We all, then, are capable of expressing the balance of strength and gentleness, intelligence and affection, integrity and sensitivity.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

The motherhood of God

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access