Gender issues continue to be a global concern. Understanding God to some degree is important in addressing these concerns, not least because this understanding gives a more spiritual sense of who we are. This also has a beneficial impact on our health and well-being. 

We may wonder who or what God is, exactly. Is God a who or a what? Is God even knowable? What does knowing God have to do with knowing ourselves? The Bible’s New Testament generally refers to God as Father. The Lord’s Prayer given by Jesus opens with “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9). Yet, there is also biblical allusion to the mothering qualities of God—nurturing, carrying, bearing (see Deuteronomy 32:11, 12). Thinking of God’s attributes in masculine or feminine terms, therefore, is not wrong, as long as this is not tainted with beliefs of corporeality or physicality. God’s incorporeality and ours is the crux of the matter. 

Jesus says that God is Spirit (see John 4:24), while in First John we read, “God is love” (4:8). Spirit and Love are biblical synonyms for God, so Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, capitalizes these words in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, whenever they refer specifically to Deity. It is self-evident that Spirit, or Love, is not corporeal, and therefore can be expressed only by such attributes as spirituality and love. The incorporeality of God is a fundamental point in Christian Science. It is crucial in its healing practice and helps us realize who we are.