The Main Question

    If
every naming of God
is a borrowing from human experience,
        And if
    language slants and angles
    our thinking and behavior,
            And if
        our society
        makes qualities labeled "feminine"
        inferior to qualities labeled "masculine"
        forming women and men
        with identities steeped in those labelings,
            in structures where men are still dominant
                though shaken
            and women still subordinate
                though seeking emancipation...

Then it follows that
    using only male language
    ("he," "king," "father")
    to name and praise God
    powerfully affects our encounter with God
    and our thinking and behavior;

        So that we must then ask
        whether male dominance and female subordination
        and seeing God only in male terms
        are God's intention
        or human distortion and sin;

        For if
        these things are indeed
        a deep distortion and sin,
        So that
        women and men are called to repent together
        from domination and subordination,

Then how
    can we name and praise God
    in ways less idolatrous,
    more freeing,
    and more true
        to the Triune God
        and the direction of love
            in the Anointed One, Jesus?

By Brian Wren
from What Language Shall I Borrow?
©1989 Brian Wren
Used with permission.