Recently, in an address to the General Synod of the Church of England, the Archbishop of York recognized that the first two words of the Lord’s Prayer are problematic for some Anglicans. We say that God is a spirit and thus beyond gender, but if that is so, why address him as “Our Father”? Behind the Archbishop’s remark is the fact that the Church of England has been considering whether to adopt gender-neutral language in referring to God. And yet, the Lord’s Prayer, the most important of all Christian prayers because it was instituted by Jesus himself, opens by clearly referring to God as a male. Nor is this the only time that Jesus refers to God as the Father. This is an intractable problem because it is not interpretive, not a product of later institutional decisions and decrees: Jesus himself seems to declare that God is male. Not only that, but Jesus himself is male, and declared that “I and the Father are one.” The understanding of Christ as a Son “consubstantial”—of one substance with—the Father is in part based on, or at least backed up by, Psalm 2: “the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee” (v.7). Milton’s God the Father echoes this passage when he reveals the Son to the angels in
July 14, 2023
July 14, 2023
July 14, 2023
Recently, in an address to the General Synod of the Church of England, the Archbishop of York recognized that the first two words of the Lord’s Prayer are problematic for some Anglicans. We say that God is a spirit and thus beyond gender, but if that is so, why address him as “Our Father”? Behind the Archbishop’s remark is the fact that the Church of England has been considering whether to adopt gender-neutral language in referring to God. And yet, the Lord’s Prayer, the most important of all Christian prayers because it was instituted by Jesus himself, opens by clearly referring to God as a male. Nor is this the only time that Jesus refers to God as the Father. This is an intractable problem because it is not interpretive, not a product of later institutional decisions and decrees: Jesus himself seems to declare that God is male. Not only that, but Jesus himself is male, and declared that “I and the Father are one.” The understanding of Christ as a Son “consubstantial”—of one substance with—the Father is in part based on, or at least backed up by, Psalm 2: “the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee” (v.7). Milton’s God the Father echoes this passage when he reveals the Son to the angels in