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Gender and the Nicene Creed

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I had no idea there were so many feminine images for God and Jesus in the Christian tradition until I read Gender and the Nicene Creed. When will these images be reflected in the liturgy of our churches? Women have been waiting for over 2,000 years. Enough is enough! Kudos to Elizabeth Geitz for the highly readable, informative resource.

I was a fallen-away Catholic for many years until about a decade ago when I fortunately found my way back to the solemnity of beautiful Sunday mornings sitting in churches and reflecting, meditating on my past, present and future. In this course I discovered the Episcopal Church as a wonderful and thought-provoking alternative and now i attend whichever one is nearby when I am at home or on the road.

From the time I was a child in parochial school I was taught that God was not man, not woman, but God. We were taught that we are human and God is divine. It is so hard to understand divinity from a human standpoint and this beautifully researched and well-written book demonstrates all that I was taught; that God created us in his Image. Man created the word "his" and over the centuries man has attributed the gender of "Man" to include all human beings. but along the way we lost track and have made God out to be a man.

"Gender in the Nicene Creed" reinforces what God meant when He created us: all human beings are created equal.

Thanks to Ms. Geitz for bringing us back to a 'point of order', so to speak, as her research proves to the reader that woman is also God. Therefore God is also woman.

James Weis

Why is exclusively male imagery for God used in the Nicene Creed? As a man, I find my life and perspective enriched
by feminine images of God and Jesus. Where have they been all my life? Since reading Elizabeth Geitz's Gender and the Nicene Creed, I now know that they've always been part of the Judeo-Christian tradition. I only wish they had been more visible. This book has been a real eye opener for me.

Geitz, Elizabeth Rankin. Gender and the Nicene Creed. NY: Church Publishers, Inc. 1995

In answer to her own question of whether the orthodoxy of the Nicene Creed is still relevant to her faith, Episcopal priest Elizabeth Rankin Geitz has written a carefully researched analytical reflection on the language of the Creed, and the theological implications of that language, as it has evolved over time and in various translations.

The Creed, adopted in 325 at the Council of Nicea, has become the official profession of the faith in most Christian churches. It is recited during the liturgy to remind Christians who they are and what they are to believe. Yet, despite its place in the liturgy, the Creed is more than a prayer. Over time it has served as the theological justification for the hardening of patriarchy within Christianity. As such, it is the foundation of an orthodoxy which excludes or denigrates the feminine.

As Geitz's exegesis so carefully reveals, this was not always the case. As she explores myriad scriptural references to God, to Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit, she uncovers the forgotten feminine traditions of God.

Although unspoken, implicit in her findings is the need for the church to re-examine, revise, and reword the Creed to more carefully reflect the traditional Christian faith in a more gender-inclusive language, which - she argues persuasively - has been part of scriptural tradition for most of the history of Christianity.