This morning I stumbled on wonderful words from the brilliant womanist biblical scholar Will Gafney (whom we met in the Scholar Strike), part of a recent panel on "Rainbow Theology: Intersections of Race, Gender, and Sexuality." Her focus was pronouns, and what a difference they make to theology, and to liturgy. Gafney began:
Human beings contain multitudes, multiverses, like our Creator. That she, he, they, One who is three, seven, twelve, many is ultimately inarticulable yet mysteriously, in some way reproducible. The earthling created from the earth, the human created from the humus, was soil and spirit and bone and blood. And it, they/them was gender-full and in that gender-fullness was the image and likeness of God.
There is an incantatory loveliness to this she, he, they, One who is three, seven, twelve, many. It feels like praise, joyful praise. I'll try using it. Simple pronouns, or even the careful but abstract gender-less language of "God" and "Godself," don't communicate the fullness of the creator, or the creation.
I use the example of our language because I have made the argument as a woman that you tell me what you think about me by how you talk about God in whose image I am created. If your language about God does not include my creation, that tells me that you do not see God when you see me and you do not see me in God. This is also true for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and asexual people. If your entire theological and linguistic framework is binary, then there is no room for the fullness of God’s creative artistry with the human palette.
The first tree flowering in Washington Square Park joins me: Amen!
