Desexing the Bible

"Pray to God; she will hear us," runs the standard feminist gibe at "sexism" in the churches. More churchmen, as well as churchwomen, are beginning to agree that there is something to gibe about. Despite the array of strong women in the Old Testament and Jesus' easy assumption of sexual equality in the New, they contend that paternalistic traditions and the very language of faith need to be revised.

A task force established by Reform Jewish synagogues in the New York City area is proposing widespread linguistic changes in the liturgy. It suggests, among other things, dropping the masculine (and biblical) words Father or King and supplanting them simply with "God"; banning "brotherhood" and "fellowship" in favor of "community," "unity" or "kinship." Says Liturgist Rabbi Chaim Stern of Chappaqua, N.Y., who is not a member of the task force: "I am now persuaded that it is illegitimate to use masculine language about God." It is a significant conversion. As editor of Reform's 1975 prayer book, Stern labored four years on language he now finds objectionable.

Among Christians, a group of women theologians and scholars appointed by the National Council of Churches, an umbrella organization for Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches, recently produced a booklet called The Liberating Word (Westminster Press; $3.95). It argues that the Bible's divine message is encrusted with nondivine notions of male dominance that the biblical authors drew from their ancient cultures, not from religious inspiration. The 96-page booklet urges today's readers, clergy as well as laity, to reinterpret the Bible accordingly.

It recommends, for instance, that "whenever there is a woman in a biblical passage, retell the story from her point of view." Example: in the story of Moses, do not dwell simply on his feat of leading the Israelites out of Egypt; consider also the courage shown by Moses' mother and sister in saving his life when he was newborn.

The National Council owns the copyright on the Revised Standard Version, the most widely used 20th century Bible translation, and two dozen scholars are working on a new edition to be issued in the mid-1980s. At their annual gathering last June, the translators took up the sexism issue and readily agreed to drop masculine language that is not included in the original Hebrew or Greek text.

However, says Princeton Theological Seminary's Bruce Metzger, chairman of the Revised Standard Version committee, "we are not going to change references to God where the masculine pronoun is in the text. We fool ourselves if we launder the language. We cannot rewrite history." Nor, it seems, is there any intention of rewriting the opening of the Lord's Prayer--or calling it something else.

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