Sr. Elizabeth Johnson is a Sister of St. Joseph and a retired professor of theology at Fordham University and past president of the Catholic Theological Society. She is the author of 10 books, many articles, and monographs, and her work has been translated into 13 languages.<\/p>\n
During this Women\u2019s History Month, we applaud her contribution to theology and wisdom, a University core value, in her writings that help us understand God more fully.\u00a0 Here is an excerpt from her book, She Who Is<\/em> (Crossroads, 1993, p. 5-6), on how to speak about God:<\/p>\n What is the right way to speak about God?\u00a0 This is a question of unsurpassed importance, for speech to and about the mystery that surrounds human lives and the universe itself is a key activity of a community of faith.\u00a0 In that speech the symbol of God functions as the primary symbol of the whole religious system, the ultimate point of reference for understanding experience, life, and the world.\u00a0 Hence the way in which a faith community shapes language about God implicitly represents what it takes to be the highest good, the profoundest truth, the most appealing beauty.\u00a0 Such speaking, in turn, powerfully models the corporate identity of the community and directs its praxis.\u00a0 A religion, for example, that would speak about a warlike god and extol the way he smashes his enemies to bits would promote aggressive group behavior.\u00a0 A community that would acclaim God as an arbitrary tyrant would inspire its members to acts of impatience and disrespect toward their fellow creatures.\u00a0 On the other hand, speech about a beneficent and loving God who forgives offenses would turn the faith community toward care for the neighbor and mutual forgiveness.\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n What is the right way to speak about God?\u00a0 The presenting issue in debates about inclusive language is ostensibly whether the reality of women can provide suitable metaphor for speech about God.\u00a0 The intensity with which the question is engaged from the local to the international level, however, makes clear that more is at stake than simply naming toward God with women-identified words such as mother.\u00a0 The symbol of God functions.\u00a0 Language about God in female images not only challenges the literal mindedness that has clung to male images in inherited God-talk; it not only questions their dominance in discourse about holy mystery.\u00a0 But insofar as \u201cthe symbol gives rise to thought,\u201d such speech calls into question prevailing structures of patriarchy.\u00a0 It gives rise to a different vision of community, one in which the last shall be first, the excluded shall be included, the mighty put down from their thrones, and the humble exalted\u2014the words of Mary of Nazareth\u2019s song of praise (Lk 1:52), creating conditions for the formation of community characterized by relationships of mutuality and reciprocity, of love and justice.\u00a0 Introducing this mode of speech signals a shift, among those who use it, in their sense of the divine, a shift in total world view, in highest ideals and values, in personal and corporate identity.\u00a0 Such usage is urged upon the whole faith community in the conviction that it bears a fruitful and blessed promise.\u00a0 What is the right way to speak about God in the face of women\u2019s newly cherished human dignity and equality?\u00a0 This is a crucial theological question.\u00a0 What is at stake is the truth about God, inseparable from the situation of human beings, and the identity and mission of the faith community itself.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sr. Elizabeth Johnson is a Sister of St. Joseph and a retired professor of theology at Fordham University and past president of the Catholic Theological Society. She is the author of 10 books, many articles, and monographs, and her work has been translated into 13 languages. During this Women\u2019s History Month, we applaud her contribution to theology and wisdom, a<\/p>\n