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Is It Okay to Call God "Mother": Considering the Feminine Face of God
This book is a "tour de force." It is simply magnificent" witty, scholarly, profoundly persuasive, blunt, prophetic, and convicting this slow-to-believe disciple all over the place."
" Brennan Manning, Author of "The Ragamuffin Gospel""I'm not sure what to make of it all, but Paul Smith gives the best arguments I have ever come across for calling God Mother. For anyone struggling with how far we should go in using inclusive language, this is "must" reading.
" Tony Campolo, Eastern College
"With tender power and wit, Paul Smith challenges the church to biblical fidelity and justice in its worship language. How encouraging it is to hear an evangelical male voice affirm the necessity of feminine images of God! This outstanding book so clearly and convincingly demonstrates the biblical imperative for inclusive God-language that the Christian community can no longer ignore it."
" Jann Aldredge-Clanton, Ph.D., Chaplain, Baylor University Medical Center, Author of "God and Gender" and "God: A Word for Girls and Boys
" Brennan Manning, Author of "The Ragamuffin Gospel""I'm not sure what to make of it all, but Paul Smith gives the best arguments I have ever come across for calling God Mother. For anyone struggling with how far we should go in using inclusive language, this is "must" reading.
" Tony Campolo, Eastern College
"With tender power and wit, Paul Smith challenges the church to biblical fidelity and justice in its worship language. How encouraging it is to hear an evangelical male voice affirm the necessity of feminine images of God! This outstanding book so clearly and convincingly demonstrates the biblical imperative for inclusive God-language that the Christian community can no longer ignore it."
" Jann Aldredge-Clanton, Ph.D., Chaplain, Baylor University Medical Center, Author of "God and Gender" and "God: A Word for Girls and Boys
- GenresNonfictionFaithReligion
288 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1993
4 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Paul R. Smith
9 books1 followerPaul Smith is a life-long follower of Jesus, mystic, author, teacher, and retired pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Kansas City where he served for 49 years.
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November 2, 2025
A LONG-TERM PASTOR ARGUES FOR THE USE OF BOTH MALE/FEMALE IMAGES OF GOD
Paul R. Smith (b. 1937) was the pastor for forty-nine years of a Southern Baptist church in midtown Kansas City, Missouri, leading it over time to become a ‘progressive, inclusive, integral church.’ He has also written 'Integral Christianity: The Spirit's Call to Evolve', and 'Is Your God Big Enough? Close Enough? You Enough?'and 'Jesus and the Three Faces of God.'
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1993 book, “I started my lover’s quarrel with the church when I was eighteen… I eventually discovered a church that was willing to enter into an astounding degree of spiritual vitality and biblical faithfulness, exceeding all my expectations. The most recent of the nine major changes we have experienced over the thirty years of my pastorate there has been recognizing the feminine image of God. In one sense I wrote this book so that our congregation could have a fuller explanation of why I believe it is important to call God ‘Mother’ as well as ‘Father’ in public worship… This is a controversial book, and I suppose there will be Christian bookstores that will refuse to carry it… I particularly don’t like being drawn into the minefield of ‘God language.’ … When my fears are most intimidating, I think of God’s audacity in revealing herself to us in the glorious scandal of pale, mortal flesh… I remind us all that God is incarnate neither in gender nor in language. God is incarnate in Jesus Christ, born of our sister Mary, and now risen and transcendent…” (Pg. 1-3)
He explains, “My thesis is simple: Calling God ‘Father’ and never ‘Mother’ says something in our day that Jesus never intended, namely, that God is exclusively male or masculine. This in turn appears to make men more like God than women are. A simple and biblically-based solution to both problems is to call God ‘Mother’ while continuing to call God ‘Father.’” (Pg. 3) He continues, “There are three things I do desire… [as] we explore the feminine side of God. (1) That our image of God will be expanded and that however we address God, it will become more meaningful. (2) That we recognize that calling God Mother can be faithful to the Bible, beneficial to the church, and significant to others, whether we personally feel comfortable in doing so or not. (3) that we understand the need for the church to recognize corporately both the masculine and feminine face of God when gathered for worship… even in the midst of diverse personal practices.” (Pg. 7)
He suggests, “The acknowledgement of the human side of the Bible does not detract from its divine side in any way, but it does make it more complicated to understand… this authoritative revelation of God in scripture is contained in a vehicle that has been touched and shaped by its culture, namely language. The challenge is to learn to distinguish the content of revelation from the form of revelation. We must separate the message from the envelope.” (Pg. 37)
He quotes Isaiah 49:15, and comments, “God’s love is like a woman’s love for her nursing child. Even though sometimes human mothers may neglect their children, God will never neglect her little ones. Motherlove is the sustaining foundation of our earthly life and God’s motherlove is even more consistent and reliable. This image also occurs in Numbers [11:11-14] when God is angry with the complaining Israelites and Moses complains to God.” (Pg. 62)
He points out, “We must remember that the metaphors of mother and father are not describing sexual characteristics. The shock and clash of the two different metaphors provide some great advantages in using them together. The combination reminds us that God is not limited to masculine or feminine imagery. It also reminds us that God is a personal being but not a human being. Finally, it reminds us of the metaphorical nature of language and its limitations in referring to God so we do not idolize our symbols.” (Pg. 72-73)
He explains, “I expected to find [a] strong argument for God as Father in the Gospels, but I was surprised with the rest of the New Testament. First I looked for any accounts of actual prayers offered by the early Christians [in the New Testament] since here would be the strongest evidence for how the early believers understood Jesus’ teaching on how to address God. I found eleven occasions where the actual words of a prayer or praise addressed to God were recorded [Acts 1:24; 4:24; 7:59-60; 10:13-14; 1 Cor 16:22; Rev 4:11; 11:16-17; 15:3; 16:5; 16:7; 22:20]… I was stunned! In all eleven prayers and the twelve meanings, God was named four times as ‘Lord,’ three as ‘Lord God Almighty,’ twice as ‘Lord Jesus,’ once as ‘Lord and God,’ once as ‘Holy One,’ and once as ‘Sovereign Lord.’ And not at all as ‘Father.’ It seemed these Christians closest to Jesus did not always follow Jesus’ instructions to call God Father. To put it even more strongly, these earliest Christians NEVER addressed God as Father… There are no accounts in the New Testament of anyone but Jesus addressing God as Father!” (Pg. 81-83)
He argues, “Jesus saw God as like the best of what a father meant in his culture… In my mind this change in the meaning of the word father is one of the most compelling reasons to include Mother along with Father in some way in our praying, worshipping, and speaking about God. The meaning of the word ‘abba’ in Jesus’ time is simply not available to us today in the one word ‘father.’ If we continue to use Father for God in the content of its meaning today, without qualification, we seriously distort its biblical intent.” (Pg. 99)
He notes, “The essence of the incarnation is God becoming human, not God becoming a male Jew. Since Jesus as Christ, Messiah, Savior and Redeemer transcends sexual identity, I wonder if it is wise to continually refer to the Risen Christ in masculine terms. Surely Jesus’ maleness recedes into the background of eternity as our Risen Savior. I personally try to avoid using masculine pronouns for the Risen, transcendent Christ except when I am speaking of him during his time here on earth before his ascension.” (Pg. 143)
He cautions, “I want to remind my readers again that although I encourage you to consider female images for God and even to experiment with them. If calling God Mother in your own personal prayer life is not helpful to you, don’t do it. However, I am very pointedly asking all Christians to recognize the necessity of corporate worship which recognizes both male and female images of God. Will we make room in our public worship liturgy for various expressions of addressing God so God can be affirmed in many ways? This means that while I may only address God as Mother privately, I am willing to sing about God as Father on Sunday morning. And while you may only address God as Father privately, you are willing to sing about God as Mother when we worship together.” (Pg. 256)
This is an excellent, non-polemical treatment of the subject, that will be of great interest to those studying such gender/language issues in the church.
Paul R. Smith (b. 1937) was the pastor for forty-nine years of a Southern Baptist church in midtown Kansas City, Missouri, leading it over time to become a ‘progressive, inclusive, integral church.’ He has also written 'Integral Christianity: The Spirit's Call to Evolve', and 'Is Your God Big Enough? Close Enough? You Enough?'and 'Jesus and the Three Faces of God.'
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1993 book, “I started my lover’s quarrel with the church when I was eighteen… I eventually discovered a church that was willing to enter into an astounding degree of spiritual vitality and biblical faithfulness, exceeding all my expectations. The most recent of the nine major changes we have experienced over the thirty years of my pastorate there has been recognizing the feminine image of God. In one sense I wrote this book so that our congregation could have a fuller explanation of why I believe it is important to call God ‘Mother’ as well as ‘Father’ in public worship… This is a controversial book, and I suppose there will be Christian bookstores that will refuse to carry it… I particularly don’t like being drawn into the minefield of ‘God language.’ … When my fears are most intimidating, I think of God’s audacity in revealing herself to us in the glorious scandal of pale, mortal flesh… I remind us all that God is incarnate neither in gender nor in language. God is incarnate in Jesus Christ, born of our sister Mary, and now risen and transcendent…” (Pg. 1-3)
He explains, “My thesis is simple: Calling God ‘Father’ and never ‘Mother’ says something in our day that Jesus never intended, namely, that God is exclusively male or masculine. This in turn appears to make men more like God than women are. A simple and biblically-based solution to both problems is to call God ‘Mother’ while continuing to call God ‘Father.’” (Pg. 3) He continues, “There are three things I do desire… [as] we explore the feminine side of God. (1) That our image of God will be expanded and that however we address God, it will become more meaningful. (2) That we recognize that calling God Mother can be faithful to the Bible, beneficial to the church, and significant to others, whether we personally feel comfortable in doing so or not. (3) that we understand the need for the church to recognize corporately both the masculine and feminine face of God when gathered for worship… even in the midst of diverse personal practices.” (Pg. 7)
He suggests, “The acknowledgement of the human side of the Bible does not detract from its divine side in any way, but it does make it more complicated to understand… this authoritative revelation of God in scripture is contained in a vehicle that has been touched and shaped by its culture, namely language. The challenge is to learn to distinguish the content of revelation from the form of revelation. We must separate the message from the envelope.” (Pg. 37)
He quotes Isaiah 49:15, and comments, “God’s love is like a woman’s love for her nursing child. Even though sometimes human mothers may neglect their children, God will never neglect her little ones. Motherlove is the sustaining foundation of our earthly life and God’s motherlove is even more consistent and reliable. This image also occurs in Numbers [11:11-14] when God is angry with the complaining Israelites and Moses complains to God.” (Pg. 62)
He points out, “We must remember that the metaphors of mother and father are not describing sexual characteristics. The shock and clash of the two different metaphors provide some great advantages in using them together. The combination reminds us that God is not limited to masculine or feminine imagery. It also reminds us that God is a personal being but not a human being. Finally, it reminds us of the metaphorical nature of language and its limitations in referring to God so we do not idolize our symbols.” (Pg. 72-73)
He explains, “I expected to find [a] strong argument for God as Father in the Gospels, but I was surprised with the rest of the New Testament. First I looked for any accounts of actual prayers offered by the early Christians [in the New Testament] since here would be the strongest evidence for how the early believers understood Jesus’ teaching on how to address God. I found eleven occasions where the actual words of a prayer or praise addressed to God were recorded [Acts 1:24; 4:24; 7:59-60; 10:13-14; 1 Cor 16:22; Rev 4:11; 11:16-17; 15:3; 16:5; 16:7; 22:20]… I was stunned! In all eleven prayers and the twelve meanings, God was named four times as ‘Lord,’ three as ‘Lord God Almighty,’ twice as ‘Lord Jesus,’ once as ‘Lord and God,’ once as ‘Holy One,’ and once as ‘Sovereign Lord.’ And not at all as ‘Father.’ It seemed these Christians closest to Jesus did not always follow Jesus’ instructions to call God Father. To put it even more strongly, these earliest Christians NEVER addressed God as Father… There are no accounts in the New Testament of anyone but Jesus addressing God as Father!” (Pg. 81-83)
He argues, “Jesus saw God as like the best of what a father meant in his culture… In my mind this change in the meaning of the word father is one of the most compelling reasons to include Mother along with Father in some way in our praying, worshipping, and speaking about God. The meaning of the word ‘abba’ in Jesus’ time is simply not available to us today in the one word ‘father.’ If we continue to use Father for God in the content of its meaning today, without qualification, we seriously distort its biblical intent.” (Pg. 99)
He notes, “The essence of the incarnation is God becoming human, not God becoming a male Jew. Since Jesus as Christ, Messiah, Savior and Redeemer transcends sexual identity, I wonder if it is wise to continually refer to the Risen Christ in masculine terms. Surely Jesus’ maleness recedes into the background of eternity as our Risen Savior. I personally try to avoid using masculine pronouns for the Risen, transcendent Christ except when I am speaking of him during his time here on earth before his ascension.” (Pg. 143)
He cautions, “I want to remind my readers again that although I encourage you to consider female images for God and even to experiment with them. If calling God Mother in your own personal prayer life is not helpful to you, don’t do it. However, I am very pointedly asking all Christians to recognize the necessity of corporate worship which recognizes both male and female images of God. Will we make room in our public worship liturgy for various expressions of addressing God so God can be affirmed in many ways? This means that while I may only address God as Mother privately, I am willing to sing about God as Father on Sunday morning. And while you may only address God as Father privately, you are willing to sing about God as Mother when we worship together.” (Pg. 256)
This is an excellent, non-polemical treatment of the subject, that will be of great interest to those studying such gender/language issues in the church.
June 27, 2017
I likely first encountered 'feminine' imagery for God mentioned only in passing by Marcus Borg, and followed up on it by reading briefly into verses in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian testament that exhibited that sort of poetic flexibility. It remained something of theological interest to me, but only transformed my own practiced spiritual life when I encountered it for the first time in liturgy. An Anglican divinity student at my school, who I first met at an OPIRG meeting, used to deliver the most prophetic homilies at my school's chapel. One of her homilies was the first time I encountered God referred to as Mother in a very personal way that went beyond a mere theological concept. I used to be the only person outside the divinity school to attend those chapel services, and they were a real hidden gem. The attendance was telling though of the current state of mainline Protestantism and the value secular colleges have for intellectual and thoughtful religious literacy; the divinity school ended up closing a year after I graduated. This is why I found this book so interesting, because it was written by a Baptist, and thinks of its audience as Evangelicals, Charismatics, and Pentecostals (the faith family I grew up around and still practice within each Sunday, as evidenced by every other sermon I hear on Sunday containing a Spurgeon quote. Also Pentecostalism, which I spent most of my childhood immersed in, I believe is the fastest growing among Christian 'denominations'.)
Reading this book was mostly an accident, I just found it at a very inexpensive price online, and loaded it onto my cart to reach a cheaper shipping bracket. A book written by a straight White, Baptist man would not be the first source I would have turned to for learning about this subject. I didn't expect to end up reading the entire book. However, my family ended up attending Church of the Holy Trinity on Christmas Eve (an Anglican community) because we happened to be near Nathan Phillips Square that day. My mother was really enjoying the whole service (music, sermon, sanctuary, hot cider), but near the end of the service, without warning something emerged in the liturgy that shocked her and visibly upset her: "O God, our Mother and Father in heaven." Afterwards, I struggled to explain my own perspective, and my thoughts were found wanting when discussing with my mom. Soon after, I opened up this book and tried to find a better way to articulate the reasons I personally had for using more expansive language when trying to talk about and to God.
I found the first few chapters of the book most rewarding. There's a lot of biblical quoting throughout which seems quite important to the evangelical audience Smith has in mind. I thought the reasoning in this first half very practical, accessible, and exhibited a type of clarity that might not have been there for more academically oriented books on this matter. I also enjoyed the examples cited of feminine imagery used throughout Christian history, as well as Smith's confessions of his own difficulties with working through the initial awkwardness of changing the theological language he used, especially in personal times of prayer and reflection.
I did however, find the book to be somewhat repetitive, and at times felt like a compilation of fragments from different sermons or articles, with the same points made a number of times throughout, just situated in different lines of reasoning. Consequently I personally felt the book was longer than it needed to be (at least with respect to what I was looking for). But I think it'll be quite useful to have for reference in the future, especially since, more often, I do find myself in the company of people who practice more conservative forms of Christianity.
Reading this book was mostly an accident, I just found it at a very inexpensive price online, and loaded it onto my cart to reach a cheaper shipping bracket. A book written by a straight White, Baptist man would not be the first source I would have turned to for learning about this subject. I didn't expect to end up reading the entire book. However, my family ended up attending Church of the Holy Trinity on Christmas Eve (an Anglican community) because we happened to be near Nathan Phillips Square that day. My mother was really enjoying the whole service (music, sermon, sanctuary, hot cider), but near the end of the service, without warning something emerged in the liturgy that shocked her and visibly upset her: "O God, our Mother and Father in heaven." Afterwards, I struggled to explain my own perspective, and my thoughts were found wanting when discussing with my mom. Soon after, I opened up this book and tried to find a better way to articulate the reasons I personally had for using more expansive language when trying to talk about and to God.
I found the first few chapters of the book most rewarding. There's a lot of biblical quoting throughout which seems quite important to the evangelical audience Smith has in mind. I thought the reasoning in this first half very practical, accessible, and exhibited a type of clarity that might not have been there for more academically oriented books on this matter. I also enjoyed the examples cited of feminine imagery used throughout Christian history, as well as Smith's confessions of his own difficulties with working through the initial awkwardness of changing the theological language he used, especially in personal times of prayer and reflection.
I did however, find the book to be somewhat repetitive, and at times felt like a compilation of fragments from different sermons or articles, with the same points made a number of times throughout, just situated in different lines of reasoning. Consequently I personally felt the book was longer than it needed to be (at least with respect to what I was looking for). But I think it'll be quite useful to have for reference in the future, especially since, more often, I do find myself in the company of people who practice more conservative forms of Christianity.
March 16, 2021
One of the most accessible books on the topic, written with a pastor's eye for the biblical text.
If you are interested to discover how one can employ gender-inclusive language about God, and how this is actually a deeply biblical thing to do, this book explores all the texts that often get neglected in church.
As Smith makes clear, how we picture God effects how we treat people. As Southern Baptists denounced references to God as mother and feminine, these are clearly linked with their sexism in denying women as leaders.
This is a short and easy to read book that is deep but accessible. I think if a pastor wanted to bring their congregation through thinking about this topic, this book would be great to lead a deacons or elder's board through.
If you are interested to discover how one can employ gender-inclusive language about God, and how this is actually a deeply biblical thing to do, this book explores all the texts that often get neglected in church.
As Smith makes clear, how we picture God effects how we treat people. As Southern Baptists denounced references to God as mother and feminine, these are clearly linked with their sexism in denying women as leaders.
This is a short and easy to read book that is deep but accessible. I think if a pastor wanted to bring their congregation through thinking about this topic, this book would be great to lead a deacons or elder's board through.
January 6, 2025
It was a solid book that outlined many arguments for calling God mother. A lot of points made were eye opening, while some were somewhat theologically empty. Nevertheless the book made concise arguments that had biblical backing. The section on women in ministry was particularly good. While I probably won’t refer to God as mother, it is a good reminder that God is neither male nor female, and to be the best, most outreaching Christian we can be, we must remember that. In today’s culture, evangelism needs to meet people where they are at, and God the Father is a term that can easily be replaced by God, Lord, or even Jesus when appropriate.
March 10, 2017
Is it okay to call God "Mother?
The answer is YES!
I am not kidding when I say that this life has changed my (Christian) life forever.
Looking back I realize that my whole life, I was seeking God the Mother, the Awesome She without even knowing. This book has truly opened my eyes about the truths of God's feminine side.
Smith perfectly elaborates on what God was inviting us to as S/He invited us to call Her/Him "Father" and points out many scriptural verses that point to God's maternal nurturing side.
I don't agree 100% with his attitude towards making the church more "gender-neutral" when hosting church services, and only having a 5-5 scale of male-female pronouns. I believe it is still vastly important to acknowledge God as a very personal being and we should never shy away from calling God He (as long as we don't overbalance that over She) and that we should strive for a more "gender-balanced" service (I would suggest 25-25).
Nevertheless, this book has really shaped the way that I see God's image and has really opened the floodgates of being able to relate to God better as a woman. Smith perfectly sums it up by saying that
The answer is YES!
I am not kidding when I say that this life has changed my (Christian) life forever.
Looking back I realize that my whole life, I was seeking God the Mother, the Awesome She without even knowing. This book has truly opened my eyes about the truths of God's feminine side.
Smith perfectly elaborates on what God was inviting us to as S/He invited us to call Her/Him "Father" and points out many scriptural verses that point to God's maternal nurturing side.
I don't agree 100% with his attitude towards making the church more "gender-neutral" when hosting church services, and only having a 5-5 scale of male-female pronouns. I believe it is still vastly important to acknowledge God as a very personal being and we should never shy away from calling God He (as long as we don't overbalance that over She) and that we should strive for a more "gender-balanced" service (I would suggest 25-25).
Nevertheless, this book has really shaped the way that I see God's image and has really opened the floodgates of being able to relate to God better as a woman. Smith perfectly sums it up by saying that
"Everybody needs a mom and dad on Earth - and one in heaven too."
May 14, 2015
Smith's book is an excellent resource addressing the male view towards the feminine image of God. Some things he said were a little too Southern Baptist for me, which is why I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. The book is still full of wisdom and his points are well stated, especially when thinking of the volatile atmosphere in the SBC during which this book was published. You can tell a little that the book was written in the 90s, though the cartoons and comics add to the book's charm. Worth a read! Especially if you are uncomfortable with feminine imagery, his humility draws the reader in.
December 5, 2015
I'd give it 3.5 stars. Very good explanation of why God contains both masculine and feminine and how our language has distorted that for...a really long time. It was a little boring at times, jumpy at times, but overall very good. I had to remind myself many times that it was written over 20 years ago, and it's still quite progressive, but some of the things the author writes are dated. What can you do. I'd recommend this book to those wondering if it's okay, and why it's more than okay--it's important--to call God "mother."
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews