SarahO

“The difference between men and God should be obvious. Very different from God’s act of creation, and actually quite similar to women’s role in procreation, men issue forth their offspring from their bodies, and their offspring share in their substance. They contribute something from their own bodies to create new life. With regard to conception of life, then, God is no more like the male than the female because creation does not issue forth from God.”
― Amy Peeler, Women and the Gender of God

“By seeing women represent God, every woman knows that she, in her distinct embodiment, is included in Christ along with and no less than her fellow male confessor. She fully bears the image of God. Kathy Keller offers the encouragement that both men and women “get to play the Jesus role,” but with men demonstrating his servant authority and women his submissive servanthood. I agree with the encouragement, but not the bifurcation. The incarnation opens the door to all standing in Christ’s authority, which is expressed in Christ’s service. Jesus’s particular embodiment, and faithful life, denies and fracture of his unified nature along sexed lines.”
― Amy Peeler, Women and the Gender of God

“Luke could've easily cut this scene between Mary and Elizabeth without disrupting the narrative. But he gives space for us to hear prophetic words from both these women--words that have echoed through the centuries--because Mary and Elizabeth are not only the biological mothers of Jesus and John. They also act as prophetesses in their own right. When it comes to women's unique ability to bear children, it's easy to make one of two mistakes: to overvalue childbearing, as if it's the primary reason why women exist, or to undervalue it, as if creating new life doesn't matter. The full-orbed picture Luke gives us of these two pregnant women helps us not to fall into either trap.”
― Rebecca McLaughlin, Jesus through the Eyes of Women: How the First Female Disciples Help Us Know and Love the Lord

“Mary offers nothing to women or men who seek to run their own lives. Without question, Mary is subservient. There remains a hierarchy—not between Romans and Jews, rich and poor, or men and women but between God and humanity—and Mary stands in the place of the slave rather than the master.”
― Amy Peeler, Women and the Gender of God