Should Christians call God 'Mama'?

Should God be referred to as mama?

Some feminist theologians think so. One of the reasons they give is that the Bible was written in patriarchal days. It is argued that in these days the idea of a female God would never have been accepted. Now that we live in more enlightened times, we can accept that God is equally masculine and feminine and so our terms should reflect that.

But history shows us that the Bible’s use of exclusive masculine titles for God is not some sort of sinful misogyny. 

Israel was actually radically countercultural by NOT having a high female deity. Having a maternal and paternal deity to oversee and spawn lesser powers was a normal part of the Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) cosmology. In surrounding culture ‘Tiamat’ was seen as the main goddesses that begat other powers before time began. Other high female deities existed at the time too and feminine title were normal – especially that of ‘mother’:

'You are mother and Father of all that you made.'

-Akhenaten, Short Hymn to the Aten

'I have no mother - you are my mother!' 

- Gudea, The Harps that Once...

Referring to God exclusively as King and Father (never the titles ‘Queen’ or ‘Mother’) was not due to Israel being a product of some extreme patriarchal culture. Rather, it showed that they were radically counter-cultural. The same could be said of the Greco-Roman world in which the New Testament was written - where Hera sat with her husband Zeus at the top of the divine pyramid of power. It would have been very normal to refer to the divine as ‘she’ in Ephesus – but Paul never did.

But... Imago Dei... and other stuff!

Others propose that we refer to God as 'mother' due to the fact that both men and women are created in his image. Both certainly are! But this argument presupposes that God is referred to as a man in the Bible. He isn’t - he's referred to as Father. And he was a Father before he made humans. 

Others argue for the use of 'mother' for more pastoral reasons. They rightly point out that some have a cold, distant, or even abusive fathers. They do not want people to project those associations onto God and so they propose that the term 'mother' be used in such cases.

But this only begs the question: what if the person has a bad relationship with their mother as well? Do we then go on to the next or the warmest familial relationship? Could we give God the titles of uncle, auntie, or little sister if those relationships hold the most emotive value? 

Though it may be rooted in the best of intentions, it becomes a therapeutic idolatry. 

Some may argue that referring to God as Father somehow gives men a holier place than women – they think that somehow men will be able to relate better to God. But does experience really lead us to believe that sons are always closer to their father than daughters are? Surely we all know daughters that have close and affectionate relationships with their fathers - and we know of sons that have distant ones.

I have two sons and two daughters. I am not any closer to my sons because we share the same gender. My daughters don’t need to refer to me as ‘mother’ to be close to me.

Also, if we adopt this reasoning, aren’t here are other terms in Scripture that would make it harder for men? The church is referred to as the Bride of Christ. Some men may have trouble relating to that. Should we call the church Christ’s 'Husband'? After all, no one really believes the church has a specific gender – almost half are male.

Revolution or Revelation 

God never reveals himself with a feminine title in Scripture. Some may point out metaphors that have feminine connotations – but that is quite a different thing. Because God compares his love for Israel in the Psalms to the love of a mother hen for her chicks doesn’t mean that we should refer to God as a mother any more than we should refer to him as a chicken.

European revolutionary ideas of equality may try to lead us to call God 'mother' - but this is not a choice rooted in Scripture. There's not a lot about equality in the Bible in the sense that some seem to want. God sometimes chooses some for one purpose, but not others. To some He assigns the task of being the eyes of the body, others as ears (1 Cor 12). 

As clever as we think we are, we don’t have the right to pick new titles for God because they seem right to us. He chooses to reveal himself in the ways he thinks best. He gets to pick His own pronouns.

Jesus – in whom the full expression of God was revealed – only ever called God ‘Father’, never ‘Mother’. He didn’t do that because he was a limited product of his culture. If Jesus’ example doesn’t fit in with our cancerous theological idealism, then it is our theology - not the Scriptures - that need to change.

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