Male and Female He Created Them

Creation and Salvation are deeply feminine and masculine.  Our scriptures tell us so, but we have blotted this out in our translations.  Let’s start a simple revolution, namely to translate the bible using the gendered language of the bible!

Here is an example from today’s reading in the Liturgy of the Hours.

Romans 8:18-21

18 The sufferings of the present are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us. 19 Indeed, the whole created world eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God. 20 Creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but by him who once subjected it; yet not without hope, 21 because the world itself will be freed from its slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Here is the Greek text, or at least one major version of it.

18 Λογίζομαι γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς.  19 ἡ γὰρ ἀποκαραδοκία τῆς κτίσεως τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπεκδέχεται·  20 τῇ γὰρ ματαιότητι ἡ κτίσις ὑπετάγη, οὐχ ἑκοῦσα ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν ὑποτάξαντα, ἐφʼ ἑλπίδι  21 ὅτι καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ κτίσις ἐλευθερωθήσεται ἀπὸ τῆς δουλείας τῆς φθορᾶς εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ θεοῦ.

Now let us take the same translation, but replace or insert the gendered terms (in brackets) found in the Greek text.

18 The sufferings of the present are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us. 19 Indeed, the whole created world, [she] eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God. 20 Creation, [she] was made subject to futility, not of its [her] own accord but by him who once subjected it; yet not without hope, 21 because the world itself [herself] will be freed from its [her] slavery to corruption and share in the [her] glorious freedom of the children of God.

Notice that “created” is feminine, “revelation” is feminine, “creation” is feminine, “hope” is feminine, “world” and “creation” are the same word in Greek hence both feminine, “slavery” is feminine, “corruption” is feminine, and “freedom” is feminine.  Now, one could translate the gender character of the language in a variety of fashions, but my point here is to draw your attention to how gendered the language is, even in Greek which tends to be less gendered than Hebrew (at least from my observations – perhaps someone could correct me?)

Reflect for a moment on the significance of this seemingly small change in translations.  For those who deeply love man and woman, male and female, masculinity and femininity when that love and appreciation is genuine and not deformed, the Revelatory side of these passages breaks forth and one is reminded of how God’s Revelation comes through men and women (husbands and wives, mothers and fathers) down through history.  One becomes more attuned to the deeply mysterious way that all things come to be including in that masculine and feminine dimension of all created acts and all salvific acts.

It was no accident that the gender dimension of language was removed decades ago from most of scripture. And this is not unconnected with the fact that wide-spread gender confusion and even hatred for gender exists today. 

I beg any one with ears to hear to begin calling and even demanding a simple change in all modern translations.  Include the original gender dimension of words and passages wherever that language is found in Greek, Hebrew, or Latin (especially when it is found in all three languages).  And for those who knew better decades ago, you should be ashamed.

In the first day, the light and the darkness were separated.  Think about darkness for a moment.  In this world, it seems to be far greater than any light.  The light cannot conquer it.  With all the stars and even galaxies, the darkness surrounding them seems endless in comparison. This points to the way that the finality of the universe, the energy of the universe that moves what Bernard Lonergan calls emergent probability to its increasing act and intelligibility is surrounded by a greater entropy that will destroy all act and all intelligibility.  As one hears sometimes, evil seems to be more widespread than goodness, and the goodness will never overcome it.  The darkness will not be overcome. And the layout of our physical world communicates this to us.  But the world is not without hope. Nothing in that darkness can stop the light from shining.  A sun or another star can be seen through the darkness.  The light penetrates the darkness.  And it can then illuminate the world.  And beyond all of this, there is a light we do not see. 

“And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God call the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.”

Considerations

1. In Hebrew, firmament is a solid expanse that is masculine.  It is interesting that Latin and Greek think of the firmament as a neuter object that separates the waters as a kind of dome. Hebrew relates the word to a hammering out of a metal — hence a giving of a shape to something, and this is the reason it is masculine. It makes boundaries and order.
2. As for water, it is feminine in Latin, neuter in Greek, and masculine here in Hebrew.  I would need to see how these words are used to see if there is a shift in meaning that thus links them more to the feminine or masculine.  Eg. if Hebrew sees water in terms of cleansing from evil or just washing, maybe this is linked to something that the male would do for a ritual purification, hence the water rids the unwanted and protects one from that unwanted.  Perhaps in Latin, it is feminine as being linked with washing something to clean it up and make it more attractive and fertile.
3. Heaven in both Greek and Hebrew is masculine, though it seems to be neuter in Latin.  Earth is feminine in contrast. We are closest to her, and life springs up from within her as a woman bears life from within her, hence earth is more feminine, motherly.  Heaven has the lights of the sky that guide us, and give us direction, hence are expressed as masculine.
4. The deep in turn is like the unformed feminine. In contrast to earth, earth is the formed feminine.  We come from the earth. Men specifically are formed from the earth, and the woman later is made from the man.  And because God breathed life into the man, he is also from heaven.
5. In “seeing” the male and female in the world, these two become channels for self-knowledge as well. This or that has a masculine feature or trait.  This or that has a feminine trait.  And this teaches us about who we are as a man or as a woman.  Thus naming things as masculine or feminine then help to form future generations as men and women.
6. Salvation is the liberation of the fertility of creation by ordering it with the right finality, hence getting the right mediators of finality in place.   It is a movement of light (finality) over unformed fertility (the deep, waters) bringing out formed fertility (earth).  There seems to be a repeat in this unfolding in which days four to six are expansions on days one to three. It points to how the repetition of the principles of generativity (finality and fertility) expand into ever higher levels of creation.

1. 1. Day One – Light that separates day and night
   2. Day two – Waters are separated by firmament
   3. Day three – Earth appears, plants grow
   4. Day four – Two lights are created
   5. Day Five – Water creatures and birds grow
   6. Day six – Earth gives rise to animals and man

One of the drives of every authentic father is to bequeath to his children an inheritance just as it is a drive for every authentic mother to have her children in her loving home.  For the father, that inheritance is the loving home.  Thus God the Father wants us to have a living and loving home in His own heart where He resides with His Son and their Holy Spirit.  He brought Mary our mother there to make for all of us her loving home. This is the inheritance which He our Father gives to His sons and daughters who have faith in Him our Brother who died for them and who live in His bride, the Holy Catholic Church.

 [As with all of these commentaries, any errors are mine and may I be forgiven if these deceive anyone.  Any truths are due to God.  May He be glorified for ever!]

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and the darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.”

Face (panim) is mentioned 2100 times in the old testament.  It can refer to God, animals, water, human beings, and the earth.  Sometimes, the word “eye” is used to translate face, so one might see “eye of the earth.”  Sometimes nose is used as well – “fall of the nose” or “bowing the nose” or “sweat of the nose.”  

Panim (face) is a masculine term in Hebrew.   In these commentaries, I will at times give attention to the masculine and feminine traits of words.  These of course do not tell us everything, but the gender of a word is quite important.  Hebrew words are almost always male and female (maybe always — this is just my observation).  This means that in the Hebrew horizon, the world is filled with the male and the female traits.  In other places (lonergan.org), I have argued that in evolutionary theory, one discerns some metaphysical foundations to male and female, namely that the male is linked to the finality of potencies, and female is linked to the fertilities of potencies.  This means that male and female are appropriately analogs for opening one’s eyes to the fertility of being no matter what kind of emergent being or developing being were are examining.  Quite interesting really.  Male and female words thus have become clear to me as pointers to the metaphysical facets of the creativity of being and the cosmos.  So, I will be highlighting these traits every so often.

Panim as masculine is linked to finality because it regards the potency of some being as “facing” somewhere, and looking for a destiny.  This basically is finality. The face of the waters thus are facing to become something, and the Spirit is what will awaken this existence.  The “deep” that has a face is feminine, as well be the earth that rises out of the deep.  The deep as feminine is like a womb of being and life. Creatures live in the deep, and it is like their womb.  The same is true of the earth, in which seeds are planted and then born to blossom and bear fruit.  This feminine “deep” is found in Babylonian mythology, and linked to a feminine goddess, Tiamat.  Marduk is the patron god of Babylon, a male, and his destruction of Tiamat creates the cosmos and establishes order out of, and against, her chaos.  Tiamat’s body was split in two to create the firmament and the bedrock of earth.  Coming-to-be is violent in that Babylonian world, and this is placed in stark contrast with the account of creation in Genesis — where all that is created is good.  And it is in stark contrast to the cause of disorder and order.

This makes me think of the demons who mediate a finality of death and destructive chaos.  It is the males who are the cause of the disorder.  It is the male principle that has to get rightly ordered first.  Sin needs to be cast back into the deep, and Israel’s conquering of the promised land also rids the land of sin so that it might become more fruitful and salvific as a homeland.  The Exodus becomes God’s salvation from the chaos of the deep. Psalm 77 beautifully describes this.  That rightly ordering of the male principle then allows for the beauty of the feminine to bear forth all that is good.  The death and destruction of the feminine is not the way forward, but rather the liberation of the feminine as fertility is the way forward to transcending fruitfulness.

One way to think of this is that the fallen angels enslaved the authentic fertility of the whole order of the material cosmos.  God’s Spirit then frees the woman — the fertile one — from this enslavement. And then she is able to give birth to good creatures, and eventual to man, and even to the Son.  

As well in scripture, the deep is linked to Rahab (Is 5 — similar to Tiamat), Leviatan, rivers, seas, Tannin (monster of the deep, serpents), mighty waters, draggons, beasts who are crouching down under.  The redeemed are redeemed from and through the deep, they have to pass through it.  It is also linked to tame waters, life giving waters, waters that flow from God’s abode in Jerusalem (Ps 46), the rock of the Temple in Jewish tradition was built at the mouth of Tehom.  This restless deep was tamed at the defeat of watery monsters (Ps 74).  It is linked as well to the Garden of God, the unending waters of the deep are “harnessed for good.”  This deep provides life-giving waters to Israelites in the wilderness (Ps 78).  The wicked are cast into the deep (Jonah 2). Darkness abides in the deep (Ps 88).  It is the realm of the dead (Job 38).  It is the opposite of heaven (Gn 49, Dt 33, Ps 107).  One sees a link between the abyss and the realm of the dead in Rom 10.  It is an imprisonment of the wicked spirits (Lk 8, Rev 9, Rev 11, Rev 17, and Rev 20).  

More philosophically, the deep is metaphysical like prime matter, which can be deformed or unformed.  As deformed it is chaos and the home of the wicked, a home that chases after the living and always captures the living.  It thus becomes the abode of the dead.  

So one could read this passage as God creating both the angels and all of the material order together, as one finds in later tradition. As created together, the angels were made complete and at the moment of their creation they made a choice to either stay with God or they rebelled.  If it is true that angels, at least some, also order the laws and ways of the material world, then the fallen angels would be disordering that material world. It seems that Satan must of had such a rule, which is why we are enslaved to him until Jesus came.  However, we were not enslaved at the time of the creation of man, even though, presumably, Satan was already fallen, and perhaps had warped the material order.  Maybe at first, the material order was so warped that God had to breath His Spirit over it so that it could bear fruit.  Or maybe Augustine is right, that the deep, or abyss, is the nothingness from which we came (in itself thus neither ordered or disordered). But why name the nothingness “the deep” — though symbolically nothingness could be called that.  Much of the later symbolism of the “deep” does seem to point to something, and many times that something is deformed.   Nothing is not deformed, because no-thing, shear absence of being, can not be deformed.  Interestingly, as feminine, this abyss, this deep, as deformed, thus bears forth disorder if not rightly ordered.  And it was disordered by fallen angels, who are masculine.  Just some thoughts to kick off this commentary.

As with many of the challenges to the Catholic faith, transgender ideology is one that is particularly pointed.  It reaches deep into the vacuums that have arisen within family life and introduces much confusion.  I would like to give attention not so much to the transgender ideology, but to its ability to have such an impact. 

When something is strong inside, nothing outside can shake it.  So, if transgender ideology is shaking family life, and children, then it is because there has arisen a weakness.  I would affirm that weakness to be a failure of both mothers and fathers to understand their own identities, to live out those identities, and to transmit those identities to their children.  This has created a spiritual vacuum which makes family life vulnerable to many deformations, one of which is the gender problem.  

Such vulnerable is found throughout history.  Cicero and Augustine both argue that if an civic order has lost its moral courage, its just order, its dedication to the common good, then it will be defeated by barbarian invaders or implode on its own self-destruction.  One can see the same effects throughout history.  The weakening of Christendom opened the doors for nationalism to begin to rule the day.  The weakening of Europe with that rise of nationalism, opened the door to various totalitarian ideologies such as communism and Nazism.  One sees the same patterns both in families and in individuals.  When an individual has become unstable, they can easily become manipulated by others to join this or that fad or cult.  They easily succumb to depression or they become violent.  Family life when the father no longer pays attention, cares about the good of his wife and children, and sloths off into some chair or world of his own, then it leaves doors open to any corruptive forces. And there are plenty.  Likewise, when a mother abandons her loved ones to be care and nurtured by another, then it leaves them open to a multitude of deformed pleasures.  The father moves the family to the good, sometimes with fear, and always with command.  The mother opens the good so that it resides deeply in the heart.  Without both living out their identities in relationship with each, the vacuum left for all incoming fads ad ideas is great.  It sucks them into the heart, and then it bursts forth into hatred and chaos.