Reformulating God 1 Running head: REFORMULATING GOD THE MOTHER Reformulating God the Mother: Mutual Recognition, the Divine and Therapeutic Applications

Feminine language for God has been largely absent within Christianity. However, a focus on feminine aspects of the divine can help Christians reclaim characteristics of God that get lost in a religion where language of God the Father is pervasive. This paper addresses the use of Mother as a metaphor for God and its implications for a therapeutic context. The current conversation around parental metaphors for the divine is presented including the association of immanence with a Mothering God and transcendence with God the Father. A new formulation of a Mothering God is proposed in which immanence and transcendence stand in constant tension. Therapeutic applications are explored in light of this new reformulation of a Mothering God especially as related to woman therapists. The language we use to speak about God strongly influences our experience of God. In recent years, there has been considerable debate over gender inclusive language. I argue that the exclusive use of male language or metaphors for God is problematic because it supports a dualistic and hierarchical worldview that ultimately supports patriarchy and other forms of oppression. God the Mother is a rich metaphor that symbolizes a God who brought us into the world and cares for us. Yet, one must be mindful of the capacity for oppression that maternal language holds for women. Christian theology traditionally uses the concepts of immanence and transcendence to understand the nature of God. An emphasis on God’s transcendence focuses on God as separate from the world whereas an emphasis on God’s immanence highlights God’s presence in the world. Typically, God the Father is associated with transcendence and God the Mother with immanence. However, the exclusion of either immanence or transcendence limits our understanding of God. Understandings of parental metaphors for God are influenced by our sociocultural formulations of what it means to be a father or a mother. The field of psychology has paid a great deal of attention to the mother-infant relationship. Traditionally, psychoanalytic theory has focused on the mother as an object to be internalized by the child which ignores the mother’s subjectivity as a separate and distinct person. This parallels the tendency of considering a Mothering God only in relation to the earth (immanence) and not as a separate being (transcendence). Jessica Benjamin (1999) proposes a reformulation of the mother-infant relationship in which the mother’s subjectivity and objectivity are balanced through the concept of mutual recognition. In mutual recognition there is a central paradox; recognizing another is contingent upon being recognized. This paradox must continue so that immanence and transcendence can stand in constant tension. This applies to our understanding of God the Mother as well. A reformulation is proposed in which a Mothering God is not simply associated with immanence but is seen as standing in the tension between immanence and transcendence. Therapeutic applications are made based on this reformulation of a Mothering God. Specifically, I argue that a therapist can embody a Mothering God in her work by striving to stand in the tension between immanence and transcendence and, when that inevitably fails, working to repair the relationship by reclaiming her subjectivity.