There are a number of gender inclusive translations available. The idea behind them is to render masculine references understood as generalisations not specifically intended to reference a male in gender inclusive ways. They still refer to Godde in the masculine and retain masculine and feminine pronouns where applicable. There has been considerable controversy surrounding the debate.
Wayne Grudem has an MP3 available around the controversy along with a book he wrote with Verne Poytheress (cover to the right). The MP3 is just over an hour long and 10.3mb, so it’s worth downloading and listening to for anyone who’s interested in the debate. My copy is only arriving the end of January so I’ll share some more thoughts after I read it.
Gender inclusive translations include the Good News Bible, the New Living Translation, the Revised Stand Version and Today’s New International Version.
To date there is no translation that refers to Godde in gender inclusive terms. I’ve recently joined a project that intends to reference Godde in the feminine. Our intent is to provide a translation of the NT to enable people to relate to Godde through feminine. We see this as an additive and alternative to other translations available.
In addition to the translation project we’ll also be publishing a collection of essays around the gender issues and Godde. We’ll explore male and female as the image of Godde along with Godde as fully masculine, fully feminine and yet transcending both. We’ll also briefly delve into feminism and egalitarianism among other specific issues relating to gender inclusivity and the gender of Godde. Additionally we’ll delve a bit deeper into the controversy and argue positively for the inclusivion of feminine and gender inclusive language in reference to Godde.
As a banner term we’re calling the project “The Christian Godde Project” and using the following two summaries to set out that the scope of this project includes:
- The Divine Feminine Translation: a free translation of the New Testament, gender inclusive in reference to humanity and feminine in reference to Godde.
- Godde – the divine feminine: A collection of essays exploring humanity as the image of Godde and of Godde as fully masculine, fully feminine while transcending both.
I’d love to hear thoughts on this project, so please post them. Also suggesting specific issues you’d like covered would be great.
We’re currently recruiting people for the project, so if you’d like to contribute to a project of this nature please contact me and we can pick the conversation up from there.
