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543: Women and the Gender of God with Amy Peeler

Updated: Jan 11, 2023


When Damar Hamlin collapsed during Monday Night Football we witnessed an outpouring of public prayer. We also saw a flood of vaccine conspiracy theories hit social media. Phil asks, why are conservative Christians so distrustful of experts and enamored with fringe conspiracies? Then, David French has joined The New York Times. Progressives are upset about his Christian views, and conservatives are accusing him of selling out for acceptance among liberal elites. This launches the hosts into a broader discussion about the difference between principled pluralism and cultural accommodation. And Christian theologians universally agree that the God revealed in the Bible is neither male nor female, but Jesus was a man and he taught us to pray to “Our Father.” How do we reconcile these facts? Kaitlyn Schiess interviews Dr. Amy Peeler about her new book, Women and the Gender of God.


News Segment

0:00 - Intro

4:05 - Damar Hamlin and conspiracy theories

21:14 - Principled pluralism & cultural accommodation

46:22 - Sponsor: Faithful Counseling

Get 10% off your first month at faithfulcounseling.com/holypost

Interview with Amy Peeler

"Women and the Gender of God" - https://amzn.to/3CDLzLo


47:36 - Guest intro

49:08 - About Amy Peeler

52:27 - Gender and God

55:41 - Inclusion in Christ

1:01:18 - Feminist criticisms

1:08:52 - Fatherhood language

1:16:05 - Masculinity and God

1:20:28 - Roles of women


1:29:23 - Credits


Links mentioned:

“David French Joins The Times as an Opinion Columnist” - https://www.nytco.com/press/david-french-joins-the-times-as-an-opinion-columnist/


“David French and the Future of Orthodox Protestantism” by Carl R. Trueman (First Things) - https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2022/11/david-french-and-the-future-of-orthodox-protestantism


“Pluralism Isn’t Just for Political Losers” by John Inazu - https://johninazu.substack.com/p/pluralism-isnt-just-for-political


Holy Post website: https://www.holypost.com/


The Holy Post is supported by our listeners. We may earn affiliate commissions through links listed here. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.




26 Comments


Brad Cowie
Brad Cowie
Feb 13, 2023

Re: Gender and God. I have not studied this extensively, but on the surface it seems that religious that have tended towards female deities have also tended towards nature religions, pantheism, or polytheism ... Mother Earth sort of stuff. Is this actually the case? And, if so, could this be a factor in why God chose predominantly male images and pronouns, in order to distinguish between God as Distinct Creator and God as some sort of divine womb from which we organically emerge? Has that distinction ever been seriously explored?

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Timothy Ingold
Timothy Ingold
Jan 16, 2023

PLEASE CONSIDER:

Conspiracy theories are ingrained in our beliefs as Christians from the very beginning. I grew up reading Left Behind and I have seen my father fall down the hole of deep conservative Christian conspiracy theories, so I have been pondering for many years the relationship between my Christian faith and conspiracy theories. I know you've been wrestling with this same connection for years, too. I first came to this idea years ago when I heard Relevant Podcast ask the same question. In the show you 3 came up with 4 reasons why Christians are attracted to conspiracy theory, but I wonder if there's this other, potentially greater, correlation that you missed: to be a Christian is to believe in conspiracies.…

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Tyler
Tyler
Jan 14, 2023

I like that Amy Peeler is wrestling with this question. My question to her is to ask if she thinks Jesus' gender is essential to his identity or accidental (in their classical sense). Is Jesus' gender core to his identity, or is having gender simply a reality of being fully human - whether male, female, or some other chromosomal, anatomical, etc. variation, every human has gender/sex, just as all humans have hair color, eye color, blood type (I mean, if Jesus is 0+, green eyed, blazing red - no one would argue those are more than accidents of being human rather than core identity)?


I find most people, and it felt like you (Amy) specifically with Jesus, argue that unlike…


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David Moore
David Moore
Jan 14, 2023

My wife and I have been watching old episodes of ER. On Sunday night before the Bills-Bengals game, we watched an episode, Season 5, episode 2, where a karate student gets kicked by his teacher and dies. The episode explained that at just the right moment contact to the chest can cause a heart attack. The next night we witnessed that moment. So glad Hamlin survived and had expert care on the field.

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astre89
Jan 17, 2023
Replying to

I remember this episode, too.

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kacumen
kacumen
Jan 13, 2023

Hint hint. An approach to racial reconciliation that's not CRT. https://www2.baylor.edu/baylorproud/2023/01/baylor-profs-books-named-among-2022s-best-by-christianity-today-englewood-review/?fbclid=IwAR2lf385yZD7cDGERUlpo0QhDFptlIeeBo02boHLWZ_nuVtTNkqNulNiwJ4

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astre89
Jan 17, 2023
Replying to

CRT doesn't pertain to racial reconciliation. It's merely a framework (or lens, as mentioned in another post) to examine social/legal issues. It's like a hermeneutic.

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