Women and the Gender of God-- Dialogue Part Six<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Q. Luke 1.35 is about the Holy Spirit, not about God the Father. It is the Spirit who overshadows and protects Mary but also it is the Spirit that conveys\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women and the Gender of God-- Dialogue Part Six\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Q. Luke 1.35 is about the Holy Spirit, not about God the Father. It is the Spirit who overshadows and protects Mary but also it is the Spirit that conveys\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-26T05:10:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-13T14:11:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2023\/02\/51mESmSAQeL.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/\",\"name\":\"Women and the Gender of God-- Dialogue Part Six\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-26T05:10:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-13T14:11:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b\"},\"description\":\"Q. Luke 1.35 is about the Holy Spirit, not about God the Father. It is the Spirit who overshadows and protects Mary but also it is the Spirit that conveys\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Women and the Gender of God– Dialogue Part Six\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/\",\"name\":\"The Bible and Culture\",\"description\":\"A One-Stop Shop for All Things Biblical and Christian\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b\",\"name\":\"Ben Witherington\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ben Witherington\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/author\/benw333\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Women and the Gender of God-- Dialogue Part Six","description":"Q. Luke 1.35 is about the Holy Spirit, not about God the Father. It is the Spirit who overshadows and protects Mary but also it is the Spirit that conveys","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Women and the Gender of God-- Dialogue Part Six","og_description":"Q. Luke 1.35 is about the Holy Spirit, not about God the Father. It is the Spirit who overshadows and protects Mary but also it is the Spirit that conveys","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/","og_site_name":"The Bible and Culture","article_published_time":"2023-03-26T05:10:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-13T14:11:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2023\/02\/51mESmSAQeL.jpg"}],"author":"Ben Witherington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ben Witherington","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/","name":"Women and the Gender of God-- Dialogue Part Six","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-03-26T05:10:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-13T14:11:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b"},"description":"Q. Luke 1.35 is about the Holy Spirit, not about God the Father. It is the Spirit who overshadows and protects Mary but also it is the Spirit that conveys","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Women and the Gender of God– Dialogue Part Six"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/","name":"The Bible and Culture","description":"A One-Stop Shop for All Things Biblical and Christian","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b","name":"Ben Witherington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Ben Witherington"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/author\/benw333\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":55779,"date":"2023-03-26T01:10:07","date_gmt":"2023-03-26T05:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=55779"},"modified":"2023-02-13T09:11:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T14:11:40","slug":"women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2023\/03\/26\/women-and-the-gender-of-god-dialogue-part-six\/","title":{"rendered":"Women and the Gender of God– Dialogue Part Six"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A. While I totally affirm that the first and second person of the Trinity are related eternally as begetter and begotten, is not clear to me that \u201cFather\u201d is the only term to describe the begetter, based on the eternal relations alone. In Ch. 4 of the book, <\/em>God is Not Masculine, I lay out the reasons why I find that insufficient. My point is that humans did not know what language to use to describe the eternal relationship before the Incarnation. It is not the relationship that comes to be at the Incarnation, but the <\/em>language for the relationship that is revealed to humans in that act of God.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Q. The language of Mary being filled with the Spirit to speak the Magnificat is simply OT language about a prophet being inspired. It has nothing to do with the later pouring out of the Spirit and the Spirit\u2019s indwelling a person on an ongoing basis.\u00a0 That happened at Pentecost, and I think you make a reasonable case Mary was there, but we should not read Pentecost back into the birth narratives. Right?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A. I agree. In fact, it was striking to me that Luke does not describe Mary as being filled with the Holy Spirit before the Magnificat, but only uses that language for her at Pentecost. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"