6.08.2009

Male and female / He created them

So God created / man in His own image, In the image of God / He created him; Male and female / He created them. Genesis 1:27
Although there is much debate about the meaning of the image of God, the Hebrew poetic parallelism clearly demonstrates that the female of the human species is created in possession of this same feature. She participates in the divine image in no grammatically, demonstrably different way in contrast to the male. Mary Hayter, when discussing the Imago Dei, says:
Whatever it is correct to say about the creation of the male in the image and likeness of God applies to the female. Anything and everything that may be deduced from the text about “man,” “mankind,” “humanity,” is relevant not simply to one half of the human race but to all men and women (Hayter 92).
Therefore any claims to variation of degree in bearing the divine image based upon gender distinctions should be rejected. Such readings overlook or ignore the plain reading of the text. The third line of this poetic refrain candidly recounts the creation of a plurality of persons, “them,” in genders male and female. Article from Wesleyan/Holiness Women Clergy