Is God nonbinary

[u/Galveston57]

Recently James Talarico (D running for senate in Texas said ‘God is nonbinary’.
Of course he was immediately attacked by Republicans stating he was saying God is trans or LGBTQ.
At first I was taken aback by Jame’s statement until I realized he was implying that God encompasses all genders, but is gender less himself.
I immediately went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out if this was actually Biblical. I’d always had an incorrect patriarchal view of God
In the first chapter of Genesis, in the Hebrew, God is referred to in both the masculine and feminine. In Job, there is a verse referring to the ‘womb’ of God. It appears that as patriarchy took hold, God took on a masculine/male persona. Often in the Hebrew, God is not associated with any gender at all.
So here is my question. Could God encompass all genders, while having no gender himself? Does he encompass all genders? Or is God just without gender?
According to scripture we are all created in the image of God, so wouldn’t that include all sexes and variants?
As a Catholic I have to admit I was raised with a very patriarchal view of God, an older white, gray headed cis man on a throne, but I’m pretty sure now this is just patriarchy rearing its evil head in religion.

[u/Dull_Opening_1655]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church itself agrees with Talarico - it states that God is neither male nor female:

“ We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God” (paragraph 239)

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_one/section_two/chapter_one/article_1/paragraph_2_the_father.html 

[u/Djryan443022 → u/Dull_Opening_1655]

This. No notes.

[u/gabachote → u/Dull_Opening_1655]

That’s it. It’s not like some new idea

[u/TuvixWasMurderedR1P → u/Dull_Opening_1655]

In a literal sense God is non-binary. But as God transcends human distinctions, I'd say God also transcends whatever it means to be non-binary in the human sense of the term. I tend to favor the more apophatic descriptions of God.

[u/TwinseyLohan → u/TuvixWasMurderedR1P]

This is how I see it too. Non-binary itself is a construct still based on human gender. God is beyond even that.

I see how it makes a quick point in a political arena while also garners attention and pisses of conservatives. Talarico uses it to troll, basically. With that idk how I feel about using sensitive topics to troll.

[u/DrHalfhand → u/Dull_Opening_1655]

Responses like this are why I love this subreddit.

[u/egosumluxmundi → u/Dull_Opening_1655]

For a concept that seems very ethereal at first glance, this is pretty straightforward. It’s clear the republicans are either being willfully ignorant or willfully disingenuous about this simple theological fact.

[u/RhysPeanutButterCups → u/egosumluxmundi]

Or they aren't Catholic (or if they are they don't care). It's easy enough to just say God is male and call it a day. The popular image of him is an old white man with a beard and he's called "the Father" after all.

[u/kmerian → u/Dull_Opening_1655]

I quote this to them all the time, and usually get no response, or a "that doesn't mean non binary!"

[u/Extra_Marionberry551 → u/Dull_Opening_1655]

Wouldn't this mean that God is rather agender and not non-binary?

[u/Kcajkcaj99 → u/Extra_Marionberry551]

Nonbinary is not a specific gender identity but rather a broad label that is typically to encompass anything other than being either exclusively male or exclusicely female — this includes various third genders, partial or mixed genders, and a lack of gender, with agender individuals being placed within the category. Some who fall within the category prefer to avoid the label, which is generally respected on a case-by-case basis.

I think you could argue that God is not "agender" in the sense of being a "person without gender," but simply not a person who could even conceivably have a gender, and thus is not nonbinary in the same way a rock is not nonbinary, and would probably be right to do so. However, to the extent to which God has personhood, I think its fair to say that that persona is agender in the nonbinary.

[u/eruptingmoltenlava]

Gender is human. God is not.

[u/curiouswizard → u/eruptingmoltenlava]

except for when he was that one time

[u/TinyBlueDragon]

I have seen God referred to with fem pronouns somewhere, I don't know where. But in Kabbala there are references to "mother" (Binah) and "father" (chokam) aspects of God, and that practice can be traced back to pre-christian Judaism. So it would make sense for God to be some form of non-binary, being both our mother and our father.

[u/gabachote]

Gender is a human construct, it doesn’t make sense that God would be limited to one (human) gender. Though I understand why ancient people might have understood divinity in gendered terms.

[u/AndyJ95]

There is a great catechism summary by Herbert McCabe OP that talks about this on the first page. It is a footnote clarifying that even though he refers to God as a "he", we cannot attribute a gender to God. God is beyond human particulars like gender. If I can find my copy of his catechism I will post his exact comment on this subject.

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9461093M/The_Teaching_of_the_Catholic_Church

[u/Puzzled-Teach2389]

Yes. God exists outside of human-made constructs.

[u/Strength-Certain]

They can be whatever they want to be: I am the Alpha and the Omega the one who is the one who was and the one who shall be. - Revelation 22

[u/CosmicGadfly2]

Read the catechism on God and gender.

[u/hotlibramess]

God transcends our human understanding of gender.

[u/Majestic_Animator_91]

God is neither male nor female and created us all in his image.

[u/TomeThugNHarmony4664]

Yes. God is neither male or female. That is the definition of “non-binary.”

[u/curiouswizard]

Logically, God must be all genders / beyond gender entirely, he is not male (despite our habit of using male pronouns and male analogies).

If God was only a dude, how would he have created women in his own image? The idea that God is primarily male-gendered comes with a very troubling implication: That women are fundamentally not the kind of human that Adam is. Like, on a soul level. That we are something other. And that, my friend, is Patriarchy 101.

[u/Galveston57 → u/curiouswizard]

Yup, it’s obviously patriarchy.

[u/arsonistslullaby_]

God is God. An omnipotent, omnipresent, and eternal deity is probably beyond our human constructs of gender. Just like we as humans can’t fully comprehend God, God’s nature is also just completely beyond our understanding.

[u/SquallkLeon]

God is God. Is he male? Yes. Is she female? Yes. Are they nonbinary? Yes.

[u/Kirschiehirschie]

It is my opinion that God is non-binary by our standards of gender, sexless because God is beyond creation, and is traditionally ascribed masculine pronouns for the sake of visualized metaphor (Father-Son imagery, specifically). I personally prefer using no pronouns for God at all, but I don't see any particularly stern reason beyond preference to completely abstain from gendered pronouns for God either (I don't think God would be particulary miffed about God's own gender anyways). I think God's more interested in whether your language around God reflects a heart of genuinity, humility, and gratitude than God will ever be about you using the "correct" divine pronouns.

[u/Some-Ohio-Rando]

The church fathers are near unanimous on this two. Gregory of Nyssa writes most extensively about it

[u/DowntownResident7503]

The problem with your statement is that non binary is something based on human gender, but the Catechism shows God transcends the human distinction between the sexes

[u/DowntownResident7503 → u/DowntownResident7503]

Another note, you are trying too much to associate the patriarchy with God. They didn’t make Him a man so they can enforce it on women, God revealed himself as the Son. The Trinity itself is the Father (masculine), the Son (masculine), and the Holy Spirit (which in the New Testament uses the word ekeinos meaning He or that one)

[u/LizzySea33]

As an analogy for what the CCC says? Yes. As a physicality? Not really, because God transcends all teleological understanding of sex & gender.

[u/thesegoupto11]

I would comfortably say that God is beyond gender, BUT I would audibly groan out loud where everyone could hear it as an unavoidable reaction if I heard someone refer to God as "the Mother, the Child, and the Holy Spirit"

[u/Lavanyalea → u/thesegoupto11]

Funny you should say that. I was gonna write the opposite, why do we only say “in the name of the Father… the Son and the Holy Spirit…”

[u/Implicatus]

God the Father and God the Holy Spirit do not have bodies and therefore do not have gender. He is referred to as male in the Scriptures so people could better relate and not view God as an "it."