Traditional religious views of God often associate Him with images of a master, Creator, and father, an association reflected in His attributed gender characteristics.

Divine Dualities: Exploring Gender Roles and Androgyny in the Concept

Traditional religious views of God often associate Him with images of a master, Creator, and father, an association reflected in His attributed gender characteristics. On one hand, texts emphasize that God appears as the Demiurge of heaven and earth—an absolute power on which everything depends. For example, the source from file link txt states:

"Representation of the origin of the world from the union of heaven and earth is a favorite theme of all cosmogonies and gives content to myths about nature in one form or another, but God is always the Demiurge of heaven and earth. As the Demiurge, God is seen by man as a sovereign, a lord, almost as the owner of the entire world and even mankind. God reigns over everything, directs all, with everything dependent on Him and subject to His command..."

This perspective shapes the conception of God as the supreme guiding principle, historically associated with masculine strength and a paternal figure. This is further supported by the view expressed in file link txt:

"Some proponents of so-called feminist theology insist that God is equally a Mother, and in the Lord’s Prayer, instead of saying 'Our Father,' they say 'Our Father and Mother.' Moreover, when translating the Holy Scriptures in passages referring to God, they replace the pronoun 'He' with 'He-She'... For us, it is indisputable that, as a people of Israel, God revealed Himself with the name Father. It is also evident that when God incarnated, He did not become a woman, but a man—Jesus Christ."

On the other hand, there exists a philosophical concept in which God transcends the traditional division of male and female, expressed through the idea of divine androgyny. In this context, it is asserted that God’s essence cannot be confined by any attributes, including gender characteristics. Thus, the source from file link txt explains:

"Divine androgyny is an element found in many religions, and notably, even highly masculine or feminine deities are androgynous. In whatever form a deity manifests, it is the ultimate reality, absolute power—and this reality, this power does not permit itself to be limited by any attributes (good, evil, masculine, feminine, etc.)."

Thus, within traditional representations, two interpretive directions can be identified: first, God is depicted as an authoritative father and creator endowed with absolute qualities, often associated with the masculine; second, a philosophical idea developed in which the divine nature surpasses human distinctions between male and female, incorporating elements of both. These two approaches reflect the complexity and multifaceted nature of attempts to understand the essence of God within a traditional religious context.

Supporting citation(s):
"Representation of the origin of the world from the union of heaven and earth is a favorite theme of all cosmogonies and gives content to myths about nature in one form or another, but God is always the Demiurge of heaven and earth. As the Demiurge, God is seen by man as a sovereign, a lord, almost as the owner of the entire world and even mankind. God reigns over everything, directs all, with everything dependent on Him and subject to His command..." (source: link txt)

"Divine androgyny is an element found in many religions, and notably, even highly masculine or feminine deities are androgynous. In whatever form a deity manifests, it is the ultimate reality, absolute power—and this reality, this power does not permit itself to be limited by any attributes (good, evil, masculine, feminine, etc.)." (source: link txt)

"Some proponents of so-called feminist theology insist that God is equally a Mother, and in the Lord’s Prayer, instead of saying 'Our Father,' they say 'Our Father and Mother.' Moreover, when translating the Holy Scriptures in passages referring to God, they replace the pronoun 'He' with 'He-She'... For us, it is indisputable that, as a people of Israel, God revealed Himself with the name Father. It is also evident that when God incarnated, He did not become a woman, but a man—Jesus Christ." (source: link txt)