ELCA Seminary Website Calls God 'Ze'

5/1/2018

Luther Seminary has a website that provides advice and help for pastors writing sermons. An article on the ELCA seminary website shows you how far the denomination has departed from Scripture and how the secular world mindset has taken over the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The article's authors edited the following Bible verse to say: “They cried to the Lord in their trouble, and Ze delivered them from their distress; Ze brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart” - Psalm 107:13-14.

An article footnote says "Gender-inclusive terms for God are used by the authors; translation is adapted from the English Standard Version of the Bible." (see here)

The article's ELCA affiliated authors replaced two pronouns for "He," used to refer to God in the verses, with the recently invented word "Ze." According to the Cambridge Dictionary, 'ze' is "a pronoun sometimes used instead of 'he' or 'she' because it does not show a particular gender." (see here)

This is all part of the gender fluidity lie, transgenderism embrace, rejection of calling God "Father" and rewriting of God's Word that is dominating the culture.

Again, this is an article for pastors posted by a website of Luther Seminary, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America institution. (see here)

The article was co-authored by Rev. Jennifer Chrien and Jessica Davis.
Jennifer Chrien is the senior pastor at the ELCA's Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Simi Valley, CA. Jessica Davis is a chaplain for #decolonizeLutheranism, an organization formed of mostly ELCA leaders, and a signer of the "Naked & Unashamed Statement" which was also written by ELCA leaders. Interestingly, last year Jessica Davis was part of a discussion panel that included the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and is obviously in a position of influence in the ELCA.

5 Comments

Didaskalos

5/3/2018 07:12:27 am

The ELCA keeps proving that when the world's latest fads dictate your hermeneutic, there's no nadir below which you can't and won't descend.

And there's certainly no welcome in the ELCA for anyone, Jesus included, who refuses to knuckle under to its Bible-revising masculine pronoun purge.

Ponder what the ELCA Visigoths will be doing -- or may have already done -- to Jesus' words: "My Father...is the one who glorifies Me. Though you do not know Him, I know Him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know Him and obey His word."

Rev. John M. Young

5/3/2018 01:38:17 pm

"Adapting" the ESV in this way is probably a copyright violation. Not the most egregious error by far, but akin to catching Al Capone on tax evasion.

Steve Hedlund

5/4/2018 09:36:31 am

Once again traditionally (too bad I have to put that adverb in) we could positively identify someone of the male sex and knew generally what the masculine gender entailed. We could also positively identify someone of the female sex and knew generally what the feminine gender entailed. "Ze" may negatively take away any positive reference to sex and gender, but to say positively what the personality identified by this ostensibly personal pronoun is cannot be done. He (forgive me) isn't male or female, masculine or feminine, but no one can identify with a personality apart from that personality's sex. It is the most distinguishing characteristic of any personality. (The only things that come close are age and race.) OK, we are not to conceive of God (the Father) as either masculine or feminine, we're not going to use the impersonal pronoun, "it," (although I do remember one Trinity Sunday sermon in which the Holy Spirit was referred to impersonally as "it") so now, Jennifer and Jessica, please (positively) describe for us these "ze" persons who are not identified primarily by their sex. Don't tell us what they're not; please: tell us what they are. (And, as I mentioned age and race, I get it that, just as it may be impossible for us to relate to a personality apart from its sex, so it may be impossible for us mortals to relate to a personality who is not mortal. The difference is that God's masculinity has been revealed to us by him. Life beyond death is something that we have as a hope by faith. As for race, we're all of Adam's race. But, there is no question that God has deigned to reveal himself as masculine.) "Ze" isn't just de-sexing God, it is de-personalizing him (at least until Jennifer and Jessica describe for us this "person" who is neither male nor female). But, "idolatry" is either ascribing to God that which is unworthy of him or ascribing to the created order or aspects of it that which is worthy only of God. We don't get to make up our own god(s). We take what is revealed.
[NOTE: While, as a matter of opinion, I think American English would do better to revert to the days when "he" could stand for a person of either sex when the sex of the antecedent was not known (as in, "When the buyer came, he paid cash," and as we don't know if the buyer was a man or woman, "he" could stand for either). We went from that to the more awkward he/she, at least in writing, and now we make "they" do double duty as both "third person plural" and "third person singular sex unknown." While I think the language would work better by reverting to the time-tried "he," I'd at least vote for "ze" (I wonder about the possessive and objective forms) over both "he/she" and "they" when the sex or gender is not known. That is a matter of opinion. But, in the case of God, his gender has been revealed and is not unknown. So, go ahead and ze-it-out for all those instances in which the sex of the antecedent is unknown (while assuming all the while that the antecedent personality of that pronoun is one of two sexes), but let's not pretend we don't know that God has revealed himself in masculine terms. There is no reason to use a "gender unknown" term when it comes to him. And, I do get it that Jennifer and Jessica are not using the term for "gender unknown"; they are using it for "gender unspecified"-- whatever that means.]

5/5/2018 10:30:41 am

I always thought "ze" was German, as in "ze BMW ist kaput."

I can't help but think if all the energy and effort that people put into being PC was redirected into something that actually did something for someone, how much better the world would be. But what do I know...

George

5/5/2018 12:19:56 pm

Actually the German is Sie (pronounced "zee") but I agree...there needs to be more time spent on Jesus and less time on groundless matters, imo!

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ELCA Seminary Website Calls God 'Ze'

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