“The four-Hebrew-letter name of God, which scholars refer to as the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, was probably not pronounced “Jehovah” or “Yahweh,” as some have guessed. The Israelite priests would have read the letters in reverse as Hu/Hi — in other words, the hidden name of God was Hebrew for “He/She.” Counter to everything we grew up believing, the God of Israel — the God of the three monotheistic, Abrahamic religions to which fully half the people on the planet today belong — was understood by its earliest worshipers to be a dual-gendered deity.”
[From the article “Is God Transgender?” by Rabbi MARK SAMETH – AUG. 12, 2016; The New York Times]
Of course, other religions, like Hinduism have never had any issue depicting their Gods as androgyne, bi-gender, gender-variant, genderfluid or whatever similar concept you may think of; on the contrary.
Here down I post one of the most popular representations of Shiva as Nataraja, the Lord of Dance, with traits partly feminine, partly masculine; and also a typical illustration of Lord Krishna playing the flute –and featuring an overtly androgynous look:
–
Shiva as the Lord of Dance (Nataraja) – (10th century Chola dynasty bronze)
[Image from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art]
–
Lord Krishna playing his flute for the sake of “lila” (play and fun and seduction)
[Free download image found on Pinterest]
–
By contrast, the header image, by Michelangelo Buonarroti, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, symbolizes very well our classical biased view of the God from The Bible as an elderly and very virile man.
I’m Li; an outsider and a loser, a wayfarer lost into the blizzard, but still up and walking, seeking the right path to the right place. My past is my compass; my dead ones, my guides.
No lights ahead except those that just faded out.
* * *
As for some, more objective facts, I am Catalan, living in Catalunya (in the portion colonized and ruled by Spain). I graduated in sciences: Geology and Physics; but I’ve almost always made my living in the trade of fine arts and antiques, stamps, old books. I am a book and stamp collector myself, and a deep lover of classical music -and so, a collector of recordings as well.
View all posts by Li
