"Humanity reflects the image of God. We know this from the opening of Genesis. How humanity does this, however, has been a matter of speculation and disagreement among scholars. Options proposed have included the power to reason and thereby apprehend God, the power to choose, the ability to rule, a spiritual dimension, original purity, freedom of will, moral consciousness and responsibility, being a type of Christ, divinely reflecting relationships, the ability to subcreate, etc. A reflection, of course, is not a copy. God is spirit, devising, gracing, transcending and then transforming matter in the creation and the incarnation. We are spirit, too, but totally committed to the material. Our gender is either a property of our material state (God, being spirit, initially having none) or reflects in two halves (male and female) something true about Gods perfect unity..."

IN THIS ISSUE:

• "Can the 'Father of Lights' Give Birth?" by J. David Miller
• "Cloistered Redemption: Exploring the Effects of Asceticism on Women in the Fourth Century" by Michal Beth Dinkler
• "Poem: Into Silence" by Ruth Hoppin
• "Just as the Father, so the Son: The Implications of John 5:16-30 in the Gender-Role Debate" by Kristin L. Johnson
• "A Fresh Perspective on Submission and Authority in Marriage" by Dennis J. Preato
• "Book Review: Feminist Theology, by Natalie K. Watson" reviewed by Aida Besancon Spencer