Is a classic Christian song about a female God?
A look back at Amy Grant’s “El Shaddai”
I’ve been looking at odd themes of gender in Evangelical culture, typically not recognized ‘officially’. Take Amy Grant’s classic song, “El Shaddai.”
What could be odd about that? It’s sung in many a church. Aren’t Christians just praising God using an Old Testament name? Indeed, and it’s a name, interestingly, that scholars say refers to a female deity.
In the Old Testament, God goes by many names.
“El Shaddai” was said to mean “God Almighty,” as if the deity’s omnipotence, or maybe His power, was the quality in view.
But there’s a longtime scholarly case that the word ‘shaddai’ suggests mountains, or more to the point, ‘breasts’. The Hebrew word shad means ‘breast’. And the name ‘El Shaddai’ is used in the Bible mostly in the context of fertility and infertility.
Try Genesis 28:3, when Isaac is giving his son a marriage blessing:
“May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful…”
In Ruth 1:21, Naomi sees her kids are dead. Old and childless, she sees herself as cursed, and uses two names of…
