Gender in spirituality

[anglomedved]

5 July 2010

I continue to plough through Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle with my schoolboy Spanish. Entering the 6th morada (mansion), I continue to ask about the difference in religious language and experience between a man and a woman.  Put a bit simply, is it that una mujer quiere ser amada por Dios, un hombre quiere ser querido por Dios para acer algo? Is male religious commitment much more closely tied up with vocation, either directly as having a job that is relevant in the church or doing something else relevant to which Christianity provides a reference - like taking the risk of a large family. In our own church you will have a hard time getting the men to stand through a church service, but you can get them together to redecorate the church.