Episode 62 - The Gender & Ethnicity of God with Dr. Christena Cleveland

Upside Down Podcast

Dr. Christena Cleveland leads Kayla and Lindsy in a conversation exploring how cultural perceptions of race and gender impact the way we view God.

In this episode, we:

• Learn how Christena's background influenced how she views ethnicity and feminity
• Question how Christians arrived at a male perception of God
• Unpack what heals inside of us when we imagine God as Mother
• Explore the intersectionality of race and gender
• Address the language of empire and the work to remove feminine language in scripture
• Dive into how we can celebrate a fuller advent season

Christena Cleveland, Ph.D. is a social psychologist, public theologian, author, and activist. She is the founder and director of the recently-launched Center for Justice + Renewal, a non-profit dedicated to helping justice advocates sharpen their understanding of the social realities that maintain injustice while also stimulating the soul’s enormous capacity to resist and transform those realities. She's currently working on her third book which examines the relationship between race, gender, and cultural perceptions of the Divine.

Join us as we talk with Dr. Christena Cleveland about her work as a public theologian studying cultural perceptions of race, gender, and the Divine.

Recommended reading & resources:

• Support Christena Cleveland on Patreon
• “When God Was a Woman" (Christena's book rec)
• “When God Was a Black Woman” (Christena's book rec)

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