# Is there a faith (religion) with a female Jesus figure?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [August 19, 2010, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733 "2010-08-19T12:24:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/1 "2010-08-19T12:24:34Z")
A belief with someone perhaps directly identified as daughter of God (or of Goddess), or else directly related to God and does His/Her work hear on earth, possibly going through a great sacrifice to set things right. Or a female ‘messiah’ yet to come?
The closest one I can think of is some beliefs of Mary, conceived sinless, and presumably sinless in her life makes her able to have a child directly with God and sometimes called mother of God. Her great sacrifice would be to bring God’s Son into the world and thus save it, and also watch Him be put to death.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/2 "2010-08-19T12:35:58Z")
Shakers
They revere Mother Ann Lee as another manifestation of God:
> [@](#):
>
> Imprisoned, Ann received a revelation that she was the embodiment of the second coming of Christ, in feminine form.
> **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=ann-lee)**
>
> Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want
> [@](#):
>
> The Shakers believed that Jesus was the male Messiah and Mother Ann Lee, the female Messiah.
> **[Messiah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah)**
>
> In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ, romanized: māšīaḥ; Greek: μεσσίας,
> messías; Arabic: مسيح,
> masīḥ; lit. 'anointed one') is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of mashiach, messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a mashiach is a king or High Priest traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil.
> In Judaism, Ha-mashiach (המשיח, 'the Messiah'),\[a\] often referred to as melekh ha-mashiach (מלך המ...
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/3 "2010-08-19T12:46:38Z")
Though there isn’t necessarily a “god” per Abrahamic religions, in East Asian Buddhism/Taoism there is the [Bhodisattva of Compassion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yin), who is sometimes unisex but usually portrayed as female, who would fit some of your criteria.
She is a Buddha who achieved enlightenment but renounced her entry into Nirvana in order to carry out compassionate works on earth.
I visited a statue of the Bhodisattva in Japan, and was struck how closely it resembled those of the Virgin Mary in the west - a female form wrapped in a white robe, cradling babe in arms too.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/4 "2010-08-19T12:53:32Z")
I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but I remember being told that Bhodisattva was used as a sort of code by Japanese Christians during the time when Christianity was forbidden in Japan. For them, she really represented the Virgin Mary; if one of them went into a home and saw that image, he’d say “oh, I see you follow the Mother of Compassion” and if the people there were also Christians they’d say “we follow the Son.”
Like I say, I don’t really know whether it’s true or not, can’t even remember who I got it from.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/5 "2010-08-19T13:02:00Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> Though there isn’t necessarily a “god” per Abrahamic religions, in East Asian Buddhism/Taoism there is the [Bhodisattva of Compassion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yin), who is sometimes unisex but usually portrayed as female, who would fit some of your criteria.
>
> She is a Buddha who achieved enlightenment but renounced her entry into Nirvana in order to carry out compassionate works on earth.
>
> I visited a statue of the Bhodisattva in Japan, and was struck how closely it resembled those of the Virgin Mary in the west - a female form wrapped in a white robe, cradling babe in arms too.
Point of personal information: the Wiki page you linked to has a photo of the Bhodisattva we have right here in town; I recognized it instantly. I have much better photos of it than Wiki has too, and it is distinctly male in the photos, or at best unisex.
See here for one of my photos online:
[http://65.69.77.33/louvre3/U/Una/images/Seated\_Guanyin\_Bodhisattva\_2\_Liao\_Dynasty\_907-1125.jpg](http://65.69.77.33/louvre3/U/Una/images/Seated_Guanyin_Bodhisattva_2_Liao_Dynasty_907-1125.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/6 "2010-08-19T14:11:12Z")
To tweak **kanicbird** ’s understanding of Catholic doctrine, while he may be correct as regards the beliefs of some individual Catholics, it is my understanding that even at its fullest extent, the hyperdulia doctrine regarding Mary still regards her as a part of fallen humanity, needing a Savior, with the doctrinal distinctives that set her apart from the rest of humanity in Catholic thought the result of a special retroactive intervention of Christ’s saving grace done to make her a fit vessel for His conception and time in the womb, and to give her the special graces needed to raise Him as a human child. Think of it as effectively a SF-style time loop: she was enabled to raise Him to be what He ended up being by His action reaching back in time to make her what she needed to be in order to raise Him as He needed to be raised.
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### Author:  [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/7 "2010-08-19T14:21:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> Shakers
> They revere Mother Ann Lee as another manifestation of God:
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > Imprisoned, Ann received a revelation that she was the embodiment of the second coming of Christ, in feminine form.
>
> [Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](http://www.answers.com/topic/ann-lee)
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > The Shakers believed that Jesus was the male Messiah and Mother Ann Lee, the female Messiah.
>
> [Messiah - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah)
Very interesting. I wasn’t aware of her.
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/8 "2010-08-19T14:28:32Z")
Apologies for my lifelong misspelling of “bodhisattva”.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/9 "2010-08-19T14:28:45Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#):
>
> See here for one of my photos online:
> [http://65.69.77.33/louvre3/U/Una/images/Seated\_Guanyin\_Bodhisattva\_2\_Liao\_Dynasty\_907-1125.jpg](http://65.69.77.33/louvre3/U/Una/images/Seated_Guanyin_Bodhisattva_2_Liao_Dynasty_907-1125.jpg)
Hot linking not allowed in the Una Louvre, n’est pas?
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/10 "2010-08-19T14:33:10Z")
“It’s Miley!”
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/11 "2010-08-19T14:41:17Z")
Any matriarchal faiths with a female daughter savior figure?
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/12 "2010-08-19T14:50:11Z")
> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> To tweak **kanicbird** ’s understanding of Catholic doctrine, while he may be correct as regards the beliefs of some individual Catholics, it is my understanding that even at its fullest extent, the hyperdulia doctrine regarding Mary still regards her as a part of fallen humanity, needing a Savior, with the doctrinal distinctives that set her apart from the rest of humanity in Catholic thought the result of a special retroactive intervention of Christ’s saving grace done to make her a fit vessel for His conception and time in the womb, and to give her the special graces needed to raise Him as a human child. Think of it as effectively a SF-style time loop: she was enabled to raise Him to be what He ended up being by His action reaching back in time to make her what she needed to be in order to raise Him as He needed to be raised.
Thank you, and I didn’t mean to define Catholic doctrine, but just state some commonly held beliefs as to if Many may qualify as the female, daughter of God Christ figure.
My own view is since Jesus could not fail, it can be said that the Mary saved the world by her giving birth to Jesus. It also goes along and fulfills what was placed on Adam (fulfilled by Jesus) and Eve (fulfiled by Mary) from Gen 3:16 and Gen 3:17-19. As Mary had to give birth to Jesus and she could not have a man (besides God) rule over her as that would introduce corrupted flesh in the conception of Jesus. With Jesus covering Adam’s sentence.
And yes sort of that time loop, the 2 (Mary and Jesus) would be interdependent.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/13 "2010-08-19T15:26:33Z")
Some forms of Wicca revere Aradia, who appears in some lore as a mythic daughter of Diana & first of the Wiccans, and who has been claimed by others as having actually been a leading Witch in the Middle Ages who has been deafied. I know of no proof about any such historical figure & the mythic figure was first brought into public awareness by late 1800s-early 1900s folklorist Charles Leland’s work on Italian folk paganism.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/14 "2010-08-19T15:29:07Z")
Here in Korea, there’s the [World Mission Society Church of God](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Mission_Society_Church_of_God), popu;ar;y referred to as “the God the Mother people” and “that cult that makes Sun Myung Moon look normal.” Its leader is the wife of the church’s dead founder. I, um, avoid them and don’t know how big a following they have.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/15 "2010-08-19T16:23:43Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#):
>
> > [@Una\_Persson](#):
> >
> > See here for one of my photos online:
> > [http://65.69.77.33/louvre3/U/Una/images/Seated\_Guanyin\_Bodhisattva\_2\_Liao\_Dynasty\_907-1125.jpg](http://65.69.77.33/louvre3/U/Una/images/Seated_Guanyin_Bodhisattva_2_Liao_Dynasty_907-1125.jpg)
>
> Hot linking not allowed in the Una Louvre, n’est pas?
Hmm…I’m not at home right now, and it works for me. Are you saying you can’t see it? If not, tonight I can move it to somewhere else if anyone cares.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/16 "2010-08-19T16:45:06Z")
I also get a 403 Forbidden on that link.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/17 "2010-08-19T16:54:04Z")
Thanks. Tonight I’ll put it up somewhere else. The problem is that I have 32,000 artworks online, and while I have no problem giving access to them to members, I don’t allow hotlinking. I confess to being baffled as to why I can see it, however.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/18 "2010-08-19T16:54:13Z")
There’s a connection to the Persephone myth–Persephone is kidnapped by Hades, her grieving mother Demeter searches for her and the Earth becomes infertile. Demeter is reunited with Persephone, but because Persephone has eaten the food of the underworld she must return for half of every year, which explains the variation of seasons.
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### Author:  [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/19 "2010-08-19T17:05:58Z")
Well, in early Ugarit, Canaanite and (wait for it…) Abrahamic religions, God ([El](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_%28deity%29)) had a wife, the goddess [Asherah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah). In fact, the Bible’s reforming editors didn’t really do a great job of [airbrushing her out](http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Hadley_Asherah.shtml), she and her [Asherah Poles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah_pole) are still mentioned in a lot of places:
[QUOTE=wikipedia]
Asherah “poles” are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the books of Exodus, Deuteronomy, Judges, the Books of Kings, the second Book of Chronicles, and the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah.
[/QUOTE]
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-faith-religion-with-a-female-jesus-figure/550733/20 "2010-08-19T17:19:38Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but I remember being told that Bhodisattva was used as a sort of code by Japanese Christians during the time when Christianity was forbidden in Japan. For them, she really represented the Virgin Mary; if one of them went into a home and saw that image, he’d say “oh, I see you follow the Mother of Compassion” and if the people there were also Christians they’d say “we follow the Son.”
>
> Like I say, I don’t really know whether it’s true or not, can’t even remember who I got it from.
If you mean [Guan Yin:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuan_yin#Guanyin_and_the_Virgin_Mary)
> [@](#):
>
> Some syncretic Buddhist and Christian observers have commented on the similarity between Guanyin and Mary of Christianity, the mother of Jesus Christ. The Tzu-Chi Foundation, a Taiwanese Buddhist organization, also noticing the similarity, commissioned a portrait of Guanyin and a baby that resembles the typical Roman Catholic Madonna and Child painting.
>
> Some Chinese of the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Philippines, in an act of syncretism, have identified Guanyin with the Virgin Mary.[5]
>
> During the Edo Period in Japan, when Christianity was banned and punishable by death, some underground Christian groups venerated the Virgin Mary disguised as a statue of Kannon; such statues are known as Maria Kannon. Many had a cross hidden in an inconspicuous location.
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