GNOSTIC REVIVAL? Traditions about the sacred feminine in the Nag Hammadi Library have considerable appeal to some women in mainstream Christian denominations. Here's some evidence in the Dallas Morning News:

Lectures to offer scholarly look at feminine imagery of God

12:00 AM CST on Saturday, January 21, 2006

By MARY A. JACOBS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

CONNECTIONSMost scholars call Christianity a patriarchal religion: Jesus was a man, and God is typically called "he." But others argue that, after a careful reading of Christian history, that's only half the picture.

An upcoming lecture series will give participants a closer look at this other side of Christian spirituality. "The Feminine Face of God in Christianity" begins Sunday at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

"Because of the ways in which our Christian tradition developed, one stream was emphasized, and of course it's all masculine imagery," said Rosalind de Rolon, a member of the church who organized the series. Organizers say the five-week program integrates "fine art, music, distinguished theological scholarship and participants' own epiphanies."

Ms. de Rolon will deliver the opening lecture with a look at "the ancient wisdom tradition's concept of feminine and masculine, the organizing principles of the universe." She draws from scholars such as Huston Smith and Marcus Borg as well as the Old and New Testaments and the Gnostic gospels.

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One lecture will present an "inclusive liturgy honoring Christ-Sophia." Another will look at Mary Magdalene in the light of "Gnostic texts and Carl Jung's Collected Works."