Travis,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this article.  I had a friend once ask me how I felt about someone calling the Holy Spirit or God "Mother" and this led into a lengthy discussion about gender in the Bible. (I wrote about some of it here: http://wp.me/pVYH7-9R)

I really cringe that certain elements within Christianity attempt to reinforce patriarchy and benevolent sexism by talking about a "masculine feel" to Christianity but try to see them with as much grace as possible and know they do so with the best of intentions even if it results in the worst of consequences.  They take the patriarchal slant within the scriptures (which is overwhelming despite the verses you have brought up) as prescriptive for all time rather than descriptive of the ancient context.

Overall this is an area of our faith that I think we need to talk about more and thanks again for sharing your thoughts on it.