On Friday, Ariana Grande released God is a Woman, the third track previewed from her forthcoming album Sweetener. The music video features a feminist reimagining of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, starring Grande as God. There’s also a memorable cameo halfway through the video when Madonna’s disembodied voice appears, like the voice of God, reciting a gender-flipped version Samuel L Jackson’s Ezekiel 25:17 speech from Pulp Fiction: “I will strike down upon thee, with great vengeance and furious anger, those who attempt to poison and destroy my sisters, and you will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon you.” God is a Woman God is a Woman has a lot of Grande fans singing “Hallelujah!”. However referring to the Christian God in female rather than male terms has long been considered by many to be borderline blasphemous. God is still very much gendered male in religious discourse and most versions of the Bible. The Catechism of the Catholic church pretty much says it all with the proclamation “God is neither man nor woman: he is God”. Grande’s song, then, is sure to touch a misogynist nerve. Alanis Morissette as God in the 1999 film Dogma. Photograph: Handout While some may consider Grande referring to God in female terms to be a heresy, it’s one with a very long history, and one that hasn’t always been controversial. St Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109, talked of “Christ, my mother”, for example. And in her 14th-century Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich, a medieval mystic, says: “Just as God is our father, so God is also our mother.” While history is peppered with occasional references to God as a woman, there has been more of a concerted effort in recent years to ensure religious language is more inclusive. In 2015, for example, a group of female bishops within the Church of England campaigned for more “expansive language and imagery about God” that would encompass feminine pronouns. The Rev Emma Percy, the chaplain of Trinity College Oxford and a member of Women and the Church (Watch), a group that successfully campaigned for the ordination of female bishops, said that using more inclusive language to describe God would help dispel “the notion that God is some kind of old man in the sky”. We’re also seeing more and more instances of God as a woman in popular culture including Lars von Trier’s 1996 movie Breaking the Waves and Kevin Smith’s 1999 film Dogma. Allow Instagram content? This article includes content provided by Instagram . We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Allow and continue If portraying God as a woman upsets some people, portraying the Lord as a black woman, as she is in the 2011 romcom A Little Bit of Heaven (she is played by Whoopi Goldberg) and The Shack, a 2017 Christian drama based on a 2007 book of the same name, sends religious racists into a conniption fit. Joe Schimmel, a California pastor and host of the documentary Hollywood’s War on God, for example, told Christian News Network that The Shack’s “pretentious caricature of God as a heavy set, cushy, non-judgmental, African American woman called ‘Papa’ ... and his depiction of the Holy Spirit as a frail Asian woman with the Hindu name, Sarayu, lends itself to a dangerous and false image of God and idolatry.” Nevertheless, despite the predictable criticism, plenty of people are persisting in trying to overturn the idea that God is an old, white man. Last year, for example, Harmonia Rosales, an artist from Chicago, painted a version of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, reimagining both God and the first man as black women – and it went viral. Rosales explained to the Guardian that she made God a woman in the painting because, first of all, it just makes sense: “We all come from the womb.” Also, she says, “I made it a black woman because there are so many images as white male figures in power”. Rosales wanted to both illuminate and challenge the way we’re conditioned to think about who gets elevated in culture and show black women, “who are least represented as powerful and godly in any kind of way”, in an empowering light.<doc-sep>In the wee hours of Friday morning Ariana Grande dropped “God Is a Woman,” the second single from her forthcoming fourth studio album “Sweetener,” and the song features surprisingly explicit lyrics for the singer: “You love it how I move you You love it how I touch you My one, when all is said and done You’ll believe God is a woman My one, it lingers when we’re done You’ll believe God is a woman” The armchair analysts are already hard at work on the song’s lyrics. Later in the day, Grande dropped a completely bonkers Dave Meyers-helmed video for the song that features her standing on a planet surrounded by a galaxy, then being pelted with negative words (which bounce off of her) by a bunch of white men, then surrounded by animated wolves, then on top of a lighthouse, and at the very end she’s part of a mock-remake of Michaelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” in which she’s reaching out to a black woman (hence the song title). Grande recently told Jimmy Fallon that the song is her grandmother’s favorite from the album. The song was produced by Ilya for MXM and written by Grande, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Rickard Göransson, and Ilya. The Dave Meyers-directed video for the song is premiering today at noon ET. The album, which drops on Aug 17, is said to be deeply personal and inspired by Grande’s experiences over the past two years.<doc-sep>
Pete Davidson is one doting fiance! The 24-year old comedian took to Instagram on Thursday night to celebrate the release of Ariana Grande's song, "God Is a Woman." The new track is the third pre-released single from her upcoming album, Sweetener, which drops on Aug. 17. Clad in a blue-and-pink tie dye sweatshirt that reads "God Is a Woman," Davidson first praised the 25-year-old pop star with a mirror selfie. "GIAW out now !!!! ☁️," he captioned the shot. The Saturday Night Live star also promoted "God Is a Woman" on his Instagram Story, calling the song: "My fave one on the album." "It's bonkers!!" he wrote alongside a pic of Grande covered in paint, seemingly from a sexy photo shoot to promote the single. Instagram Grande also shared pics from the same photo shoot, one of which showing her nude while artfully covered with purple-and-blue paint strokes and lying in a pool of light blue paint. With her hair in a braid and her makeup glowing, the pop star looks like the perfect representation of her ethereal new track. Davidson was clearly a fan of that particular pic, commenting "YUM YUM YUM" on Grande's post. Instagram The "Bang Bang" singer also posted to her Instagram Story, showcasing big letter balloons that read "GIAW" -- a acronym for the new track that Davidson used in his post. She then shared a few videos from her celebrations. In one video -- where the pair is wearing matching sweatshirts -- Davidson calls Grande his "sweet sweet angel" using a silly voice. Another snippet shows Davidson sitting by and watching as Grande's friend attempts to sing "God Is a Women" while she critiques his performance in the background! Instagram Instagram Grande and Davidson announced their engagement in June after less than a month of dating. Here’s more on their whirlwind romance: RELATED CONTENT: Ariana Grande Drops Sultry, Ethereal New Song 'God Is a Woman' Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson Have Impromptu Photo Shoot With Singer's Backup Dancers: Pics Ariana Grande Revisits Sweet ‘SNL’ Moment With Pete Davidson