A growing debate in Christian circles is challenging centuries of tradition: Should believers speak of God’s “kingdom” — or embrace the newer, more inclusive term “kin-dom”? Progressive leaders say the shift reflects equality and relationship, while critics warn it undermines core theology.
The Bible frequently uses the phrase “kingdom of God.” It refers to God’s rule over all of creation through Jesus Christ and the new covenant. Although it is deeply ingrained in Christian language, a relatively new word is gaining traction among some progressive church leaders. The word is “kin-dom” — and not all Christian leaders embrace it.
Some progressives argue that this relatively new term is less patriarchal and more inclusive than the older term “kingdom.” But more conservative church leaders find kin-dom problematic.
The Christian Post recently posted an article What is God’s ‘Kin-dom?‘ asking:
- What does the word kin-dom mean?
- Who embraces the so-called kin-dom language?
- Who rejects it?
- And why?
Kin-dom is sometimes used in place of the word kingdom. A Franciscan nun named Georgene Wilson coined the new term several decades ago.
“Jesus (is) our brother …our kin,” she explained. He is “our model of God’s love.”
Wilson once said that she created the word when she was “teaching about a relational god in the here and now, amongst us,” adding, “It is how we relate to God and one another as kin, as sister and brother, as Jesus taught.”
While Wilson created the word “kin-dom,” modern Catholic theologian Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz introduced it to a wide audience in her 1996 book, Mujerista Theology: A Theology for the Twenty-first Century. The word “mujer” means “woman” in Spanish.
In her book, Isasi-Díaz relates the use of “kin-dom” to the experiences and faith of women, specifically Hispanic and Latina women. She gleaned theological wisdom from these women’s everyday lives, considering their perspectives on religious, economic, and social issues.
One Christian leader who supports the new so-called kin-dom language is retired seminary professor Reta Halteman Finger.
“I think ‘kin-dom’ is a good word and better reflects the kind of society Jesus envisions” for the 21st century, she said in an opinion piece for Christian Feminism Today (CFT) several years ago. It’s “a shared community of equals who serve each other,” she added.
Finger explained that “in the larger context of the New Testament, both ‘kin-dom’ and ‘kingdom’ make sense.” People living in Christ’s time and in the 17th century, when the King James Bible was translated, understood the concept of the kingdom. Consequently, it was used throughout the Bible, especially when discussing the kingdom of God, she said. However, she believes the word “kin-dom” better reflects Christ’s intent.
Changing language that is deeply ingrained in Christians’ minds will not be easy, Finger admitted.
“Perhaps the best we can do is teach and explain what we know whenever possible – and keep using kin-dom language ourselves,” she said in the CFT article From Kingdom to Kin-dom – and Beyond. CFT is an organization of evangelical Christian feminists.
Canadian theologian and teacher, mentor and Anglican Ian J. Mobsby points out that the word kingdom “can carry connotations of dominance and control rather than justice, love, and liberation.” He explained that Isasi-Diaz shifts the emphasis from “power over others to relationship with others,” which he prefers.
Yet, some Christian leaders, such as the Rev. Kevin Haug, oppose the use of kin-dom language. Haug is a Lutheran pastor, long-time author of the blogCountry Preacher’s Corner, and contributor to the Lutheran Coalition for Renewal website. He insists that “there is no ‘kin-dom’ of God without the Kingdom of God.”
Haug has said that people must separate Christ’s intentions in teaching about God’s kingdom under God’s reign from the scenario that unfolds when fallible and sinful human beings rule.
“When you trust in Christ and His works, you shift your allegiance” from self to Jesus, he noted. Followers of Christ no longer “lay claim to the throne, but the rightful, righteous rule is now seated upon the throne of your heart. You now serve a new master” (Romans 6).
When people declare that Jesus is Lord, they “are announcing that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. You no longer rule over your life. Jesus does,” the pastor said. “And when He is king of your life, you enter into the Kingdom of God.”
Haug argues that “to erase kingdom and replace it with ‘kin-dom’ means to place the second commandment above the first.” The first commandment states that humanity “shall have no other gods before me (God),” and the second prohibits the worship of idols.
Changing the order of these two commandments is not an option, he said. “You simply cannot have the ‘kin-dom’ without the Kingdom.”
Fr. Lawrence Farley of the Orthodox Church in America, author of the Orthodox Bible Companion Series, argues that people must acknowledge God’s absolute authority. “The first sign of such submission to Him is that we do not tamper, edit, correct or otherwise monkey around with the prayer which the Lord Himself gave us. He (Christ) instructed us to pray that His Kingdom come….”
Farley added, “Democracies are wonderful, but the Church is not a democracy. It is a hierarchy, a Kingdom…. A ‘kin-dom’ is not going to come, however much some may pray for it. A Kingdom is.”
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