TOPICAL INDEX
Devotion by
St. Hildegard
Devotion by
Pseudo-Solomon
Lecture
– Wisdom as an Image of God
Pagan Litany
in the Seminary
Goddess
Language
Feminine
Imagery
Can Sophia
Represent God
Overview
of Wisdom in Scripture
Wisdom
Personified
Wisdom as
Logos
Luke and
Beyond
“Wisdom
Speaks” – a litany of wisdom through the ages
Sophia /
Wisdom Valid?
Sophia /
Wisdom Invalid?
Wisdom
and Implications for Pastoral Care
This is advanced material meant
for pastors or pseudo-scholars. Before even attempting to read this
message, I suggest you first look closely at this lesson -
Wisdom 101 [pdf] (12/29/07)
I saw seven pillars supporting a round dome of
iron and standing on top of this dome I saw a singularly beautiful figure.
The figure is Wisdom, through whom all things are created and ruled by God.
She was with God before any of the earth’s and heaven’s creatures came to
be. She is God’s greatest adornment and the
wide stairway to all the virtues that are alive in him. She
protects and guides everyone who seeks to follow her, and embraces with
great love those who are faithful to her. She cannot be overthrown by
craftiness or mere power. Her depths are hidden in the heart of the Father
and invisible to human eyes. Her secrets are open and exposed to God
alone. For the majesty of God that she mirrors is without beginning or end,
bright and incomparable glory and so radiant that we cannot look directly
upon it. She will be with us to the end of time, unceasingly admonishing us
to follow where she leads. –Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)
Wisdom I loved and searched for from my youth;
I resolved to have her as my bride, I fell in love with her beauty. She
enhances her noble birth by sharing God’s life, for the Master of All has
always loved her. Indeed, she shares the secrets of God’s knowledge, and
she chooses what he will do. If in this life wealth is a desirable
possession, what is wealthier than Wisdom whose work is everywhere? Or if
it be the intellect that is at work, who, more than she, designs whatever
exists? Or if it be uprightness you love, why,
virtues are the fruit of her labors,
since it is she who teaches temperance and prudence, justice and fortitude;
nothing in life is more useful for human beings. Or if you are eager for
wide experience, she knows the past, she forecasts the future; she knows how
to turn maxims, and solve riddles; she has foreknowledge of signs and
wonders, and of the unfolding of the ages and the times. I therefore
determined to take her to share my life, knowing that she would be my
counselor in prosperity and comfort me in cares and sorrow. –Wisdom of
Solomon 8:2-9 NJB
THE LECTURE
I. Introduction
1. Question: In what place of worship might one
perform the following litany?
Caller: Who are You, O Holy
One? How have your daughters named You?
Voice: I am Nut of the sky, of
Egypt, Goddess of Affection.
People: Nut, we call upon Your
name and long for your affection.
Caller: Who are You, O Holy
One? How have your daughters named You?
Voice: I am Anath-Astarte, and
Lady Asherah of the Sea from the biblical land of Canaan.
People: Anath and Astarte,
forgive us, for all we have done to You.
The litany also includes interactive worship to Ishtar,
Sophia, Isis, Gaia, and a host of other female goddesses. Would one perform
the litany in a new age temple, or as part of a Roman mystery religion?
Answer: This litany, “A Psalm in Search of the
Goddess,” was written by Miriam Therese Winter from her book WomenWisdom.
It was performed in chapel service on May 4, 1995 at Garrett-Evangelical
Theological Seminary (United Methodist) of Evanston, Illinois. Of course,
this use of goddess language in Christian ritual worship ignited a
controversy in the Christian world as well as in the seminary. This incident
is but an example of the stretching of Christian borders by mainly feminist
theologians and lay women of the goddess cult among Methodists and other
liberal denominations.
2. Question: What might you suppose to be the
most probable cause for the rise of radical feminist interpretation of
scripture and the use of “goddess language” in Christian worship? I would
guess the most probable cause might be Christianity’s traditional
anthropocentricity and lack of feminine imagery for the deity. God is
portrayed as male; Christ is male; angels are male warriors; the apostles
are male. Old Testament women are chattel, or play bit parts in the story of
salvation. In many sects, contemporary women have been denied ordination,
the right to preach, the freedom to dress in a certain fashion, and the use
of feminine imagery in worship and even private devotion. In response, some
feminist worshipers have attempted to syncretise pagan goddess worship with
the traditional structure of the Christian worship service. Such has
elicited strong response from powerful church leaders, including
denunciation and protest movements.
3. Nevertheless, Judeo-Christian tradition and its
source documents do include important feminine imagery. The most evident and
vital of these images is that of Wisdom / Hokma / Sophia.
4. The question is, Can Sophia possibly be a valid and
efficacious image of God and object of worship? Perhaps, but only if Sophia
can be defined as God / Goddess within the context of Christian scripture,
using orthodox exegetical methodology and typology.
II. Wisdom in Scriptural Overview
1. If we are to make any case at all for the worship of
Sophia / God, we must accept the authority of both Old and New Testaments
and the Deuterocanonical (Apocryphal) writings; the latter being accepted
mainly by Roman and Orthodox Christians. The Deuterocanonicals provide the
theological “bridge” over the four-hundred year gap between the Testaments,
although they are not considered to be inspired by most Protestant
and Evangelical bodies.
2. Overview of Wisdom in Scripture: Hokma and
Sophia, words in Hebrew and Greek respectively, meaning “wisdom,” are
feminine in gender. When wisdom is personified in scripture, wisdom become
womanly, as a woman or a female spirit. Biblical wisdom literature as a body
unfolds to reveal itself as a herald of the New Covenant. In Proverbs,
Wisdom calls to those who would become her children, inviting them to
surrender to her care. The immovable object is encountered (by wisdom) in
Job, confining the expectancy of gain to the present only (Qoheleth /
Ecclesiastes). Failing to understand the meaning of hardship in life, the
seeker turns to faith in God’s wisdom as revealed by Sirach. Through faith,
hope is discerned beyond the confines of the present world order (Daniel),
with those of “the elect,” who have obeyed her, assured of victory over
death (Wisdom of Solomon).
The concepts of Sophia and Logos become blurred by
the late first century B.C.E., and wisdom personified as Logos, i.e. Jesus
Christ, defeats death entirely and opens the door of salvation gnosis to all
who will believe and follow.
In short, though wisdom begins as the wise counsel
of teachers in the earliest biblical literature, Wisdom becomes a person by
100 or so B.C.E., and that person becomes Jesus by the end of the first
century. Thus the Jewish concept of wisdom develops over the course of 700
years from clever anecdotes spoken by a wise woman to the apocalyptic
judgment of the Cosmic Christ in the latest biblical literature.
III. Wisdom Personified - The quickest and least
painful way to follow the evolution of wisdom through biblical literature is
by the stepping-stones of the personification passages (i.e. wisdom
as a person). These include Proverbs 8 & 9, Sirach 1, 24, & 51,
Wisdom of Solomon 6 - 9, John 1:1-17, Luke 7:35 & 11:49, Colossians 1 &
Hebrews 1:3,4 & 4:12-13. (One needs a Catholic or ecumenical Bible to follow
along.)
1. c. 960 - 540 B.C.E. - Proverbs divorces God
from corporate Israel and spirituality, providing instead practical advice
for maximizing temporal life. Wisdom is personified allegorically as the
speaker of important maxims, taking on many attributes of God in Proverbs.
Wisdom is a wise woman. Like the prophet (Is 40:3), she “cries out in the
street” (1:20), promising to “pour out her spirit” (1:23b). Her calling and
spirit have the same effect as the spirit of God (8:14 compared with Job
12:13). Like Yahweh in Isaiah 55:1-3, she has a sacrificial meal: “Come eat
my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed” (9:5), she beckons her lovers.
Such a meal is a prototype of Jesus’ parable of the marriage
feast in Matthew 22:1-14. According to Proverbs,
Wisdom is the first creation of God (18:22b) (like the Logos of the pagan
Heraclitus [5th century B.C.E.] and the Jew Philo [1st century C.E.]).
Wisdom rejoiced at witnessing creation, though playing only a spectator’s
role. Now Wisdom has come to Earth to offer herself to humanity (8:31). She
possesses the attributes of the messianic king of Israel (Is 11:2) and of
God (Job 12:13, 16) (8:6-26). The concept of personified Wisdom as “divine
agent” in creation is established and found again many times in scripture.
On Earth, Wisdom is virtuous and desirable, her
appeal is cosmic, transcending law or doctrine: “whoever is simple, leave
simpleness and live” (9:4a,6a), she proclaims to all worldlings. Her reward
is a life of happiness and prosperity (8:34), which can be found only
through devotion to her. (Yet remember, although wisdom is personified in
Proverbs, it is so only for the sake of allegory.)
2. c. 190 B.C.E. (350 years later) - Sirach
(also called Ecclesiasticus) is a pre-Hasmonean, inter-testamental tome of
wisdom written when Israel was under the rule of the Seleucids (Syrian
Greeks). It’s teachings may be a forerunner of the doctrines of the
Sadducees; there is no thought of the supernatural nor afterlife in Sirach.
Wisdom was spoken into existence by God, and was the holy spirit hovering
over the waters of creation (24:3). Although cosmic, she is specifically
sent to dwell in Jerusalem (24:11) to work toward the redemption of Israel.
Wisdom is found as a result of obedience to the Law of Moses.
Thus, by equating wisdom with law (torah), Sirach seeks
to bring Israel back to law and national unity.
The personification of wisdom in Sirach is much more
developed than in Proverbs. Sirach writes that he “fixed on her my soul’s
desires, and with cleansing, I discovered her” (51:20). He testifies of his
longing for her (51:13-22, and acrostic poem), and finally finds her through
the law (20b). Rather than eating her bread at a sacrificial meal, in her
evolution to actual personhood, she becomes the meal: “Those who eat me will
hunger for more, and those who drink me will thirst for more” (24:21,22).
Wisdom lives forever as the Torah.
3. c. 50 B.C.E. (140 years later) - In the
Wisdom of Solomon, a pseudepigraphy, one finds the classical concepts of
logos and sophia united for the first time (18:15,16). Sophia / Wisdom
becomes an actual being - a “spirit, a friend to man” (1:6). Sophia is the
holy spirit, active in creation, redemption, and kingdom-style living - she
is invulnerable, omnipotent, omniscient, and “penetrating through all”
(7:22,23). Wisdom of Solomon embellishes Sirach’s concept of “wisdom as law”
to a very New Testament-sounding conclusion:
Love of her is
the keeping of her laws,
and giving
heed to her laws is the assurance of immortality,
and
immortality brings one near to God;
so the desire
for Wisdom leads to a kingdom.
Pseudo-Solomon also equates the lady Sophia / Wisdom, a
spirit, with God (7:7b); she is God’s breath, power, pure emanation,
reflection, image and mirror.
4. c. 70 C.E. (120 years later) - The concept of
the Logos has superseded the function of Sophia, taking on all the previous
characteristics of intertestamental wisdom, plus others, including maleness.
In the Gospel According to John, Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Logos
(1:17) who was not only with God in creation, and was an agent through which
creation came to be, but was God as well (1:1-3). The Logos came to
Jerusalem, as did Sirach’s Sophia, but did not stay, like 1 Enoch’s Wisdom
(1 Enoch 42:1,2), ascending back into Heaven. The Logos became human, and
lived among humans. All who would accept the Logos would become sons and
daughters of God.
5. c. 70 C.E. - The Gospel According to Luke has
Jesus referring to himself (so it seems) as “the Wisdom of God” (7:35 &
11:49). If so, this gospel writer, who never mentions the concept of Logos,
may have Jesus equating himself with Sophia. Too little evidence exists to
make a definitive connection here.
6. c. 70 C.E. - Curiously, the writer of Hebrews
refers to the Logos as if he were the Sophia of Sirach and Wisdom: he is
living and active, he is penetrating soul and spirit, he is judging
thoughts, he sees all creation, to him we must give account (4:12-13).
Likewise, the writer of Colossians calls the Son of God “the image of God,”
“firstborn of creation” (as in Philo), agent in creation, creator, the power
which holds the universe together, possessing the pleroma of God, yet
present on earth in human flesh. In fact, portions of Colossians 1 may be
directly paraphrased from the Pseudo-Solomon’s description of Sophia.
7. In summary, personified wisdom evolves from the
speaker of proverbs to being the incarnation of the Torah to the agent in
creation, to a holy spirit and the image of God descending to earth and
rising again, to become one with God, to enfleshment in the man Jesus of
Nazareth, to a life-giving spirit.
8. This ends the lecture portion. Are there questions /
comments?
9. A summary of scripture exemplifying the evolution of
Hokma to Sophia to Logos may be dramatically read from my litany “Wisdom
Speaks.”
THE ACT OF WORSHIP - A LITANY
WISDOM SPEAKS!
©1993 Jackson Snyder. All Rights
Reserved.
Cast of Characters
The Wise Men
King Solomon (18 lines), Son
of David and King of Israel;
Moses (6), the deliverer of
the children of Israel;
Agur the Sage (4), the author
of Proverbs 30;
King Lemuel (4) of the Arabs,
brother of Agur;
Yahshua ben Sirach (3), author
of the deuterocanonical book Sirach;
The Mystic (6), Jacob Boehme
(1575-1624), a heretic;
Philo of Alexandria (3), a
contemporary of Jesus & St. Paul;
The Beloved Disciple (13),
author of the Fourth Gospel;
The Evangelist (5), identified
as the disciple Matthew;
The Logos (13), the Word made
flesh, Jesus of Nazareth;
The Blessed Enoch (5), the
writer of 360 books;
James the Just (6), the
brother (cousin) of Jesus of Nazareth;
The Teacher of Righteousness
(7), leader of the Essenes.
The Wise Women
Hokma (13), Hebrew for
“Wisdom” personified;
Susanna (6), mother of John &
Charles Wesley;
Sophia (8), Greek for “Wisdom”
personified;
The Young Bride (7), the
Shulamite of Song of Solomon;
A Wise Woman (11), from the
deuterocanonical book of Wisdom;
Naomi (2), mother-in-law of
Ruth;
Ruth (3), the heroine of the
Hebrew book of the same name;
The Angels (women unison) (3),
from realms of glory;
The Psalmist (12), from “O,
Spirit of the Living God” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
Hildegard, mentioned above.
NOTE: Each reader should identify their character: “I
am King Solomon...” for example.
UNISON: A PRAYER FOR WISDOM: O Wisdom on High, by you
the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the
godly. Grant us, in all doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you
would have us to do, that we may be saved from all false choices, and that
in your light we may see light, and in your straight path not stumble;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, U.S.A.,
20th century)
KING SOLOMON: The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of
knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Hear, my child, your
father’s instruction, and do not reject your mother’s teaching. (Proverbs
1:7-8 NRSV)
MOSES: See, just as Yahweh my Elohim has charged me, I
now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that
you are about to enter and occupy. You must observe them diligently, for
this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they
hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and
discerning people!” (Deuteronomy 4:5-6 NRSV)
KING SOLOMON: Hokma cries out in the street; in the
squares she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out; at the
entrance of the city gates she speaks:
HOKMA: How long, O simple ones, will you love being
simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate
knowledge? Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I
will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, have
stretched out my hand and no one heeded, and because you have ignored all my
counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your
calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, when panic strikes you like a
storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish
come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will
seek me diligently, but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and
did not choose the fear of Yahweh, would have none of my counsel, and
despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and
be sated with their own devices. (Proverbs 1:20-31 NRSV)
AGUR THE SAGE: If you have been foolish, exalting
yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.
For as pressing milk produces curds, and pressing the nose produces blood,
so pressing anger produces strife. (Proverbs 30:32-33 NRSV)
KING SOLOMON: For Yahweh gives wisdom; from his mouth
come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly, guarding the paths of justice
and preserving the way of his faithful ones. (Proverbs 2:6-8 NRSV)
SUSANNA (A PRAYER): (Let us pray:) You, O Father, have
called us to watch and pray. Therefore, whatever may be the sin against
which we pray, make us careful to watch against it, and so have reason to
expect that our prayers will be answered. In order to perform this duty
aright, grant us grace to preserve a sober, equal temper, and sincerity to
pray for your assistance. Amen. (Susanna Wesley, England, 18th century)
KING LEMUEL: A good wife who can find? She opens her
mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Her
children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” (excerpts from
Proverbs 31 NRSV)
THE LOGOS: I tell you, Sophia is vindicated by all her
children. {Wisdom is justified by her deeds.} (Luke 7:35b NRSV)
A WISE WOMAN: For in Sophia there is a spirit that is
intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent,
humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent and pure and most
subtle. For Sophia is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness
she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is the breath of the power
of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing
defiled gains entrance into her. For she is the reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.
(Wisdom 7:22b-26 RSV)
YAHSHUA ben SIRACH: Sophia will praise herself and will
glory in the midst of her people. In the assembly of the Most High she will
open her mouth, and in the presence of his host she shall glory. (Sirach
24:1-2 RSV)
KING SOLOMON: Yahweh by wisdom founded the earth; by
understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke
open, and the clouds drop down the dew. My child, do not let these escape
from your sight: keep sound wisdom and prudence, and they will be life for
your soul and adornment for your neck. (Proverbs 3:19-22 NRSV)
SOPHIA: I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,
and covered the earth like a mist. I dwelt in high places, and my throne was
in a pillar of cloud. In the waves of the sea, in the whole earth, and in
every people and nation I have gotten a possession. Among all these I sought
a resting place; I sought in whose territory I might lodge. The Creator of
all things gave me a commandment, and the one who created me assigned a
place for my tent. And he said, “Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel
receive your inheritance.” (Sirach 24:1-4, 6-8 RSV)
THE MYSTIC: The Virgin Sophia appears before the soul
in her virgin’s finery. She kisses the Soul’s being affectionately,
tincturing the Soul’s dark fire with her Love-rays and penetrating through
the Soul with her Love-kisses. Then, triumphantly, the Soul leaps in its
body for great joy, and with the vitality of this Virgin Love praises the
great God -- the Might of the noble Sophia. (Jacob Boehme, The Way of
Christ, 33)
THE YOUNG BRIDE: I am black and beautiful, O daughters
of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not
gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has gazed on me. My mother’s
sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own
vineyard I have not kept! Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture
your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one
who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions? (Song of Solomon 1:5-7
NRSV)
NAOMI: Go, return to your mother’s house. May Yahweh
deal kindly with you. May Yahweh grant that you find rest in the house of
your husband.
RUTH: Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from
following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou
lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
(Ruth 1:8,9,16 AV)
THE PSALMIST sings: O come, Sophia, from on high, And
order all things far and nigh; To us the path of knowledge show And cause us
in her ways to go. (Henry Sloane Coffin, 1916)
ALL sing: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to
thee, O Israel.
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA: The Logos is the image of God,
through whom the whole universe was framed. The first existence is God, and
next to him is the Logos of God. For the Logos is the eldest born image of
God. (Philo cited by Edwin Lee in The Religious Thought of St. John, London:
S.P.C.K., 1950, pp. 88-89)
THE BELOVED DISCIPLE: In the beginning was the Logos,
and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was in the beginning
with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one
thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the
life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:1-5 NRSV)
THE PSALMIST: O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom
captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of Elohim
appear. (9th cent., author unknown)
ALL sing: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to
thee, O Israel.
THE EVANGELIST: Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of
Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the
east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we
have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the
king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
(Mat 2:1-3 AV)
THE LOGOS: If I have told you about earthly things and
you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven,
the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have
eternal life. For Elohim so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Indeed, Elohim did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but
in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:12-17 NRSV)
KING SOLOMON: Happy are those who find wisdom and those
who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue
better than gold. (Proverbs 3:13-14 NRSV)
THE BELOVED DISCIPLE: He was in the world, and the
world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came
to his own home, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who
received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of
God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will
of man, but of Elohim. (John 1:10-13 NRSV alt.)
THE BLESSED ENOCH: Sophia could not find a place in
which she could dwell; but a place was found for her in the heavens. Then
Sophia went out to dwell with the children of the people, but she found no
dwelling place. So Sophia returned to her place, and she settled permanently
among the angels. (1 Enoch 42:1,2 Isaac)
THE ANGELS: Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?
This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the
same way as you saw him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11 NRSV)
JAMES THE JUST: My brothers and sisters, whenever you
face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that
the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its
full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. If
any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and
ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. (James 1:2-5 NRSV)
THE LOGOS: Peace be with you. As the Father has sent
me, so I send you.
THE BELOVED DISCIPLE: Then the Logos breathed on us,
and told us:
THE LOGOS: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the
sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are
retained. (John 20:21-23 NRSV paraphrase)
THE PSALMIST: Blow, wind of El! With wisdom blow until
our minds are free from mists of error, clouds of doubt, which blind our
eyes to thee. Burn, winged fire! Inspire our lips with flaming love and
zeal, to preach to all thy great good news, Yah’s glorious commonweal.
(excerpt from Tweedy, “O Spirit of the Living God,” 1935)
HILDEGARD: The majesty of Eloha that I reflect is
without beginning or end: bright and incomparable glory so radiant that none
may look directly upon me. But I will be with you to the end of time,
unceasingly admonishing you to follow where I lead.
THE TEACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: Blessed are those who
hold to her precepts and do not hold to the ways of iniquity. Blessed are
those who rejoice in her, and do not burst forth in ways of folly. Blessed
are those who seek her with pure hands, and do not pursue her with a
treacherous heart. He does not forsake her when he sees distress, nor
abandon her in times of strain. He will not forget her in the day of fear,
and will not despise her when his soul is afflicted. (Beatitudes, 4Q525,
Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, 286)
SONG (UNISON): Breathe on us, breath of Yah, fill us
with life anew, that we may love what thou dost love, and do what thou
wouldst do. Breathe on us breath of El, till we are wholly thine, till all
this earthly part of us glows with thy fire divine. (Hatch, “Breathe on Me,
Breath of God,” 1878)
CONCLUSIONS
I. The primary question restated - Can Sophia possibly
be a valid and efficacious image of God and object of worship within the
scriptural tradition of the Christian Church?
1. Affirmative (perhaps) in the Catholic and
Orthodox traditions, based on their inclusion of the deuterocanonical
scriptures among those considered inspired. Wisdom is a demigod, a female
intermediary between God and humanity. Sophia has the attributes of God and
creative power with God.
Sophia is perfect, having descended from God, dwelt
with humanity, and ascended to God. She is the perfect disciple of God, the
scriptural mother of the Logos, who was also with God, but who was God.
Of course, I am alluding to the Perpetual Virgin Mary,
who has, in Catholic theology, papal pronouncements, and practice, become
the embodiment of Sophia, characterized by all her attributes as gleaned
from scripture. Mary descended sinlessly from Heaven, was a temple virgin,
led a sinless life, was the mother of God, was the perfect disciple, and
ascended back to Heaven. (An influential factor in the Mary tradition may
have been the Infancy Gospel of James.)
The following diagram shows the divergence of Sophia
from Logos in Catholic scripture:
ProverbsŕSirachŕWisdom
(Sophia is born)ŕ James’ Mary
ŕMaryŕJohn’s
LogosŕJesus.
2. Negative in Reformed, Protestant, and
Evangelical traditions. There is insufficient scriptural evidence for
equating Sophia with God or worshiping her as a demigod. There is evidence
to allow worship of Jesus as Wisdom or Jesus as Logos.
The illustration for Protestants is:
Proverbs-ŕ(God
is silent) -ŕJohn’s Logos-ŕJesus.
II. Theological Implications for Pastoral Care - The
following come directly from the wisdom passages quoted or referred to in
this paper (lecture).
1. As in Hokma of Proverbs, the Pastor is the
repository of wise sayings. He has a grasp of practical truth, and is
willing to tell the truth. The Pastor has learned truth by watching,
waiting, experiencing and listening. The Pastor knows he can learn more
wisdom from those whom he ministers to, so he/she is open to the
understandings of others, whether he/she deems them wise or not.
2. As in Sophia of Sirach, the Pastor knows law and
grace. The Pastor is moral, yet situational. He/she is judgmental, yet
uncondemning. He/she is cleansed, yet unafraid of contamination. The Pastor
is the salt of the earth, a city set upon a hill, a light on a candle stand,
a measuring rod.
3. As in Enoch and John, the Pastor has ascended to the
throne of God and descended back to the congregation. He/she is therefore a
witness to God’s power, authority, and love, and can articulate and
appropriate that wisdom in dealing with others. He/she is prayerful,
remaining close to God; spiritual, luminescent, assured of eternity. Knowing
God, the Pastor is mature in his ministry, seeing the big picture rather
than the small.
4. As in The Wisdom of Solomon, the Pastor is a
representative of the Creator God. He/she is free and magnanimous,
inclusive, virtuous, and ever giving God glory. He/she is constantly reliant
upon God for what to be, say, or do in situations of ministry.
5. As in John and James, the Pastor is engifted. He/she
is a mirror of God’s grace, discerning the needs of his friends, and
applying the charisms of God to each need. He/she is not haughty with gifts,
but seeks to draw out each persons unique engiftedness.
6. As in John, the Pastor is enfleshed. He/she dwells
among people. He/she is of earthly good. He/she is empathic, compassionate,
self-sacrificing, meek, burdened with his/her own humanity, yet experienced
in God’s remedies for the human condition. Like the Sophia / Logos of The
Wisdom of Solomon, the Pastor is androgynous - male and female - female and
male.
7. As in The Wisdom of Solomon and John, the Pastor is
seeking a Kingdom - the Kingdom of love and light. This Kingdom is now, and
it is later, and pastoral care must be geared to the ultimate Kingdom, and
the responsibilities entailed in Kingdom-style living.
Finis.
December 4, 1995, Updated July 14, 2004
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