Sophia

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Sophia

"Sophia" is the Greek word of feminine grammatical gender for the English term "wisdom" (Hebrew, chokmah; Latin, sapientia). Divine Sophia-Wisdom, seen variously as the feminine side of God, as the Holy Spirit, as the Goddess, or as God's spouse, reached her peak of power in the Hellenistic era; was limited in her divine status by Jewish monotheism; was replaced in Christianity by the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and Mary; and was erased from Christological tradition by the church fathers. Recent feminist research has recovered Sophia-Wisdom in the Hebrew scriptures and Apocrypha (The Wisdom of Solomon and Ben Sira), and rediscovered her great influence in Hellenistic-Jewish, early Christian, and Gnostic circles.

Jewish wisdom theology presents God as the divine woman Wisdom, who appears as God's own being in creative and saving involvement with the world. As Sophia-Wisdom (or Wisdom-Sophia) God is present to the chosen people Israel. The woman Wisdom is a hidden treasure known only to God and the only one who knows God ( Job 28); she is a street preacher and prophet (Proverbs 1:8) who is with God during creation (Proverbs 8:22–31) and identifies her own words, actions, and gifts with those of God (Proverbs 1:23; 8:6–9). She is a giver of life (Proverbs 4:13), architect of her home, hostess and liturgist at her festive table (Proverbs 9:1–6), the glory of God (Wisdom 7:25–26), and the mediator of creation (Wisdom 8:5–6), and she shares the throne of God (Wisdom 9:3). She creates everything, makes all things new again, and permeates the universe (Wisdom 7:23, 27; 8:1, 5). She appears on earth, lives among creation (Baruch 3:37), and works in history to save her chosen people. She is called sister, spouse, mother, beloved, hostess, liberator, justice-maker, and teacher. In her, the wisdom of women and the image of the divine are united.

Scholarly opinion suggests that Hellenistic Jews in Egypt conceived of divine Wisdom as prefigured in the Canaanite, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian goddesses Astarte, Ishtar, Maat, and Isis. Egyptian Judaism incorporated the mythology and theology of Isis into the figure of Sophia to lend power to its own integrating forces through the use of a female divinity. Like Isis, Sophia is a religious symbol with an unusual capacity to create unity, a divine savior using the "I am" style to proclaim her message of universal salvation.

In early Christian writings Sophia seems to disappear, yet a deeper reading shows that a submerged theology of Wisdom-Sophia permeates the Christian scriptures. Early Christian communities had access to and used early Jewish discoveries of divine wisdom to elaborate on the significance of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and Mary. The complete unity between Sophia and the Spirit is expressed in Wisdom 7:22–23, 27, where Sophia assumes the functions of the Spirit. Spirit-Sophia's universal presence is analogous to God's Spirit (Wisdom 7:24). These texts strengthen the fittingness of speaking about the Spirit in female imagery.

Early Jesus traditions interpreted the mission of Jesus as that of divine Sophia: proclaiming Sophia-God as the God of the poor, the excluded, and all who suffer injustice. What Judaism said of Sophia, Christian writers came to say of Jesus. Just as Wisdom received everything from God, so Jesus received everything from God (Matthew 11:27a). Just as Wisdom-Sophia is known only by God and is the only one who knows God, so Jesus has all wisdom (Matthew 11:27b, c). Just as divine Sophia gives her wisdom as gift, so also Jesus reveals wisdom to his chosen (Matthew 11:27d). Like Sophia-Isis, Jesus speaks in the "I am" style, and with the symbolism of bread, wine, and water invites people to eat and drink. Like Sophia-Wisdom, Jesus proclaims his message in the public square, is light and life of the world, calls people, and makes them children and friends. Paul describes Jesus as "the Sophia of God" (1 Corinthians 1:23–25; 2:6–8). Though she/he is the child and messenger of Sophia-God, Jesus-Sophia's woman Wisdom presence is pushed aside partly by John's Logos-Son-male theology, by resistance to the Gnostic version of Christianity that embraced Sophia, by the rejection of female leadership in the churches, and by the growth of sexism and patriarchy in Christian communities. Female wisdom imagery passed to the figure of Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus, who became known as the Throne of Wisdom.

Sophia has reemerged in contemporary American feminist theology and spirituality. As proposed by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza and adopted by many feminist theologians, Sophia as the divine woman Wisdom continues her call for the liberation of all women, children, and men from the patriarchal, kyriarchal (male-priesthood-dominated) power in society and in religious communities. She invites all to rearticulate the symbols, images, and names of divine Sophia so that masculine-oriented God and Christ language is radically changed and the Western cultural sex/gender system is radically reconstructed.