Wisdom, The Feminine Face of God

The feminine face of God was not altogether wiped out by patriarchy  She returned as Wisdom and as Shekinah in the Hebrew Scriptures.  And she returned as Christ-Sophia in the Christian writings.  The experience that Wisdom is Feminine is ancient and transcultural as we shall see.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, Wisdom is celebrated for her cosmic oversight.  She comes wrapped in cosmology.  She has a universal perspective, a cosmic sense.  She is “fairer than the sun, greater than every constellation… and the source of all treasure in the universe.”  There is nothing petty or sectarian about Wisdom—the universe and the entire cosmos are her dwelling place.

She undergirds all things and permeates them, bringing order from chaos while she plays with God from before the beginning of the world.  She is the object of our pursuit of truth at the same time that she is accessible as the fruit of awe and wonder.  Indeed, “awe is the beginning of wisdom.”  In her is found rest and repose, delight and joy.  She is the source of all eros, all love of life.  “Whoever loves her loves life.”  She is the way of true justice and she is a “friend of the prophets who she deploys her strength from one end of the earth to the other, ordering all things for good.”

She entices us with her fruits and attractions for “she is an inexhaustible treasure for humankind.  She blesses the world with Supreme wisdom and allows all people to realize their unity with God.”  Notice how ecumenical Wisdom is—she brings all people to unity with God.  (This same sense of ecumenism is echoed in the story of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem when the angels sing out to the shepherds: “Glory [Doxa, Radiance] to God in the highest and peace to all people of good will).”

We are told that she is “the mother of all good things,” who “age after age enters into holy souls.”  She “makes all things new” and “to love her is to love life.”  Indeed, “a desire to know her brings one to love her,” we are assured.

Banner Image: “Saint Sophia” by Eileen McGuckin [Public domain]

Lectio divina:

Lectio Divina, or “Divine Reading,” is the ancient practice of meditatively and prayerfully reading the words of Scripture or other sacred texts, asking Spirit what your proper response might be to the truths they lay bare.

In this spirit, take a phrase or word from Proverbs 1:20-33 & chapter 8 and be still with it, letting it wash over you and through and through you.  Repeat it as a mantra.  Be with the silence that follows.  Be with, be with…. 

One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths

Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.

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