Wisdom

“The beginning of wisdom lies in taking seriously that we are dealing with a reality that transcends the world of the everyday, even as that reality is known in the world of the everyday.  (Marcus Borg)

I believe that his female personification of Wisdom is important for a number of reasons. First, the illustration that Wisdom is something real and tangible.  Something we can truly and fully know rather than something conceptualized or idealized.  Wisdom is a real thing that we can come to understand through effort, study and adherence to its manifested leadings.  Also, I believe that it is important to show the female gender in a different light than what may be found in some other books of the bible such as Hosea 1:2-3:5 or Amos 7, where the wives of the Prophets are described as prostitutes even if meant allegorically it does damage in the hands of patriarchal conservatives.  The prejudice in scripture against women can be seen as early as Genesis where blame for the fall is cast upon Eve.  In Exodus 20:17 we see women described as property. Leviticus 12 teaches that women are made unclean by giving birth (of course for a longer period for girls as opposed to boys) and in Chapter 15 we see the text condemn them to uncleanlieness for something as natural as a menstrual cycle.  The “test” for adultery in Numbers 5:13-21 or the “virgin” test of Deuteronomy 22:13-21 are truly barbarous folly.  As we move through the scriptures we find more and more unflattering and cruel representations of women.  Deuteronomy 22:28-29 is perhaps one of the most insensitive and cruel, commanding that a woman is required to marry her own rapist.

Admittedly the personification of Lady Wisdom-Sophia is counterpoised by Mistress Folly but, even in that incarnation the feminine image is independent, alluring, and powerful and compelling in her own right, something that seems lacking elsewhere in scripture.