What is interesting and often overlooked are the feminine attributes of God, especially in the Old Testament, the text that largely informed Jesus’ understanding of God and the aspects of Jesus’ ministry. One of the most powerful feminine expressions of God in the Old Testament is Sophia an embodiment of the Holy. Sophia is Wisdom and the Breath of God. She has been present since the beginning and had a role in creation. God as creator, sustainer and redeemer of creation was and is both masculine and feminine. In fact, the Hebrew term for God is Yahweh, which is revealed to Moses in Exodus 3, is a remarkable combination of both female and male grammatical endings. The first part of God’s name in Hebrew, “Yah,” is feminine, and the last part, “weh,” is masculine. Further to this, in Genesis 1:27 women and men are created in God’s image: “Humankind was created as God’s reflection: in the divine image God created them; female and male, God made them.”

So who is Sophia and where does she feature in the Old Testament? Sophia is written about in The Wisdom of Solomon and is part of a section that is referred to as The Book of Wisdom. It is attributed to King Solomon, but generally considered to be an anonymous Hellenistic Jew writing sometime in the late first century BCE. It speaks of Holy Wisdom, a figure of the feminine Divine. Below is an extract from this sacred text that describes Sophia:

What is Wisdom?

She is intelligent, holy, unique, subtle,

flowing, transparent, and pure;

She is distinct, invulnerable, good,

keen, irresistible, and gracious;

She is humane, faithful, sure, calm,

all-powerful, all-seeing, and

available to all who are intelligent, pure,

and altogether simple.

She is the mobility of all movement;

She is the transparent nothing that pervades all things.

She is the breath of God,

A clear emanation of Divine Glory,

No impurity can stain Her.

She is God’s spotless mirror

reflecting eternal light

and the image of divine goodness.

Although she is one,

She does all things

Without leaving Herself

She renews all things.

Generation after generation She slips into holy souls,

Making them friends of God and prophets . . .

(Wisdom of Solomon 7:24–27)

As we prepare and proclaim the coming of Christ over the coming weeks of Advent, let us seek the Wisdom of the mother goddess Sophia.

Louise Barry - Religious Studies Coordinator