35. JESUS AS WISDOM
Prov. 1:20-33; 3:13-20; 8:1-21; 9:1-9
Monica J.
Melanchthon
Ever since I was a child I was fascinated by the
many goddesses and female consorts of the gods in the Hindu
pantheon. I was intrigued by the myths and tales of these
goddesses and their influence on the lives of Indian women, including
Christian women. As I grew older and began to make education my
career, I was increasingly drawn to the goddess Saraswathi - the
goddess of art and knowledge. I became aware of the ironic fact
that despite having a female deity with powers to bestow knowledge,
Indian women were being deprived and hindered from pursuing
knowledge. Since then Saraswathi has become a very significant
character in my life. I do not worship her as such, but admire
what she represents. While this may offend the Christian
sensibilities of some, I urge you to stop for a while and think.
Reflection:
1. We are all familiar with many of the goddesses and
other female characters in the Hindu epics. Whether we accept
these images or not, they have in subtle ways influenced our thinking,
our roles and the manner in which we perceive and conduct ourselves. I
want you to think for a while of some of these female deities and
characters, their qualities, both positive and negative, as you see
them. Share your thoughts with others in the group.
2. Do you miss having a female religious symbol or
goddess in the Christian tradition? If your answer is “yes,”
discuss why you miss having one? If your answer is “no,” discuss
why not? Once again share your thoughts with the group.
Introduction:
In an attempt to rid the Biblical Scriptures of all
traces of fertility religion popular at the time, allusions to
femaleness or the feminine imagery of God has been suppressed by the
Hebrew authors. The interpretation of Christian Scriptures has
been so influenced by the patriarchal world view that much of the
feminine religious symbolism existent within them has been treated with
suspicion or ignored. Yet we need to acknowledge that the Bible
contains many allusions and images that point to the femaleness or
feminine characterisitics of God. It is important to highlight
these images and study and understand their significance for us as
women and men. Our attempt is not to replace a male God with a
female God, but rather to create a space wherein women can readily
identify with the experiences of the Godhead and enable them to speak
and share their religious experience. In this study we shall look
at an alternate image or metaphor which is explicitly feminine, to
understand the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The Doctrine of Christ:
Of all the doctrines of the Church, the one about
Christ is used the most to suppress and exclude women from full
participation in the life and ministry of the Church. The
doctrine has been influenced and absorbed into the patriarchal world
view to such an extent that the liberation Christ offers to all
humanity, both women and men alike, has been twisted so as to form a
rationale for the domination of the female sex. Originating and
modeled within the Greco-Roman world, the doctrine has taken the shape
of the patriarchal household of the Roman society. As a result,
Christ began to be viewed as the head of the household, the exalted
male rule. This we can easily recognize in the current structures
of the Church, with our male bishops, the majority of male pastors, and
other officers who supposedly represent Christ on earth! Christ
as the head has to be obeyed so too his representatives on earth.
The negative effects of such an understanding is felt mostly by women
and other minorities who have lost the powerful symbol of the
liberating Christ, his identification with the lowly, his revolutionary
and redemptive significance.
For women, the understanding of Christ as
patriarchal and imperial provides the basis for Christ as the
justification for male dominance and female subordination. In
particular, the maleness of Jesus which was and is a part of his
historical identity is interpreted as an essential component of his
redeeming function and identity, and hence becomes a religious tool for
marginalising and excluding women.
What are the consequences of such an
interpretation?
1. More implicitly than explicitly, the maleness of
Jesus reinforces the patriarchal image of God.
2. It strengthens a male centered understanding of
humanity, or anthropology. In other words,
respect, dignity, honor, and power are ascribed to
the male sex because God chose the male sex for
God's Son when he came into the world.
3. Therefore, an emphasis is placed on “man” as the
male sex. When maleness is understood as being
essential for Jesus to be the Christ, then women
cannot attain salvation, nor is female sexuality
treated with respect. Women therefore, are
considered to belong to a lower order of creation.
What do women have to do to correct this
interpretation? Women have to think and work with fresh ideas to
portray and represent Christ in a manner that is relevant to the
context and, more importantly, inclusive of women. The maleness
of Jesus, while intrinsically important for his own personal identity
and the historical challenge of his ministry, should not be used as
theologically essential to his identity as the Christ or as normative
for the identity of the Church or Christian community. One way of
liberating the Christ from its male oriented moorings is to see God as
Wisdom (feminine) and Jesus as Wisdom Incarnate, both of which are
found in our Christian Scriptures. We turn to the book of
Proverbs to look at these images.
Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs:
Wisdom is the personification of God's presence and
activity in the Scriptures. Wisdom is consistently feminine and
plays the role of sister, mother, lover, cook and hostess, preacher,
judge, liberator, as one who establishes justice and symbolizes the
power that transcends, orders and delights in the created world.
The ministry of the incarnate Wisdom is most clearly described in the
wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible, particularly in the book of Proverbs.
Read: Proverbs 1:20-33 and take note of the tasks
performed by Wisdom.
In the first chapter of the book of Proverbs, Sophia
or Wisdom makes a clear and noticeable entrance as a street preacher
and a prophet preaching a message of reproach, punishment and promise
in the market place and at the city gates. She proclaims security
from evil to those who listen to her, and calamity and destruction to
those who don't.
Read: Proverbs 3:13-20 and take note of the tasks
and characteristics of Wisdom.
In chapter 3:13-15, the value of wisdom is espoused;
in vv 16-18, Wisdom is the giver of life and wholeness. She is
the tree of life (fertility?) and those who reach her and hold on to
her are happy; in vv. 19-20, the role of wisdom in creation is
explained. God employs Wisdom to create the earth and establish
the heavens. It is with Wisdom that God orders and governs the
cosmos. Wisdom is the ability, the design, and knowledge that God
uses to create, stabilize and order the world. This very same
wisdom is offered to those who may desire to incorporate it in their
lives in order that they may be happy.
Read: Proverbs 8:1-21 and take note of the tasks of
Wisdom.
Wisdom appears again in the guise of a street
preacher and delivers her speech in the form of a prophetic
oracle. After demanding attention that she be heard (vv. 4-6),
she describes herself, her nature and her task. Her words are
truth (vv. 6-9); they are worth more than silver or gold (v. 10), or
jewels (v. 11). She hates arrogance and evil and perverted speech
(v. 13); She is knowledge and insight (v. 14); it is she who enables
kings to rule rightly (vv. 15-16). She loves those who love her
and those who seek her diligently will be able to find her (v.
17). She walks in the way of righteousness and along the paths of
justice (v. 20), bestowing wealth on those who love her (v. 21).
She was with Yahweh long before the beginning of the earth (vv. 22-26),
and present while it was being created (vv. 27-31).
Read: Proverbs 9:1-9 and take note of the tasks
performed by Wisdom.
Here Wisdom appears in a different role. She
is the street preacher, the designer of creation, the advocate of
justice and love and life, who now enters the scene concurrently as the
construction worker, the butcher, the mixer of wines, the one who sends
out prophets, and as the indulgent hostess (9: 1-6). Upon
completion of the building of her house, she sends out her maidservants
into the streets to publicly announce her invitation,"Come, eat of my
bread and drink of the wine I have mixed" (9:5). The invitation
includes the advice to leave aside immaturity and walk in the ways of
Wisdom (9:6).
Having read the passages and made a list of the
tasks of Wisdom, now compare the work of Wisdom to that of Yahweh in
the Hebrew Bible and that of Jesus Christ in the Second Testament as
deliberately as you can. Do you detect any differences?
Similarities?
Discuss:
The self description of Woman Wisdom which reveals
the things she abhors or likes, her expectations, her promises, much of
which is related to the issues of justice, life, and truth, bear many
similarities to what we already know of Yahweh, the God of the Hebrew
Bible, especially as revealed through prophetic oracles. The
deeds of Wisdom, as depicted in the passages above, and those of
Yahweh, the creator God, are the same. Both are active in
creation, both can bring salvation or destruction through the
Word. Both are involved in the task of aiding, guiding,
protecting and directing the community, seeking and giving love in
relationships. Woman Wisdom is also active in creation, thereby
indicating that creation was not the outcome of the act of a single
male deity but was performed in solidarity with the female principle of
Wisdom.
Like Woman Wisdom, Jesus too was a preacher, one who
comfronted injustice and evil, gathered the lost, the hungry, the weak
and the downtrodden. Jesus is our host. Jesus is Wisdom
incarnate, the Wisdom of God, sent in one form that she might be with
human beings, and in another form that she herself might be a human
being.
Uplifting Woman Wisdom and identifying her with
Christ allows us to:
- Liberate Jesus from the male emphasis and the
consequent androcentric dogmas. It enables us
to place Jesus Christ within an inclusive framework
and transcend gender barriers.
- Enables us to uplift the creative power of women,
acknowledge it, and celebrate it. For too long
men have suppressed women because of their fear of
the reproductive capabilities of women. But
the creative powers of women go far beyond the
physical ability to bear children. I think of
the creativity of women which contributes to the
sustenance of life, the economy, the family, the
society.
- Enables us to identify, acknowledge and celebrate
qualities seen more and associated more with women
than men, qualities such as hospitality, goodness,
graciousness, as the lover and giver of pleasure.
- Enables us to picture God as female, not just with
feminine qualities but also with a feminine body.
- Enables women to continue to struggle and fight for
justice for women and all other oppressed peoples
and the rest of the created world.
Questions for Discussions:
1 Does having such a female religious symbol disturb
you or does it strengthen you?
2 To what extent do you accept or reject this
alternate understanding of the person and work of
Christ?
3 Does it enable you to celebrate your womanhood and
your sexuality?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fabella, Virginia. "Christology from an Asian Woman's
Perspective," in We Dare to Dream, Edited by
Virginia Fabella and Sun Ai Lee Park, Hong Kong:
AWCCT, 1988.
Johnson, Elizabeth A. She Who Is: The Mystery of God in
Feminist Theological Discourse, New York: Crossroad,
1992.
Melanchthon, Monica J. "A Fresh Look at Jesus Christ," A
paper presented to the 23rd Quadrennial Assembly of
the National Council of Churches in India, Nagpur,
4th March, 1996.
Swidler, Leonard. Biblical Affirmations of Women.
Philadelphia: Westminster, 1979.
Whybray, R.N. Wealth and Poverty in the Book of Proverbs,
JSOT sup 99, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press,
1990.