Wisdom Has Built Her House: Studies on the Figure of Sophia in the Bible

*****"The theme of 'Wisdom' has never let go of me through these years, even if it was not always central to my work. I, like many others, have my teacher Othmar Keel to thank for my interest in the figure of Wisdom. As early as 1974 he published a very intriguing little book on personified Wisdom in Proverbs 8:22-31."--Silvia SchroerSylvia Schroer's 'Novena essays' bring an all-inclusive, thorough study of the figure of Sophia as Hebrew Wisdom. Schroer discusses the importance of Wisdom in post-exilic Judaism and early Christianity in the Levant. And how, those developments of Divine Wisdom in the Book of Wisdom; and Book of Ben Sirach; the figure of Divine Wisdom overlapped with, and influenced, late antiquity Judaic monotheism and early Christianity.As a religious symbol, Sophia creates intellectual unity in religious thought; contributing to combating of ethnicity "through national identities that are open to the world." As one of her major contributions, Schroer attempts to make the figure of Divine Wisdom a central resource for women's spirituality. In almost all essays, she expounds how the figure of Wisdom may be assigned, or not, for feminist spirituality.The wisdom literature of the Old Testament includes Job, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs. Ecclesiastes are extended reflections on the mystery and meaning of life, and the Great Teacher of Ecclesiastes (known as Qoheleth) resigns himself to see no meaning in anything 'under the sun'. But as a young man who related himself to the Alexanndrine Therapeutae, I was fascinated especially with chapter 8 of the book of Proverbs, and still is.My fascination was where Sophia says, "The LORD formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else. I was there when he set the clouds above, when he established springs deep in the earth. I was there when he set the limits of the seas, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries. And when he marked off the earth's foundations, I was the architect at his side. I was his constant delight, rejoicing always in his presence" It revealed the Logos!Mary Shields underlines that, "Personified Sophia in the Book of Wisdom, "breaks the most new ground, where Schroer argues that the figure of Divine Wisdom in the Book of Wisdom is not only the most developed of the Divine Wisdom constructions of the Wisdom Literature, but reflects a social structure in which women held positions of power and enjoyed a great deal of autonomy."This book brings together much of current debates on the figure of Sophia, which became favorably compared through 'Pestas Sophia' to Gnostic thought that was enhanced after publishing of the Chenoboskion Coptic library, of Nag-Hamadi. Amongst the articles, there is some overlap that unavoidably causes repetition. On the other hand, Schroer initiates wide-ranging historical reconstructions, that require much more convincing evidence. PISTIS SOPHIA