Related files: Wisdom (Hb: Hokhmah; Gk: Sophia)
In addition to the eternal, mystical silence and the Holy Spirit, certain gnostics suggest a third characterization of the divine Mother: as Wisdom. Here the Greek feminine term for "wisdom," sophia, translates a Hebrew feminine term, hokhmah. Early interpreters had pondered the meaning of certian Biblical passages -- for example, the saying in Proverbs that "God made the world in Wisdom." Could Wisdom be the feminine power in which God's creation was "conceived"? According to one teacher, the double meaning of the term conception -- physical and intellectual -- suggests the possibility: "The image of thought [ennoia] is feminine, since "... [it] is a power of conception."Wisdom, then, bears several connotations in gnostic sources. Besides being the "first universal creator," who brings forth all creatures, she also enlightens human beings and makes them wise. Followers of Valentinus and Marcus therefore prayed to the Mother as the "mystical, eternal Silence" and to "Grace, She who is before all things," and as "incorruptible Wisdom" for insight (gnosis).
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Copyright 1997, Donivan Bessinger. All rights reserved. 4 Mar 1997