Volume 1, Issue 3, June 1994

RE-IMAGINING

Last November, in Minneapolis, 2,000 women from all over the world gathered for a conference called Re-Imagining. It was part of the World Council of Churches' Decade in Solidarity with Women. It seemed innocent enough but it aroused tremendous controversy.

Each speaker at the conference was introduced by a chant, part of a Hawaiian aural tradition: "Bless Sophia/ dream the vision/ share the wisdom/ dwelling deep within."

The womens mandate from the WCC was to "challenge and expand our horizons in undreamed of ways." They thought they were exploring images of God that were especially relevant for women who longed to worship God and be Christians in ways that had meaning and relevance for them.

The traditionalists were appalled and queried where was "God the father, son and holy spirit?"

Sophia is related to the Greek word for wisdom and came to be known as the Spirit of Wisdom. This is personified in the ancient Old Testament Book of the Proverbs and was referred to as "she". That did not make Sophia/Wisdom a goddess, but Proverbs did speak of Wisdom as a partner with God in the act of creating the world. "I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight," she says, "rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race." (Proverbs 8:30).

Never did the conference speak of Sophia as a goddess in her own right or as a replacement for God. But Sophia/Wisdom took her place as a female image of God, just as we have many male images.

"Wisdom" became an expression for the spirit of God, emphasizing the spirit's creative activities.
As one woman theologian put it: "This Sophia is not a goddess but simply a biblical female metaphor for the Holy...She does not replace but rather refreshes traditional talk of God and Christ."

Organizations of all kinds are having to re-imagine themselves these days. Why should not religion as well? The challenge is not to abandon old truths but to preserve them by finding new ways of expressing them.

To speak of God in female terms is not to deny the validity of male images. It allows women - something that is long overdue - to be more fully human, to realize more completely the image of God.

The spirit of God is not restricted to the past but is alive and well in the present, leading to a new future.

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Jesus attached great importance to women and put them on an equality with men. This was a drastic step in his time when women had no social rights or voice. Jesus welcomed women among his closest followers and entrusted to them usefulness along side the rest.

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"Religion NOW" is published in limited edition by the Rev. Ross E. Readhead, B.A., B.D., Certificate of Corrections, McMaster University, in the interest of furthering knowledge and participation in religion. Dialogue is invited and welcomed.