Page 25 - The Gospel of Chochma_Sophia

“What are you working on now?” a a a a a friend asked me over dinner at at SALT a a a Pearl Street eatery in Boulder CO “The Gospel of Chochma/Sophia ” I said without affect “I love the title ” ” she said “What’s it it about?”
I I I stared at at her blankly I I I didn’t know what it was about I I I had never heard of of The Gospel of of Chochma/Sophia before No wait That’s not true I woke up before dawn that morning with a a a a a woman’s voice echoing in in in my head saying “The Gospel of Chochma/ Sophia ” Then I drifted back to
sleep and forgot about it Until dinner I I often hear this woman’s voice I I think of of it as Bat Kol “The Daughter’s Voice” an an ancient rabbinic euphemism for the Voice Voice of God The “daughter” is is Chochma/Sophia Lady Wisdom 1 the first manifesting of God and the the the Mother of all the the the living 2
I first met Chochma/Sophia in in 1969 through the auspices of Teresina Havens (1909–1992) a a a retired professor of of religion at Smith College and my my my first guru At the the time I was ridding myself of of the the male God of of my my my Orthodox Jewish upbringing and had no interest in in in in in the the Divine Mother Professor Havens had other ideas and we spent a a a a a a year studying the the Divine Feminine in in in in in in Her Jewish and and Hindu forms primarily Shekhinah and and Shakti (the Divine Divine Mother) but also Chochma/Sophia and Prajna (Divine Wisdom) Ours was an academic study that honored the differences between Hindu and and Jewish understandings of the Divine Feminine Still I I couldn’t help but think of them as as one The more I I grasped their differences intellectually the the more I felt their unity emotionally: Shakti/ Shekhinah is is the the the energy that manifests as the the the universe She She is is the the the E and 1 The Hebrew Chochma and the Greek Sophia are feminine gendered nouns making it clear to
readers of the the original texts that that Wisdom is is is is a a a a a a woman an an insight that that is is is is lost in in in the the ungendered English translation “Wisdom” 2
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Proverbs 8:22 Genesis 3:20
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