Vol. 11, No. 5, 1994

Sophia Worship

Craig Branch

One of the more shocking developments at the 1993 Re-imagining conference was the prayer and supplication to "Our Maker Sophia." Participants from Presbyterian (PCUSA), United Methodist, Lutheran (ELCA) and other mainline denominations participated in a ritual called "Milk and Honey" calling for Sophia's aid in replacing the traditional Christianity (Presbyterian Layman, January-February 1994).

The naiveté or dishonesty of those defending the invoking of Sophia as an alternative form of God is incredible. The response of Barbara Troxell, a Methodist Assistant Professor at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary was typical, "I was shocked to hear that right-wing folks thought we were talking about a goddess. [We] simply mean wisdom being the handmaid of God, helping God create the world" (Washington Post, 4 June 1994, p. C8). Defenders of the conference claim that "Sophia" is merely the Greek word for wisdom, used to translate the feminine Hebrew word for wisdom in Proverbs 8 and elsewhere.

The arrogance of such subterfuge is astounding. Apart from the revealing content and context of the actual conference, simple research discloses the historical roots of the veneration of Sophia. Prayers to Sophia can only be understood in the larger context of paganism and goddess worship in general. As such, it is not unlike similar practices directly rebuked in the Bible. Scripture condemns and records the subsequent corruption of the cultures who worshipped goddesses such as Ashtoreth and Astarte in the Old Testament, as well as the goddess Artemis or Diana in New Testament Ephasus.

Gnosticism has had a long history of venerating Mother Wisdom as Sophia. She was the fallen creator of earth, wind, fire, air, and water and mother of the evil demiurge who was the God of Israel (Ungodly Rage, Steicken, p. 162). Radical feminists have been evoking the goddess Sophia for quite some time in their books (The Feminist Gospel, Kassian, p. 173).

New Agers refer to the "Sophia of Christ" derived from Gnostic texts (Gnosis Magazine, Summer 1993, p. 40). Mainline Methodist seminary professor Thomas Oden recalls how a highly visible feminist leader led a communion service at the school singing hymns to and invoking Sophia as "a deity distinguishable from the Triune God". She then invited everyone to the table not in Jesus' name, but in the name of the goddess Sophia, who was speaking through Christ. Oden declined (Christianity Today, 16 August 1993, p. 18).

The Christian News noted that Webster's International Dictionary defines Sophia as, "wisdom intellectual as distinguished from practical wisdom. Wisdom as personified by the Gnostics, those who belonged to several heretical sects and systems in the 2nd Century A.D., which were strongly influenced by Gnosticism. The Church opposed and denounced this heresy" (21 March 1994, p. 8).

Leading spokeswoman for what some term evangelical feminism, professor at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, Elizabeth Actemier recently commented on the Re-imagining Conference, "Some women have reacted (to injustices to women) with justifiable rage, but what they are really doing is constructing a new church, a new religion. It is an entirely different religion than the Christian faith" (The Atlanta Journal- Constitution, 22 May 1994, p. D2).

For an excellent article on the issues of feminism in the church, see "Why God is not Mother" in Christianity Today, August 16, 1993, pp. 17-23. A good thorough treatment is found in The Feminist Gospel, written by Mary Kassian.

The Bible continues to instruct us on these issues. "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:1-4).