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The Greek noun sophia is the translation of "wisdom" in the Greek Septuagint for Hebrew חכמות Ḥokmot.Wisdom is a central topic in the "sapiential" books, i.e. Proverbs, Psalms, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Book of Wisdom, Wisdom of Sirach, and to some extent Baruch (the last three are Apocryphal / Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament.)
By the Roman Empire, it became common to depict the cardinal virtues and other abstract ideals as female allegories. Thus, in the Library of Celsus in Ephesus, built in the 2nd century, there are four statues of female allegories, depicting wisdom (Sophia), knowledge , intelligence and valour/excellence .
In Wisdom literature and in the wisdom tradition, wisdom is described as feminine. In many books of the Old Testament, including Wisdom and Sirach, wisdom is personified and called she. According to David Winston, because wisdom is God's "creative agent," she must be intimately identified with God. [87]
In chapter 24, Wisdom speaks about her origins, role in creation, and dwelling among the people of Israel. Verses 13-17, often referred to as the "Riddling List of Ecclesiasticus", use a series of trees to describe Wisdom: [19] Cedar: "I grew tall like a cedar in Lebanon, and like a cypress on the heights of Hermon."
Lady Wisdom, first referred to as "she" in Wisdom 6:12, dominates the middle section of the book (chapters 6-9), in which Solomon speaks. [31] She existed from the Creation, and God is her source and guide. [31] She is to be loved and desired, and kings seek her: Solomon himself preferred wisdom to wealth, health, and all other things. [32]
Gnostics held that she was the syzygy, or female twin, of Jesus, i.e. the Bride of Christ, and the Holy Spirit of the Trinity. She is occasionally referred to by the term Achamōth (Ἀχαμώθ, Hebrew: חכמה chokmah) and as Prunikos (Προύνικος). In the Nag Hammadi texts, Sophia is the lowest aeon or anthropic emanation of the ...
Wisdom is having excellent judgement of human affairs. [17] Wisdom is insight, use of ideals, positive social influence, integration and mental flexibility with experiences. [18] Wisdom is an active participation in one’s moral responsibility to oneself and others. [19] Wisdom contains virtues such as ethics and benevolence. [11] [20]
The Holy Spirit was furthermore equated with the (grammatically feminine) Wisdom of God by two early Church fathers, Theophilus of Antioch (d. 180) and by Irenaeus (d. 202/3). However, the majority of theologians have, historically, identified Wisdom with Christ the Logos.