![]() "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Although you may feel that your life is ordinary, in the hands of our maker the extraordinary is always possible. When you start to feel small, we hope these encouraging bible verses will remind you of God’s plan for your life. God uses this rich diversity to carry out his will, and his plans are always bigger, bolder, and better than anything we could ever imagine. We all have unique perspectives, certain friend groups, and various workplaces. Yet God has a purpose and a plan for each and every one of us. In a world of over seven billion people, it’s easy to feel small-to feel as if our day-to-day lives aren’t worth much, especially when we’re drowning in a sea of the mundane. Probably more than you wanted, but there it is: its a complex topic, to be sure!Ĭlick here for Professor Fontaine's book, Smooth Words.8 Encouraging Verses About God's Plan for Your Life Rediscovery of Woman Wisdom by the 'Re-imagining' feminist Christian movement in the 1980s gave rise to the 'Christ as King' backlash, and She just hasn't been the same since, no matter what Her scholars say. Wisdom: can't make theology with Her can't make theology without Her! (and THAT'S not even touching the Apocrypha!) A classic patriarchal conundrum! She is like the Queen on the chessboard of Renaissance Europe: she moves in every direction and is the most powerful player that protects and connects to the king-but neglected in every 'official' description of the power-players of Bishop, Knight, and Domain (castle). Some scholars of the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Gospels see her as the Speaker in the disturbing little treatise, "Thunder, the Perfect Mind" (G. By full NT times in Paul's writings, Jesus Christ is now the 'Sophia' of God, in a way that both nods to the Hebrew tradition, but also normalizes the tricky issue of a pre-existent female figure. Certainly, for her ancient authors, She is a 'Tree of Life' to those who hold on to her, which might lead to discussions of the outlawed tree goddess of Israel, Asherah (legal at first, but debased by Deuteronomists' attempts to link her to Ba'al S. ![]() 8, it is easy to see why some Church Fathers suppressed her per-existent origins others did not, and those who most rely on the Hebrew language have done a much more fair job of relating her story (St. Given the difficulty of her origins and duties in Prov. Taking all this together, for many she is the 'literary survival' of an original Hebrew goddess who was disappeared by orthodoxy (J. Camp), and yet others see her as a 'scribal goddess' who is patron to the intelligentsia of the Second Temple period (Lang). Yoder) others see her as an amalgam of all female roles of the Second Temple period when neither prophet nor king any longer provide direct link between the people and the divine (C. Some scholars have located her 'geneaology' in the upper class women household managers of the Persian Home Rule period in Yehud (cf. She is first Mother who is made manifest by Jesus of Nazareth who is her child, and also the Sender for whom he is the Prophet par excellence in the earliest Jesus-movement (E. ![]() She morphs into some aspects of the Holy Spirit for Christians, the Shekinah for Jews, and doesn't seem to get much play in Islam, due to their concepts of monotheism. For ecotheologians like Normal Habel, she is the voice of Earth, the main theologian of the interdependent web of creation who teaches us Deep Ecology, and the real hidden subject of Job 28. Clifford relates Prov 8 to Mesopotamian traditions of the antediluvian sages who taught humanity how to be civilized. Fontaine), and according to Gerhard von Rad, was the personified outreach of creation to humanity in order to teach them the ways of God and earth. Lang), some connections to Sumerian goddesses (where the figurations there cause her to be divided into Savior/Slayer or Madonna/Whore in the passages about her and Woman Stranger (C. She has antecedants in Egypt (Isis, Hathor, Ma'at B. Simply put, Lady Wisdom is someone who existed BEFORE creation, to whom God gave birth (in a female way, not a 'begotten' way), who both plays in creation, delighting in humanity, but also served as a 'master craftswoman' assisting the Hebrew God with the actual 'floorplan' of creation (R.B.Y. But briefly, here are the relevant options: I have written a whole book on Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 8! It is called, Smooth Words: Women, Proverbs and Performance in Biblical Wisdom a book review will probably summarize all of the options. From Carole Fontaine, Taylor Professor of Biblical Theology and History, Andover Newton Theological School
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |