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challenging_god.
Elaine Pagels, in The Gnostic Gospels, argued that there was at one time talk of divine femininity in Christianity, but that early-on it became associated with the schools of thought later known as Gnosticism. The Gnostics did have many things to say about divine femininity. As Gnosticism was cut from the Christian community, so too was the idea of the divine feminine.
In Pagels's analysis, the theological debate was intertwined with a political debate about the role of women in the church. A vivid account of this debate was recorded in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
Some remnants of divine femininity can be found in the Bible, primarily pieces and bits of the Jewish Sophia tradition (from Hellenic Alexandria): Proverbs 8 contains a monologue from the viewpoint of Sophia, and the books "Wisdom of Solomon" and "Wisdom of Jesus Son of Baruch" (both in the Catholic Bible) contain bits about Sophia as well. In this scripture, Sophia (Wisdom) is portrayed as a goddess-figure who played a role in the creation of the cosmos.
challenging_god.Elaine Pagels, in The Gnostic Gospels, argued that there was at one time talk of divine femininity in Christianity, but that early-on it became associated with the schools of thought later known as Gnosticism. The Gnostics did have many things to say about divine femininity. As Gnosticism was cut from the Christian community, so too was the idea of the divine feminine.
In Pagels's analysis, the theological debate was intertwined with a political debate about the role of women in the church. A vivid account of this debate was recorded in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
Some remnants of divine femininity can be found in the Bible, primarily pieces and bits of the Jewish Sophia tradition (from Hellenic Alexandria): Proverbs 8 contains a monologue from the viewpoint of Sophia, and the books "Wisdom of Solomon" and "Wisdom of Jesus Son of Baruch" (both in the Catholic Bible) contain bits about Sophia as well. In this scripture, Sophia (Wisdom) is portrayed as a goddess-figure who played a role in the creation of the cosmos.
