Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412060012
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SUSAN SEVAREID ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium
The topic was part of a three-day regional conference that touched on other controversial issues such as human sexuality. Conference organizers, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said they wanted to explore religion's hot topics to show how individuals can continue to work together, even if they don't agree on issues.
The discussion of the Bible's references to Sophia first came to the forefront a year ago at an ecumenical conference in Minneapolis focusing on feminine images of God. That conference drew 2,200 people - mostly Presbyterians and Methodists, from the United States and overseas.
Sophia is a Greek word meaning ``wisdom.'' In the Bible, it is referred to with a feminine pronoun and some people have personified Sophia as a prophet or goddess. To others, Sophia is simply a feminine dimension to a God who is referred to with male pronouns but transcends sexual limitations.
The presentation last month on Sophia, or Woman Wisdom, was a Bible study stressing that Sophia adds a feminine dimension to divinity, supported in the Bible, and should not be viewed as goddess worship.
Sticking strictly to chapter and verse was important, said Rev. Erik Strand of Edina Community Church, who organized the conference titled ``A Reforming Church: Gift and Task.''
``We did that on purpose,'' Strand said. ``We're Lutherans. That's what Lutherans do - we go to the Bible ... and we continue to be open to God's learning experiences.''
Diane Jacobson, a professor at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, said the Old Testament speaks of Woman Wisdom as a prophet, teacher, mother, lover and goddess who was beside God during creation. In the New Testament, she said, it becomes clear that Jesus is Sophia. She cites Chapter 11 in the book of Matthew:
``The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say, `behold a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax gatherers and sinners.' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.''
``Unabashed, with no change of gender, Jesus is referred to as Sophia,'' Jacobson said. ``The connections get stronger and stronger.''
Many people want and pray for a female aspect to divinity, she said, but later admitted that idea can frighten some people.
``[There is] fear that it will undermine the faith, fear of feminism - and fear is not a good way to have a conversation,'' Jacobson said. ``Part of my job is to allay people's fears.''
The Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America takes no formal position on Jesus as Sophia.
``We don't have anything nailed down on it, and that's probably a good thing. This is a church that encourages study,'' said Ann Hafften, director for news and information for the ELCA.
Neither the ELCA, nor the more conservative Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod, contributed to the organization of the meeting.
Conference organizers in Minneapolis attempted to draw Lutherans on both sides of the debate, but most of the 700-plus participants shared - in varying degrees - Jacobson's views, giving her a standing ovation and lengthy applause.
``We didn't succeed there,'' said Bishop David Olson of Minneapolis. ``The people who already agreed are the ones who showed up.''
Rev. Susan Engh, a pastor at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, said she encouraged a few of the more conservative members of her congregation to come, but ``for whatever reason, they chose not to.'' Resolving the differences, she said, is more likely to happen within congregations, during worship, than at a conference.
``I see this event not as doing the healing, but as a time for people to gain strength for that healing process,'' she said.
Simply using the word wisdom rather than Sophia may make the concept more palatable to some, Engh said, but avoiding the conflict wouldn't be wise.
``I think it's especially important for girls' esteem and women's esteem [to know] that they, too, are created in God's image,'' she said.
For others, including Martin Wells and Janet Grant of Chelan, Wash., the furor that followed last year's conference left them confused. Wells and Grant run Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat in Washington where the subject of Sophia has come up often.
What people needed, Wells said, were the biblical references so they could delve further into the idea of Sophia.
by CNB