Wisdom is a Woman: Exploring the Wisdom of God

Wisdom is a woman. That is not just my opinion or some new academic theory. Wisdom is a woman because the Bible tells us so. It tells us that wisdom is more than just a benefit or a characteristic. In the Bible, wisdom is sometimes a person. When so personified, wisdom is always a woman. Sometimes she is Lady Wisdom. Sometimes she is Madame Insight. Most often she goes incognito; yet the shadow she casts is always a female form. Perhaps it is this very tendency to eschew the spotlight that has allowed us to overlook her for so long. It has not helped that pastors, theologians, and Bible scholars have historically been men. And much of Scripture chronicles God's interaction with men, not women. But what if this centuries-long focus of and on men has had a subtle influence on Christian orthodoxy? What if some passages in Scripture remain unexplored, as undisturbed as the thick layer of dust that covers the top of every refrigerator in America? Wisdom Is a Woman examines just such dust-laden biblical passages. This is a journey of discovery that helps us look at things we thought we knew with fresh eyes. Luckily for us, we do not take this journey into dusty cupboards and overgrown gardens alone. Our guide throughout is Lady Wisdom, a formidable dame who knows every stone, tree root, and hidden pitfall along the way. She will take us back to the very beginnings of our world. We will focus for a time on Biblical women, from Eve to Priscilla. We will examine women in a general sense, looking for clues in our study of wisdom. We will visit the Proverbs 31 woman and tour Lady Wisdom's academy. Our journey will compare the lives and work of two wise Biblical men and end with a step-by-step correlation between women and wisdom.