Wisdom Has Built Her House

Wisdom Has Built Her House brings together for the first time the collected studies of Silvia Schroer on the biblical figure of Sophia, divine Wisdom.

Schroer presents a differentiated image of Wisdom as female, creator, teacher, prophet, beloved, and more. In Wisdom Has Built Her House Schroer portrays Wisdom as a cosmic ordering principle, as universal architect, and as mediator of all scientific knowledge. Schroer also inquires about the contexts of these writings: about feminine wisdom and women's roles after the Babylonian exile, about the goddess traditions behind the idea of Sophia, and about their significance within a monotheistic symbol system. Schroer then follows the tradition of God imaged as Wisdom to the time of the Jesus- movement and the first Christian communities.

Teachers, students, and those looking for a well-reasoned study of personified Wisdom—and reasons for reinvisioning our own images of God—will find this in Wisdom Has Built Her House.

Chapters are "Wisdom on the Path of Righteousness (Proverbs 8:20)," "Divine Wisdom and Postexilic Monotheism," "Wise Women and Counselors in Israel: Models for Personified Hokma," "'And When the Next War Began . . .' The Wise Woman of Abel of Beth-maacah (2 Samuel 20:14-22)," "Abigail: A Wise Woman Works for Peace," "The One Lord and Male Dominence in the Book of Jesus Sirach: The Image of Woman and the Image of Wisdom in a Misogynist Document," "Personified Sophia in the Book of Wisdom," "Jesus Sophia," and "The Spirit, Wisdom, and the Dove."

Silvia Schroer is an expert in Old Testament and the biblical world. She is the author of publications on the religious history of Israel and Palestine, on biblical-theological topics, and on feminist exegesis.