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The Divine Feminine in the Christian Tradition?

"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?"

-- Song of Solomon 6:10


"...Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.
They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.
Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.
But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death."

-- Proverbs 8


"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."

-- Revelation 12:1


"O how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth he suffer with his people; yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them!"

-- Mosiah 8:20


"I had learned to call thee Father,
Through thy Spirit from on high,
But until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav'ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
tells me I've a mother there.

When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I’ve completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you."

-- Eliza R. Snow
 
All those verses up top are some indications of either a separate female Deity that sides with God, or that God also has feminine aspects; something which is lost to much of Christianity's patriarchal spins...
 

Meow Mix

Chatte Féministe
All those verses up top are some indications of either a separate female Deity that sides with God, or that God also has feminine aspects; something which is lost to much of Christianity's patriarchal spins...

But us women are supposed to sit quietly in the pews, obeying our husbands and heaven help us if we try to teach a man about spiritual matters.
 
A

angellous_evangellous

Guest
I see aspects of the divine feminine:

First of all, there is lady Sophia, who is wisdom personified.

Then, and I think more significantly, the Holy Spirit often plays the female role (giving birth, nurturing, she can be the Holy Mother).

Catholics have the Virgin Mary.
 

Eliot Wild

Irreverent Agnostic Jerk
But us women are supposed to sit quietly in the pews, obeying our husbands and heaven help us if we try to teach a man about spiritual matters.


Well, it appears somebody finally got the memo. I'd think you'd like not having the overwhelming responsibility us men have. Dang, I wish I could sit quietly in the pews, obeying my wife and never be forced to teach women about spiritual matters.

I find the whole system woefully unfair, as a matter of fact. Women get all the benefits of being 'godly', like the free wine and bread that comes with the Lord's Supper, not to mention you get a free pass into heaven, and hell, it's us men folk that have to do all the work being masters of the household and teaching women about spiritual matters. Can't you see how spiritual I am? Hell, I should teach sunday school.
 
But us women are supposed to sit quietly in the pews, obeying our husbands and heaven help us if we try to teach a man about spiritual matters.

Every Church group I know of seem to pick and choose, and although we have female pastors, it makes me go back to how Paul tells all women to cover their heads to show their obedience to their husbands... *cough*

I respect Latter Day Saint (LDS) Christianity as much as it teaches about the existence of Heavenly Mother alongside a Heavenly Father, but they are forbidden to talk about Her, because Heavenly Father, God, wants to protect Her name and does not want Her name to be defiled...

Because a Goddess is weak and needs Heavenly Father to protect Her? And I'm sure She's locked up in the Celestial kitchen baking celestial cookies and washing dishes... :areyoucra
 
Haha that was a fantastic mental image :sarcastic :p

My boyfriend and I joke that if indeed this is true, and we believe it so, that we are made in God's image, and our Heavenly Parents reside in the Celestial Kingdom, Heavenly Father must be in His Laz-i-boy chair asking Heavenly Mother for a "sam'mich."
 

Kilgore Trout

Misanthropic Humanist
In my case I can't do anything but sit quietly. I'm functionally aphonic.

The sad thing is though that I suppose that would only increase the number of proposals.

Can't talk back? That makes you, like, the ultimate catch.

And, as far as I'm concerned, your written voice is far more clear and strong than most people's written, or spoken, voices.
 
I see aspects of the divine feminine:

First of all, there is lady Sophia, who is wisdom personified.

Then, and I think more significantly, the Holy Spirit often plays the female role (giving birth, nurturing, she can be the Holy Mother).

Catholics have the Virgin Mary.

There are some Christians who would not see God in the same way that other religious traditions would, in terms of God the Mother... although the Blessed Virgin Mary seems to play that role in Catholicism, and Mormonism sees that the Goddess is the direct Consort of the Male God, and who partakes equally in reigning the Heavens.

If only Christians paid more attention to this!
 

Pegg

Jehovah our God is One
the bible itself explains who the woman is

Rev 12:1And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon was beneath her feet, and on her head was a crown of twelve stars

Revelation 21:9 And there came one of the seven angels .... 10 So he carried me away in [the power of the] spirit to a great and lofty mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God 11 and having the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone shining crystal-clear


Galatians 4: 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother

the woman is the heavenly kingdom of God...heavenly Jerusalem.
 
the bible itself explains who the woman is

Rev 12:1And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon was beneath her feet, and on her head was a crown of twelve stars

Revelation 21:9 And there came one of the seven angels .... 10 So he carried me away in [the power of the] spirit to a great and lofty mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God 11 and having the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone shining crystal-clear


Galatians 4: 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother

the woman is the heavenly kingdom of God...heavenly Jerusalem.

Some people may have that interpretation; the Bible is full of it. Just like how the Song of Solomon is interpreted figuratively as the Bride of Christ, or the Church, or the soul and its relationship with God, or even in the literal sense as a poem between a Lover and his Beloved, so also holds true for every Bible verse there is.

The Divine Feminine aspect of Godhead has been there for all time and in many societies, and is revealed in Scriptures like the Sophia of Jesus, wherein describes Sophia (or Shekhinah, the Hebrew equivalent) not merely as the personification of Wisdom, but actually a Goddess Herself, the Consort who is along God, who is Elohim, or Jehovah.
 

Pegg

Jehovah our God is One
Some people may have that interpretation; the Bible is full of it. Just like how the Song of Solomon is interpreted figuratively as the Bride of Christ, or the Church, or the soul and its relationship with God, or even in the literal sense as a poem between a Lover and his Beloved, so also holds true for every Bible verse there is.

The Divine Feminine aspect of Godhead has been there for all time and in many societies, and is revealed in Scriptures like the Sophia of Jesus, wherein describes Sophia (or Shekhinah, the Hebrew equivalent) not merely as the personification of Wisdom, but actually a Goddess Herself, the Consort who is along God, who is Elohim, or Jehovah.

Paganism is full of goddesses, i get that

the only goddess in the bible is the one that people 'imagine' to be there.

God is neither male nor female. But his dominant qualities are what we understand as masculine which is why he is presented as a male in the bible. But in truth he is neither male nor female...yet he possesses both masculine and feminine qualities.
 

Pegg

Jehovah our God is One
The Divine Feminine aspect of Godhead has been there for all time and in many societies, and is revealed in Scriptures like the Sophia of Jesus, wherein describes Sophia (or Shekhinah, the Hebrew equivalent) not merely as the personification of Wisdom, but actually a Goddess Herself, the Consort who is along God, who is Elohim, or Jehovah.

if there is a feminine aspect of the 'godhead' then Jesus should surely have appeared as a female rather then a male.

Femininity is about submission... Jesus fully submitted himself to the will of God when he came to earth and so he was acting on a feminine quality. It would make sense to show himself as a female yet he chose to show himself as a male. Doesnt make sense to me.
 
Paganism is full of goddesses, i get that

the only goddess in the bible is the one that people 'imagine' to be there.

God is neither male nor female. But his dominant qualities are what we understand as masculine which is why he is presented as a male in the bible. But in truth he is neither male nor female...yet he possesses both masculine and feminine qualities.

Pagan goddesses are vain imaginations...

It depends on if you see that Godhead comprises of One God with both masculine and feminine qualities, or the Godhead comprising of a Male and Female counterpart.

Behold the 'Sophia of Jesus Christ':

"Thus the aeons were completed quickly in the heavens and the firmaments in the glory of Immortal Man and Sophia, his consort: the area from which every aeon and the world and those that came afterward took (their) pattern for their creation of likenesses in the heavens of chaos and their worlds. And all natures, starting from the revelation of chaos, are in the Light that shines without shadow, and joy that cannot be described, and unutterable jubilation. They ever delight themselves on account of their unchanging glory and the immeasurable rest, which cannot be described among all the aeons that came to be afterward, and all their powers."

Both Shekhinah (Sophia) and Jehovah (Immortal Man), either a) the male and female qualities of God, or b) two Deities, created the entire universe. Elohim can either comprise of the royal 'we' or a plurality. After all, we are created in the image of God, both male and female. "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness..." (Genesis 1:26).

This is all extra-Biblical as well, since I believe that the Christian religion goes beyond the Bible, and also into the non-canonical gospels.
 
if there is a feminine aspect of the 'godhead' then Jesus should surely have appeared as a female rather then a male.

Femininity is about submission... Jesus fully submitted himself to the will of God when he came to earth and so he was acting on a feminine quality. It would make sense to show himself as a female yet he chose to show himself as a male. Doesnt make sense to me.

Mary Magdalene was purportedly the wife of Jesus Christ, or at least a very close disciple that she has her own gospel that Jesus has given her power and authority.

She herself subjected herself to Jehovah's will through Jesus, and through her she gained everlasting life. In the apocryphal Scriptures, she could even be considered the New Eve, as Jesus is the New Adam.
 

Pegg

Jehovah our God is One
Pagan goddesses are vain imaginations...

It depends on if you see that Godhead comprises of One God with both masculine and feminine qualities, or the Godhead comprising of a Male and Female counterpart.

Behold the 'Sophia of Jesus Christ':



Both Shekhinah (Sophia) and Jehovah (Immortal Man), either a) the male and female qualities of God, or b) two Deities, created the entire universe. Elohim can either comprise of the royal 'we' or a plurality. After all, we are created in the image of God, both male and female. "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness..." (Genesis 1:26).

This is all extra-Biblical as well, since I believe that the Christian religion goes beyond the Bible, and also into the non-canonical gospels.

the ideas of pagan religions and gnostic writers do not belong in christianity. The apostles and Jesus warned against such false teachings which is why the early church did not view such writings as inspired of God.... they do not contain truth.
 
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