Wisdom, Reason, Intelligence as Female & Feminine
"Say unto wisdom, "Thou art my sister," And call understanding thy kinswoman." Proverbs 7:4 King James version
Proverbs Chapter 8: 1-7a, The Discourse of Wisdom1
“Does not Wisdom call, and Understanding raise her voice?
On the top of the heights along the road, at the crossroads she takes her stand; By the gates at the apoproaches of the city, in the entryway she cried aloud:
‘To you, O men, I call; my appeal is to the children of men. You simple ones, gain resource, you fools, gain sense. Give heed! for noble things I speak; honesty opens my lips. Yes, the truth my mouth recounts..’”2
Male versus female debates are ugly and déclassé when it is done by a man, woman, or men and women - demeaning to both sexes and the dignity of the human person.
It’s lovely to read in the Good Book of wholesome, healthy, life-giving feminine and masculine characteristics, and one of my favorites are the constant designation of wisdom, intelligence, reason and grace as feminine.
Some women, mostly feminists - and I was one, so I can write with authority on the topic — say Catholicism and religion are sexist and chauvinistic and patriarchal (as if that is a bad thing).
They’re wrong.
I am certain they’ve never read the Bible in English, Latin, or Greek - nor the Talmud or Torah in Hebrew.
For ALL the wisdom, reason, and intelligence, grace, and virtue have feminine attributes.
As well, the Catholic tradition of yore and of today is a mile upon mile upon mile to infinity list of brilliant, forward-thinking, loving and heroic women: St. Bridget of Sweden, Teresa of Avila, Mother Teresa, Mother Teresa et al.
Wisdom, prudence, wise experience, duty, queenly and kingly good leadership, and justice are attributed to the female, the feminine, the womanly.
“I, Wisdom, dwell with experince, and judicious knowledge I attain…Mine are counsel and advice; mine is strength; I am understanding.
By me kings reign, and lawgivers establish justice; By me princes govern, and nobles; all the rulers of earth.” 3 Proverbs 8: 12, 14 - 16
Wisdom is the playful, creative feminine craftswoman and observer of creation with God of mountains, hills, earth, creatures, seas — and of man and woman — and delights in the sons and daughters of men as one reads in Proverbs 8: 22- 32
“The Lord begot me, the firstborn of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; From of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth.
When there were no depth I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water;
Before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth;
While as yet the earth and the fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world.
“When he established the heavens I was there, when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep;
When he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth; When he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command;
Then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, Playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his earth; and I found delight in the sons of men.”4
The Book of Wisdom, Chapter 7 Nature and Incomparable Dignity of Wisdom
“For in her is a spirt intelligent, holy, unique,
Manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain,
Not baneful, loving hte good, keen, unhampered, beneficient, kindly,
Firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing,
And pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle.
For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.”5
What’s better for a girl or woman than to read a Divine description of knowledge and brilliance and intelligence as encompassing feminine, female, and womanly traits?
Nothing.
In the first book of the bible Genesis man has all goods before him - a garden, G-d, all creatures, all delights, but he is not complete until G-d makes for him a suitable helpmate, a woman - a woman wise with answers, reason, intelligence.
Wisdom, intelligence, reason are female and feminine.
And if that’s true, and I think it is, one can read in this verse how a woman enfolds a man, her man, in that feminine wise embrace: “For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man.”6 (Jeremiah 31:22b King James version)
…and delights to do so.
New American Bible, Catholic Book Publishing Company)
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.