Early Church Understandings of Jesus as the Female Divine: The Scandal of the Scandal of Particularity (The Library of New Testament Studies Book 557)

Central to debates about Jesus is the issue of whether he uniquely embodies the divine. This debate continues unabated, but both sides of this debate eclipse the reality that in many of the earliest strands of the Christian tradition when Jesus’ divinity is proclaimed, Jesus is imaged as the female divine. Sally Douglas investigates these early texts, excavates the motivations for imaging Jesus as Woman Wisdom and the complex reasons that this began to be suppressed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The work concludes with an exploration of the potent implications of engaging with the ancient proclamation of Jesus-Woman Wisdom in contemporary context. Jesus’ status inflames debate. Central to debates is whether in some way Jesus uniquely embodies the divine: thus the ‘scandal of particularity’. It is striking that both those who affirm and those who reject this ‘scandal’ regularly eclipse a central proclamation of who Jesus is in many early christological understandings. The scandal of the scandal of particularity is that in various Second Testament and early church texts in which Jesus is celebrated as divine, Jesus is understood as the female divine. The evidence of creedal and hymn fragments reveals that this conviction was being expressed in the earliest strands of the Jesus movement. Insufficient attention has been devoted to this and to the question of why this is so. This monograph investigates this question through interdisciplinary research across biblical studies and systematic theology. Biblical texts, as well as other early church texts, are examined, their commonalities are identified, and the broader questions that these sources elicit are considered. It is demonstrated that in the early Jesus movement Wisdom christology and Wisdom soteriology were ignited by significant and ongoing collective experiences of ‘kinaesthetic transformation’. The multivalent motivations for the eclipsing of Jesus- Woman Wisdom in the 2nd and 3rd centuries are excavated and the potential implications of this ancient Wisdom christology and Wisdom soteriology in contemporary context are assessed. Early church understandings of Jesus-Woman Wisdom shatter well-worn and commonly rejected understandings of who God is, how God acts and what this might mean for humanity and the earth. It is this ancient scandalous particularity, which has been veiled by successive generations, that continues to shimmer and overflow with vitality and provocation. Central to debates about Jesus is the issue of whether he uniquely embodies the divine. While this discussion continues unabated, both those who affirm and those who dismiss, Jesus' divinity regularly eclipse the reality that in many of the earliest strands of the Christian tradition when Jesus' divinity is proclaimed, Jesus is imaged as the female divine. Sally Douglas investigates these early texts, excavates the motivations for imaging Jesus as Woman Wisdom and the complex reasons that this began to be suppressed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The work concludes with an exploration of the powerful implications of engaging with the ancient proclamation of Jesus-Woman Wisdom in contemporary context. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/early-church-understandings-of-jesus-as-the-female-divine-9780567667151/#sthash.T4AhFJry.dpuf FC Library of New Testament Studies Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations List of Illustrations 1. The Scandal of the Scandal of Particularity 2. Is he she? 3. Why is it so? 4. Where shall Wisdom be Found? 5. Re-Recognizing Jesus-Woman Wisdom 6. Scandalous Invitations Bibliography Index The Scandal Of The Scandal Of Particularity -- Is He She? -- Why Is It So? -- Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? -- Re-recognising Jesus-woman Wisdom -- Scandalous Invitations. Sally Douglas. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.