Transcript

Holy Wisdom and the Logos: This lecture explores the conceptions of the Divine in Judaism prior to Christianity's emergence.

• The Trinity: Christian theology views God as one essence existing in three distinct persons or hypostases (Creator, Logos, Spirit).
• Origin of the Trinity Concept: The lecture traces the origins of this complex idea to pre-existing concepts in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Jewish thought.
• Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom):
  • Most familiar in its Greek form, "Hagia Sophia," due to Justinian's 6th-century church in Constantinople.
  • Sophia was the world's largest cathedral for 1,000 years and the largest enclosed interior space for hundreds of years.
  • Iconography of Holy Wisdom often includes her three daughters: Faith, Hope, and Charity.
  • Sophia is understood as a divine feminine figure, a mother of important Christian concepts.
  • Sopian Christianity personifies God's wisdom; Sophia's feminine Greek word leads to her rare portrayal as divine feminine in Christianity.
• Sophia and the Holy Spirit:
  • A minority of Christians identify Sophia with the Holy Spirit (the third person of the Trinity).
  • This identification could give more shape to the Holy Spirit, which is often nebulous in Christian thought compared to the Creator and Christ.
  • The Nicene Creed, for example, says little about the Holy Spirit.
  • The word for "spirit" is feminine in Hebrew (ruach), masculine in Latin (spiritus), and neutral in Greek (pneuma).
  • English often uses "it" for the Holy Spirit, which can imply objectivity rather than a thinking being.
  • Some Russian Orthodox thinkers developed "Sophiology," viewing wisdom as a fourth person of the Trinity (which is considered problematic).
• Sophia and the Theotokos (Mother of God):
  • Another formulation connects wisdom with the Theotokos (Mary, the mother of God).
  • Luke 7:35: "Wisdom is vindicated by all her children," suggesting Jesus as a son of wisdom.
  • This also highlights divine feminine aspects but can complicate the idea of God with too many persons.
• Sophia and the Logos (Word of God):
  • The majority of Christian thinkers identify Holy Wisdom with the Logos, the Word of God, and thus with Christ (the second person of the Trinity).
• Evolution of God's Conception:
  • Human conceptions of God continuously change and develop over time.
  • As understanding of the cosmos expanded in antiquity, ideas about the Divine became more sophisticated, grand, and remote.
  • Modern fundamentalism has led to a smaller, more literal conception of God (e.g., "sky grandfather").
  • The Hebrew Bible, composed over centuries, presents multiple, sometimes contradictory, conceptions of God.
  • The Pentateuch avoids anthropomorphism (e.g., God appearing as a burning bush, Moses hearing God's word but not seeing a physical body).
• Historical Polytheism to Monotheism in Israel:
  • The biblical narrative portrays Israelite history as a struggle to maintain monotheism from the beginning.
  • Actual history suggests ancient Israelites began as polytheists, similar to their Canaanite neighbors.
  • A small group of Yahwist prophets, Zadokite priests, and Davidic kings reformed their religion, introducing henotheism (worshiping only one God, Yahweh, while acknowledging others exist).
  • Texts are edited by later monotheistic reformers who present their innovations as ancient practices.
  • Paganism/polytheism is often blamed on foreign influences (e.g., Jezebel).
  • This pattern is seen in other religions (e.g., Islam's claim of restoring Abraham's monotheism at the Kaaba; the Restoration Movement in Christianity).
• Stages of Yahweh's Conception:
  • Earliest Footprints: Israelites were polytheists (Yahweh was one god among many).
  • Bulk of Biblical Writing: Monolatry/Henotheism (Yahweh is the sole God to be worshipped among other existing gods).
  • Later Writers/Editors: True Monotheism (asserting only one God exists, all others are idols).
• Biblical Examples of Henotheism and Monotheism:
  • Song of Moses (Deuteronomy): Yahweh is one of the "sons of El," who divides nations, with Jacob (Israel) as Yahweh's portion.
  • Ten Commandments (Exodus 20): Expresses henotheism ("You shall have no other gods before me"). Yahweh is a jealous God among other nations' gods.
  • Deutero-Isaiah (6th Century BCE): Expresses true monotheism ("I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God").
• God's Universality:
  • If Yahweh is the supreme God, then God must be the Lord of all humankind, not just Israel (Jeremiah 27:5: "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind").
• Evolution of God's Portrayal (Anthropomorphic to Cosmic):
  • Yahwist Author (Pentateuch): Anthropomorphic God (breathes into Adam, walks in Eden, smells Noah's sacrifice).
  • Exodus: God's face is too mighty for mortals to see ("no one shall see me and live"); Moses sees God's back.
  • Moses's Face: Shines after talking with God; Latin translation mistranslated this as "horns."
  • Visions of God:
    • Pillar of cloud by day, pillar of fire by night (Israelites).
    • From a tornado (Job).
    • Sound of sheer silence (Elijah).
• The Glory of the Lord:
  • Israelites often witness the "glory of the Lord" (e.g., appearing as consuming fire on the mountain, filling the Tabernacle).
  • Exilic prophet Ezekiel sees the "glory of the Lord" in visions, often personified (e.g., four living creatures, wheels, a throne, a human-like form surrounded by fire).
  • Ezekiel describes the glory departing and re-entering the temple.
  • Deutero-Isaiah predicts "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and All Flesh shall see it," interpreted by Christians as a Messianic prediction.
• The Word of the Lord (Logos):
  • A very frequent formula: "the word of the Lord came to..." (e.g., Abram, Samuel, Nathan, Micah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel).
  • Less personified than the "glory of the Lord," often referring to the texts composed by prophets.
• Personified Wisdom (Jewish Wisdom Tradition):
  • Texts like Proverbs 8 envision wisdom as a personage who gives a lengthy speech.
  • Wisdom is present with the Lord before creation, acting as a "master worker" aiding in creation.
  • Connected with the "spirit of the Lord" in the Deuterocanonical book Wisdom of Solomon (a kindly spirit that fills the world and knows all).
• Reconciling Contradictory Portraits (Second Temple Judaism):
  • Jewish thinkers in Alexandria (a major intellectual center) used Greek logic and philosophy to create coherent theology from diverse biblical texts (Septuagint).
• Philo of Alexandria:
  • Sophisticated Jewish thinker who read the Hebrew Bible in Greek.
  • Employed allegorical interpretation to reject anthropomorphic depictions of God.
  • Argued that "breathed into" (Genesis 2:7) means "inspired" or "gave life," not literal breathing by God.
  • Argued God doesn't "cultivate lands and plant paradises" (Genesis 2:8), as God is "a place to himself" and fills the universe.
  • Presented the God of Israel as the infinite, cosmic source using middle Platonist terms (e.g., self-sufficient).
  • His allegorical method was consistent with Greek philosophers reinterpreting their own myths (e.g., Theogenes of Rhegium, Protus of Cos, Plato).
  • Rejected literal "six days" of creation, arguing time began after creation (consistent with later Augustine).
  • Interpreted "six days" symbolically, referring to the number six's mathematical properties and its representation of material creation.
• The Logos in Philo's Theology:
  • Middle Platonism: God is the immovable, transcendent source; creation begins with the Demiurge (Divine Craftsman).
  • Philo equates the Demiurge with the "word of God" (Logos) and Holy Wisdom (both present at creation in Proverbs and Genesis).
  • Logos also means reason, logic, discourse.
  • For Philo, the Logos is "the firstborn of God," the "