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Denison Journal of Religion

Abstract

In this collection of excerpts from her senior research, Rosenthal examines different iterations of the traditionally female goddess Wisdom. She selects two ancient texts, The Thunder: Perfect Mind and the Secret Revelation of John, from the Nag Hammadi codices. Rosenthal notes the ways in which Wisdom is disconnected and isolated, drawing from David Halperin’s essay “Why is Diotima a Woman” to argue the point that much of Wisdom’s power and legitimacy seems to stem from her being other, and therefore above, humanity. Rosenthal also notes the places and ways in which Wisdom seems to have a physical body in each of the collected texts, drawing from Brooke Holmes’ “The Symptom and the Subject: The Emergence of the Physical Body in Ancient Greece” to specify where Wisdom’s boundaries are located and how she is affected by others, divine or human. The Thunder: Perfect Mind and Secret Revelation of John are used as a framework to examine other iterations of Wisdom, from the Greek goddess Metis to Wisdom-Sophia, the speaker from Proverbs in the Old Testament.

Eva Rosenthal is a Religion major from Cincinnati, Ohio. On campus, she is involved with Jewish life and has a show on Denison’s radio station, WDUB. She is spent Spring 2018 semester in Aix-en-Provence, France.

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