Sometimes our best efforts do not go amiss, sometimes we do as we meant to. The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow that seemed hard frozen: may it happen to you.
Sheenagh Pugh
This revised edition of Seeking Sophia has been prepared for use on-line. It may be thought that in a world where so many books are published each year one that has been around for quite some years would not need to be re-issued. Two factors have persuaded me to make it once more available. Firstly, since it has been out of print there have been many enquiries for it and secondly, I have often received the heartening notice that women who have had the book for years keep returning to it and finding refreshment, so I conclude there is still value in the work.
Originally the book was arranged in two parts, now it is in three. For the first section I have grouped material under the title ‘The Past is Another Country?” The first five chapters are as they appeared in the in the original book, though I had pondered revitalizing them as much of the material is dated. Not only is the status of women in the church vastly different from when the book first appeared but the shift towards greater equality within society has advanced so far, that young women today find this ‘historical material’ both fascinating and unbelievable! This is why I decided to leave it in, not merely to fascinate but also to instruct. I have a very strong belief in the importance of knowing where we have come from and these essays, which no longer describe how things are, remain a testimony to how they were only a short while ago. See my series of blogs on “Things that Only Grand-mothers Know” for more on this theme.
The most obvious and dramatic change for women since this book was first published is the official place of women in some parts of the church. Probably this is seen most blatantly within the Anglican Communion where many women have been ordained to the priesthood and a few have even been consecrated bishops. This is a massive change from the historic model but how far this has altered the status quo is harder to gauge. From the outside one does not get the impression of the organization having been, as it were, feminised, by the inclusion of women into Orders. But then, from the outside, does one have the right to an opinion?
I have discussed these issues in the additional chapter which I have entitled “Phoebe, the Goldfish and Subtle Woman”. The last thing I want to do is dribble on in anachronistic angst which I do not feel. I would prefer to think out loud about the difficulties of feminising the church and to investigate some of the reasons invisibility is a comfortable, not reprehensible, choice for women. We need affirmation, encouragement, enjoyment far more than we need yet more criticism and that from either side of what once was ‘the gender divide’ but is now a continuum on which we all find our place.
The new essay goes deeply into the issues that face women in Orders and dwells, also, on another subject which has occupied me over the years, that of the invisible woman. Originally, I wrote of Mary Magdalene as a template for the invisible woman, now I delve further into this idea because there are more layers or rather something universal, pervasive and more ancient underlying this pattern of invisibility. Perhaps we need to think in terms of an archetype rather than a template. In archetypal terms, of course Mary Magdalene has carried for centuries the archetype of the reformed prostitute; this misnomer has been discussed fully in her chapter. If there were to be a biblical representation of this archetypal form ‘the Invisible Women’, those who ministered, alongside Mary Magdalene and the Mary the Mother of Jesus at his death, would fit the bill. They served Him but were not recognised in their individuality. Paul’s friend Phoebe, mentioned at the end of Romans, or Claudia, the only Brit in the bible, could well carry the archetypal image for us.
As a testimony to how women have felt, and in some cases still feel, the book has merit. There is within plenty of material which I hope is of value both as academic reflections of a feminine nature and as a devotional work that is specifically designed for women. The accent on the Sophia tradition recurs in most of my books and might therefore seem needlessly repetitive but as I find it amazing and daunting that this tradition is still neglected, I do not feel the need to apologise for the repetition. I hope that the meditations and reflections herein may encourage, support and nourish women who still value a spiritual path that has been formed by the faith which underlies our history and our culture but would like some alternative views on familiar themes.
It has become a passion with me, to find new ways of looking at the gospel material that might speak to grown-ups in the here and now. The material is so familiar and its interpretations so formulaic that it may seem impossible to present them as new and vital. However, if we believe the message of the gospel is for all time, then this must be authenticated by their re-interpretation in the language and world view of now. It is not the enduring interpretations that are claimed to be for all time but the message contained in the stories themselves, time conditioned as they are, and they, we, deserve to find our own ways of looking rather than following those of generations who lived within a world view so vastly different from ours. I hope that the material herein will have relevance for people within the church who struggle with their commitment to the faith as well as those who gave it up long ago and maybe also to those young women who have had no religious background and now would like to know what it is about.
Seeking Sophia available for purchase here.
