Mark your calendars now for SisterSpirit’s first ever women’s spirituality conference!

“Wisdom’s Feast: A Women’s Spirituality Conference” will be held on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at Unitarian Universalist Church of Vancouver.

http://www.womenswisdomconference.com

Registration is only $35 if you register before November 1st. Hope to see  you there!

Here’s just a sampling of some of the amazing books I’ve been reading lately about Sophia….

Cole, Susan, et al. Wisdom’s Feast : Sophia in Study and Celebration. 1st ed. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989.

Includes a variety of liturgies and rituals for celebrating Sophia. Oriented toward christian audiences but easy to adapt for other audiences.

Johnson, Elizabeth A. She Who is : The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse. New York: Crossroad, 1992.

See especially the chapter on Mother-Sophia, Jesus-Sophia, Spirit-Sophia.

Matthews, Caitlin. Sophia–Goddess of Wisdom, Bride of God. London: HarperCollins, 2001.

A definitive work by a recognized leading Celtic expert, pagan author and shaman. I especially love her discussion of the Black Virgin.

Newman, Barbara. God and the goddesses: vision, poetry, and belief in the Middle Ages, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2003.

An amazing voluminous collection which includes a terrific discussion about Sophia’s herstory and popularity during the Middle Ages.

Schroer, Silvia. Wisdom has Built Her House : Studies on the Figure of Sophia in the Bible. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2000.

Valuable discussions of how Sophia appears within Hebrew scriptures from a feminist perspective. 

Schussler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. Jesus : Miriam’s Child, Sophia’s Prophet : Critical Issues in Feminist Christology. New York: Continuum, 1995.

Challenging scholarship with a good survey of debates within feminist theological scholarship regarding how Jesus-Sophia is manifest within Scripture.

Shaw, Miranda Eberle. Buddhist Goddesses of India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006.

Includes a chapter on Wisdom as Goddess within the Buddhist tradition, as well as Hindu goddesses (Radha, Sarasvati).