At the Table of Holy Wisdom

In the 2021 Madeleva Lecture, Barbara Reid, Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and prominent feminist biblical scholar, draws out the metaphor of Wisdom as a feminine figure in the scriptures.

Wisdom is personified in the Bible as a woman inviting us to a banquet. Those who yearn most for this message are the hungriest: women and children, especially those of color. Feminist liberationist biblical interpretation is an essential tool to alleviate this hunger, opening the banquet of Wisdom to those who have been left out.

"As we find ourselves in a world hungry for peace, justice, mercy, and flourishing of all creation, one essential way to satisfy these longings is to engage a feminist liberationst approach to biblical interpretation. Learning such skills from Holy Wisdom and her friends not only gives us new ways of thinking and praying but leads to transformative action that has the potential to change unjust relationship patterns and structures."

--From the author's conclusion

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