Holy Wisdom (Greek: , , "Holy Sophia, Divine Wisdom") is a concept in Christian theology.
Christian theology received the Old Testament personification of Wisdom (Hebrew Chokhmah) as well as the concept of Wisdom (Sophia) from Greek philosophy, especially Platonism. In Christology, Christ the Logos as God the Son was identified with Divine Wisdom from earliest times.
There has also been a minority position which identified Wisdom with the Holy Spirit instead. Furthermore, in mystical interpretations forwarded in Russian Orthodoxy, known as Sophiology, Holy Wisdom as a feminine principle came to be identified with the Theotokos (Mother of God) rather than with Christ himself. Similar interpretations were proposed in feminist theology as part of the "God and Gender" debate in the 1990s.
Old Testament
In the Septuagint, the Greek noun sophia is the translation of Hebrew "wisdom". Wisdom is a central topic in the "sapiential" books, i.e. Proverbs, Psalms, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Book of Wisdom, Wisdom of Sirach, and to some extent Baruch (the last three are Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament).
New Testament
The expression itself is not found in the New Testament, even though passages in the Pauline epistles equate Christ with the "wisdom of God" ().
Wisdom (Sophia) is mentioned in the gospels of Luke and Matthew a number of times in reference to Jesus. His wisdom is recognized by the people of Nazareth, his hometown, when he was teaching in the synagogue, "insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?" (, cf. ) Acts names wisdom as a quality given to the apostles, alongside the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3, 6:10). St. Paul refers to wisdom, notably in 1 Corinthians, "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" (), setting worldly wisdom against a higher wisdom of God: "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory." () The Epistle of James (; cf. ) distinguishes between two kinds of wisdom. One is a false wisdom, which is characterized as "earthly, sensual, devilish" and is associated with strife and contention. The other is the 'wisdom that comes from above': "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." () Revelation 5:10 lists wisdom as a property of the Lamb: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."
In Christology
The identification of Christ with God's Wisdom is ancient, and was explicitly stated by the early Church Fathers, including Justin Martyr and Origen. The clearest form of the identification of Divine Wisdom with Christ comes in 1 Corinthians 1:17–2:13. There is a minor position among the Church Fathers which held that Wisdom is identical not to Christ but to the Holy Spirit. This was advanced by Theophilus of Antioch (d. 180) and by Irenaeus of Lyons (d. 202/3).
Emperor Constantine set a pattern for Eastern Christians by dedicating a church to Christ as the personification of Divine Wisdom. In Constantinople, under Emperor Justinian, Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") was rebuilt, consecrated in 538, and became a model for many other Byzantine churches. In the Latin Church, however, "the Word" or Logos came through more clearly than "the Wisdom" of God as a central, high title of Christ.
In the theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Holy Wisdom is understood as the Divine Logos who became incarnate as Jesus Christ; this belief being sometimes also expressed in some Eastern Orthodox icons. In the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the exclamation Sophia! or in English Wisdom! will be proclaimed by the deacon or priest at certain moments, especially before the reading of scripture, to draw the congregation's attention to sacred teaching.