Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Following Her Lead

Let us start, since we are already there, from the problematic of the sign and of writing. The sign is usually said to be put in the place of the thing itself, the present thing, “thing” here standing equally for meaning or referent. The sign represents the presence in its absence. It takes the place of the present. When we cannot grasp or show the thing, state the present, the being-present, when the present cannot be presented, we signify, we go through the detour of the sign. We take or give signs. We signal. The sign, in this sense, is deferred presence. . . 

. . . [the] circulation of signs defers the moment in which we can encounter the thing itself, make it ours, consume or expand it, touch it, see it, intuit its presence. 

- Jacques Derrida, Derrida Reader: Between the Blinds, ed. Peggy Kamuf (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 61. 
 

The Church, in order to maintain its orthodoxy, regularly scrutinizes its terms (biblical, doctrinal) to make sure that references line up correctly. It's the tradition. Wisdom, a.k.a.“Lady Wisdom”, hochma, sofia, has been no stranger to such scrutiny. We've read the press. We've peeked at the commentaries. And so, here, on Trinity Sunday, no sooner is the Church born in pentecostal power than in comes this lady as a “first reading” for the Holy Trinity. She disturbs people. We hear things like: “lest we be misunderstood, Wwisdom is a metaphor.” Or “We certainly don't need people in the pew fooling with pagan goddesses.” Or “God forbid we fall for some kind of two-God creation.” I can see the bumper sticker now: “Who's Sophia? God doesn't need consultants!” But what if, instead of hustling the poor woman off the stage into a safely supportive role for John's Comforter, we just let her be? Why do we have to decide who she is behind the texts of Proverbs? 

Wisdom is accessible. Nothing esoteric there. No Byzantine metaphysics. No New Age song and dance. She waits at the crossroads. She is as profoundly immediate as a child holding out its hands to the beauty of a daisy. But she is never facile. If our idea of wisdom is some kind of commodity we need in order to make ourselves look good, say, to pass an ordination exam, or to reinforce our self-image, or our public image, or to build wealth, then the invitation we hold in our hands is a forgery. It is not Wisdom's invitation. Wisdom's invitation – I filch some of Derrida's language in his critique of presence – is not an invitation to make her ours, to consume, or expand, or touch, or see, or even to intuit her presence. All of that is, indeed, deferred. Isn't it enough that we can recognize the validity of her summons by things like justice, prudence, and the shunning of evil? To be sure, following this lady can lead us to prospects that cause us to gasp at the wonder of it all. I believe that. So why do we need to know who she is off the page? Every time we think we have her in our grasp we are summoned elsewhere.

© 2010 Andy Gay