Margaret Barker

Wisdom: the Queen of Heaven

The female deity of ancient Israel should be studied using the same methods as for the male. Priority should be given to written evidence, there should be recognition of a variety of names and titles for the one figure in both singular and plural forms, and it must be admitted that as conceptions of the male deity moved away from anthropomorphism, it is unlikely that the female deity would have had an exactly opposite fate. Evidence from the Hebrew scriptures, the Enochic writings, archaeology and early Christian tradition all suggest that Wisdom was the name by which the pre-Josianic female deity was best known.