Mary L. COLOE. Wisdom Commentary: Volume 44A-John 1-10. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2021, pp. 305. $49.95 hb. ISBN 978-0-8146-8168-8. Reviewed by Dolores L. CHRISTIE, Cleveland, OH

This most recent volume in the Liturgical Wisdom series covers in detail the first ten chapters of John, arguably the most complex of the gospels. Many scriptural commentaries are great for preparing the reader for a nap. Surprisingly, this one—although physically weighty and exquisitely scholarly—is not soporific. The Editor’s Introduction promises a “Symphony of Diverse Voices,” noting that there is no such thing as a “single feminist definitive interpretation of a text.” The book supports this assertion.

The author makes a compelling argument that the incarnate logos (a male noun in Greek) of Chapter 1 of John is better described as wisdom and spirit (generically feminine nouns). The incarnate God should not be reduced to one binary gender. God cannot be precipitated into “man.” (In fact, sarx—what the logos becomes—is likewise feminine.) Jesusis wisdom (sophia), the bearer of the spirit, the embodiment of more than just a male incarnation of divinity. Chapter titles tell the story: Sophia Finds Her Home, Gathers Her Disciples (John 1), Nourishes Her Children (John 6), etc. You get the idea. Jesus/Sophia replaces the now-destroyed temple as the locus of the divine. It opens its now-metaphorical gates to everyone who wishes to enter.

While the major contributors to this work are women, the quotations and the footnotes draw dutifully on the “usual subjects” of biblical scholarship. Any serious student of the Bible will be familiar with names of prominent male writers cited in the text and abundant footnotes. The author clearly knows the territory. She goes beyond the map, however, putting on her feminist reading glasses to see more than what is found in the standard commentary. She cites the work of Jewish scholars, seldom referenced in commentaries on John. The freshness of this book, however, is the new insight that a feminist lens gives to familiar passages.

Scripture scholars will find themselves salivating at the rich resources cited. The author begins each chapter with a brief quote from the rich wisdom tradition of the Hebrew canon. It references accounts in which women are highlighted as well as the passages where women—though present—seem to be ignored. Some of the metaphoric language is underlined from a feminist point of view, often supported with excepts from cross-referenced texts.

One of the most intriguing topis is the claim of Jesus: I AM living water, introduced in the gospel in John 4 and expanded in later chapters. Coloe folds in many feminist interpretations of the water image from Miriam’s well to identifying Sophia, now Jesus, as the source of this water.

To her already thorough exegesis Professor Coloe adds some interesting observations applicable to today. She incorporates, for example, a much broader understanding of human reality in the discussion of the man born blind in Chapter 9. His physical healing is much more than a cure. It is a statement that those who are “challenged” or “different” are not to be marginalized, excluded as he was, from social and religious communities.

Commentary on the action of Jesus, the good shepherd willing to “lay down his life,” debunks the notion of pain and sacrifice (in Catholic parlance, “offer it up”) as in itself a good. Another notes the maternal images of God the punctuate poetic passages in the Hebrew scripture. The final paragraph in the book asserts that women, often even today with limited roles in official religious ceremony, “do not need a temple or a cult to . . .participate in God’s being in creation.” As a mother of six, I resonate with the assertion that “a woman’s womb is sufficient holy space for God to occupy.”

Occasionally, the enthusiasm for seeing the feminist illusions in the text pushes the envelope a bit. Nevertheless, most of the fresh insights are grounded in solid, if novel, scholarship. The offhand comment, but obvious when noted, that women have a greater part to play in John than Peter underlines what the author sees with her “glasses” on.

The authors intend the series for clergy, teachers, ministers and “serious students of the Bible.” Would that all members of these groups would read it! The physical size of the book in hardback should not be off-putting. It is quite readable, even for the Johannine novice. When the reviewer, well acquainted with Johannine literature, finds herself turning down pages and marking paragraphs, you know the book is good. It has been a long time since a biblical commentary has so excited me.