"For the Hebrew scriptures Sophia was, first of all, part of the creative process. She created the world with God. She was present in the birth of individuals. She was described as ordering all things and making them new. "With this central aspect of Sophia in mind, listen to the way the author of the Gospel according to John (1:1-3) introduces Jesus: In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God And the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through him. "The description of Jesus as Word in John corresponds to the description of Sophia in the Hebrew scriptures.

In English, the Holy Spirit is conventionally referred to as "He", because the Latin word for "Spirit" is spiritus (masc.). In Greek, "Spirit" is pneuma (neut.), leading to references as "It" (e.g., Romans 8:16, "The Spirit itself...) In Hebrew/Aramaic, "Spirit" is ruach (fem.), leading to references as "She". In the "Odes of Solomon'; the oldest surviving Christian hymnal, the Holy Spirit is female. Ode 36

(Odist speaks)
1. I rested on the Spirit of the Lord,
And She¹ lifted me up to heaven;
2. And caused me to stand on my feet in the Lord's high place,
Before His perfection and glory,


 The "Odes of Solomon" is the earliest known Christian book of hymns, psalms or odes. It probably dates from before 100 A.D. It has been reconstructed from manuscripts in the British Museum, John Rylands Library and Bibliothèque Bodmer. It contained 42 Odes.

The original tounge of the Hebrew or Aramaic would translate 'Holy Spirit' as female. Also, Greek would translate 'Holy Spirit' as either female or more likely 'neuter in reference to the subject' and it only became 'He' in Latin and English bibles. Yet, even Milton, in his writing of Paradise Lost, refers to the Holy Spirit and Divine Reason as his celestial patroness!