Gendering Wisdom the Host

This work looks at the intertextual relationships of the invitations to eat and drink in Proverbs, Ben Sira and John 4. If the first two invitations are offered by a female Wisdom/Sophia, what are the gender implications when the hostess becomes a host in John 4? The study poses the possibility of an ongoing convergence strategy, which may have begun when Israelite sages adapted for a Yahwistic context language and imagery earlier associated with female deities. In a subtle move, McKinlay draws upon contemporary reader resistance in order to counter such ideological moves by the scribes, whose ambivalence towards real-life women is also observed in these works.