Book Review: Sophia's Rosary

Sophia’s Rosary
Rev. Laura M. Grimes, Ph.D.
Copyright 2010
Spiral Bound, $14.99
E-book, $11.99

In my Empowered Reading  for Women list there is only one worship resource listed, due to the lack of material using gender neutral or feminine terms for Godde. I commented that I had a friend who was working on prayer and liturgical resources using feminine language for Godde, and Sophia’s Rosary is the first resource Rev. Laura Grimes has published. Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which I thought was the perfect day for my review of this wonderful resource.

For those unfamiliar with the Rosary it is a series of prayers and mysteries. In the traditional Catholic rosary the Apostle’s Creed is said then The Hail Mary’s are interspersed with Our Father’s (The Lord’s Prayer) and the mysteries. The mysteries revolve around the lives of Mary and Jesus. The Joyful Mysteries include the annunciation and birth of Jesus, the Sorrowful Mysteries revolve around the Cross and Tomb, the Luminous Mysteries give glimpses of Jesus’ ministry, and the Glorious Mysteries encompass the Resurrection, Ascension and Mary’s Assumption. You can see how the Catholic rosary is prayed here.

Sophia’s Rosary is just that: a rosary that prays to Sophia instead of to a male God in the name of a human woman, who somewhat represents the divine feminine. For those who pray with the rosary, this book provides  a way to pray to Godde as Mother and Holy Wisdom. All pronouns are feminine, and the mysteries revolve around Godde as Mother and Sophia as well as women of the Bible.

One of Laura’s goals was to separate Mary from Godde the Mother because women

sense the ambivalence in Mary’s functions as (officially) humble handmaid become exalted queen of heaven and (unofficially) the feminine face of God. If the human Mary is our only faint experience of God the Mother, women are at a permanent disadvantage in experiencing themselves as created in the divine image, compared to men who can fully identify with the divine Jesus as one like themselves. Mary can even become an irrelevant human role model for modern women when she is viewed in traditionally pious terms as the passionless mother of one perfect child, born without the ordeal of labor which forms the sacred rite of passage for all other birth-givers on this planet.

Sophia’s Rosary is an attempt to resolve this dilemma by providing a simple, powerful means of connecting with God the Mother directly, while freeing Miriam of Nazareth to be “truly our sister…” (p. 3).

Laura has rewritten The Apostle’s Creed, Jesus’ Prayer and the Gloria to reflect the motherhood of God and Sophia as Holy Wisdom. The mysteries are both about Godde as Mother and Sophia as well as mysteries of biblical women including:

• Mysteries of the Matriarchs
• Mysteries of Women’s Prophecy
• Mysteries of Women’s Courage
• Mysteries of Women’s Leadership

Even if you don’t pray the rosary, the book is worth getting for using the mysteries as a guide for Bible study. Laura gives several uses for using Sophia’s Rosary. It can be used with both the Catholic and Anglican rosaries, for meditation, or as a guide for personal prayers. It can be used privately or communally on retreats, in prayer groups, or in spirituality classes. Laura has built a lot of diversity into Sophia’s Rosary.

Rev. Laura Grimes

Laura holds a doctorate of theology from Notre Dame, and she is an ordained priest in the Independent Catholic Church. She was ordained as a bishop by the Sophia Catholic Communion in 2007. She pastors the St. Junia the Apostle Chapel. She lives in Dayton, Ohio with her husband and two children. You can find out more about Laura on her site, where you can buy her book. She has been working on using gender inclusive language in the church for both people and Godde for years, and she plans on putting out more resources for liturgical and prayer use. She has also recently released Sophia’s Book of Hours for those who like to pray the Daily Offices (there will be a review up as soon as I get my copy).