How this list is organized
Primary texts come first, because the best way to test any claim is to read the source yourself. Scholarship comes next, grouped by topic. A last section lists modern spiritual and esoteric works that some readers will meet. Those are interpretations, not sources, and they are labeled that way.
Where a free online text exists, it is linked. Where it does not, the book's details are given so you can find it in a library.
Primary texts
Hebrew Bible and Greek Jewish writings
| Text | What to look for | Where to read |
|---|---|---|
| Proverbs 1, 8, and 9 | Wisdom as a woman who calls out and was present at creation | Sefaria (Hebrew and English): https://www.sefaria.org/Proverbs.8 . Bible Gateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+8&version=NRSVUE |
| Wisdom of Solomon 7-9 | Wisdom as "a breath of the power of God" and "a reflection of eternal light" | Bible Gateway (NRSVUE): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Wisdom+of+Solomon+7&version=NRSVUE |
| Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24 | Wisdom's own hymn of praise | Bible Gateway (NRSVUE): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Sirach+24&version=NRSVUE |
| Genesis 1:2 | Ruach, the spirit or wind of God | Sefaria: https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.1 |
| 1 Kings 15:13; 18:19 | Asherah at the royal court | Bible Gateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+15:13&version=NRSVUE |
| 2 Kings 21:7; 23:4-7 | Asherah's image in the temple and its removal | Bible Gateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+23&version=NRSVUE |
| Jeremiah 7:18; 44:15-19 | Offerings to "the queen of heaven" | Bible Gateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+44&version=NRSVUE |
Inscriptions
| Text | What to look for | Where to read |
|---|---|---|
| Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions (c. 800 BCE) | "Yahweh of Samaria and his asherah," "Yahweh of Teman and his asherah" | Ze'ev Meshel et al., Kuntillet ʿAjrud (Ḥorvat Teman) (Israel Exploration Society, 2012). Overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuntillet_Ajrud |
| Khirbet el-Qom Tomb 2 inscription (8th century BCE) | A blessing "by Yahweh" and "his asherah" | Overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khirbet_el-Qom . Full discussion in Hadley (2000), below. |
Early Christian texts
| Text | What to look for | Where to read |
|---|---|---|
| Luke 8:1-3; John 20:1-18 | Mary Magdalene as follower and first witness | Bible Gateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+20&version=NRSVUE |
| The Gospel of Mary | Mary teaches the disciples; Peter, Andrew, and Levi respond | Gnostic Society Library: http://gnosis.org/library/marygosp.htm |
| The Apocryphon (Secret Book) of John | Sophia's story, Barbelo, and the creation myth | Trans. Frederik Wisse: http://gnosis.org/naghamm/apocjn.html . Long version, trans. Michael Waldstein and Frederik Wisse: http://gnosis.org/naghamm/apocjn-long.html |
| The Sophia of Jesus Christ | The Savior teaches the disciples, including Mary | http://gnosis.org/naghamm/sjc.html |
| The Hypostasis of the Archons | Another telling of Sophia and the rulers | Trans. Bentley Layton: http://gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html |
| The Thunder, Perfect Mind | A feminine divine voice speaking in paradoxes | Trans. George W. MacRae: http://gnosis.org/naghamm/thunder.html |
| The Gospel of Philip | Mary Magdalene as "companion" | Trans. Wesley W. Isenberg: http://gnosis.org/naghamm/gop.html |
| Pistis Sophia | Sophia's fall and repentances; Mary Magdalene as chief questioner | Trans. G. R. S. Mead: http://gnosis.org/library/psoph.htm |
| The full Nag Hammadi Library | All tractates, with introductions | Gnostic Society Library index: http://gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html |
| Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 (367 CE) | An early list of canonical books, and books "to be read" | New Advent: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2806039.htm |
| Origen, Commentary on John 2.12 | Quotes the Gospel of the Hebrews: "my mother, the Holy Spirit" | Overview of the fragment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_the_Hebrews |
Isis
| Text | What to look for | Where to read |
|---|---|---|
| Apuleius, The Golden Ass, Book 11 (2nd century CE) | Isis's self-revelation and the procession of her festival | Trans. William Adlington, Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1666 |
Scholarship
Sophia and Wisdom
- Claudia V. Camp, Wisdom and the Feminine in the Book of Proverbs (Almond Press, 1985).
- James M. Robinson, general editor, The Nag Hammadi Library in English (HarperSanFrancisco / Brill, revised edition 1988). The standard English translation for a generation.
- Marvin Meyer, editor, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (HarperOne, 2007). A newer complete translation with introductions; includes the Gospel of Mary.
- Michael A. Williams, Rethinking "Gnosticism": An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category (Princeton University Press, 1996).
- Karen L. King, What Is Gnosticism? (Harvard University Press, 2003).
- Nicola Denzey Lewis and Justine Ariel Blount, "Rethinking the Origins of the Nag Hammadi Codices," Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no. 2 (2014): 399-419. https://www.tonyburke.ca/wp-content/uploads/Lewis-and-Blount-Rethinking-NHL.pdf
- Carl Schmidt (text) and Violet MacDermot (translation), Pistis Sophia (Nag Hammadi Studies 9, Brill, 1978).
Asherah
- William G. Dever, Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel (Eerdmans, 2005).
- Judith M. Hadley, The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess (Cambridge University Press, 2000).
- Saul M. Olyan, Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel (Scholars Press, 1988).
- Mark S. Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (2nd ed., Eerdmans, 2002).
- Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel (Fortress Press, 1998).
- Ze'ev Meshel et al., Kuntillet ʿAjrud (Ḥorvat Teman): An Iron Age II Religious Site on the Judah-Sinai Border (Israel Exploration Society, 2012).
- April Lynn Downey, "Asherah," World History Encyclopedia (2020): https://www.worldhistory.org/Asherah/
The Shekhinah and Jewish feminine imagery
- Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess (3rd enlarged ed., Wayne State University Press, 1990).
- Gershom Scholem, On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead (Schocken, 1991), especially the chapter on the Shekhinah.
- Yehudah Mirsky, "Feminine Images of God," Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/feminine-images-of-god
- My Jewish Learning, "Shekhinah: The Divine Feminine": https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-divine-feminine-in-kabbalah-an-example-of-jewish-renewal/
The Spirit as feminine
- Sebastian Brock, "The Holy Spirit as Feminine in Early Syriac Literature," in After Eve, ed. Janet Martin Soskice (1990): https://womenpriests.org/?p=1930
- Susan Ashbrook Harvey, "Feminine Imagery for the Divine: The Holy Spirit, the Odes of Solomon, and Early Syriac Tradition," St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 37 (1993).
Mary Magdalene
- Karen L. King, The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle (Polebridge Press, 2003).
- Christopher Tuckett, The Gospel of Mary (Oxford University Press, 2007).
- Susan Haskins, Mary Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor (Harcourt Brace, 1994).
- James Carroll, "Who Was Mary Magdalene?", Smithsonian Magazine (2006): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-was-mary-magdalene-119565482/
- Holy See Press Office, decree raising the celebration of St. Mary Magdalene to a feast (2016): https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/06/10/160610c.html
Isis
- Laurent Bricault, Isis Pelagia: Images, Names and Cults of a Goddess of the Seas, trans. Gil H. Renberg (Brill, 2020).
- J. Gwyn Griffiths, Apuleius of Madauros: The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (Brill, 1975).
- Jitse H. F. Dijkstra, Philae and the End of Ancient Egyptian Religion (Peeters, 2008). Review: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/?p=26464
- Sabrina Higgins, "Divine Mothers: The Influence of Isis on the Virgin Mary in Egyptian Lactans-Iconography," Journal of the Canadian Society for Coptic Studies 3 (2012): https://www.lockwoodonlinejournals.com/index.php/jcscs/article/view/99
Modern spiritual and esoteric readings (Column C)
These books are interpretations written for spiritual seekers. They are not historical sources, and claims in them should be checked against the texts and scholarship above.
- G. R. S. Mead, Echoes from the Gnosis series (1906-1908). Mead was a Theosophist as well as a translator; his introductions mix scholarship of his time with his own views.
- Samael Aun Weor, Pistis Sophia Unveiled. A commentary from the Gnostic movement he founded in the twentieth century. It reflects his own teaching rather than the ancient context of the text.
Sources
Every link and book on this page is a source. The links were checked in October 2026. Additional sources consulted: - Wikipedia, "Askew Codex": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Askew_Codex - Wikipedia, "Gospel of Mary": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mary - Wikipedia, "Asherah": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah