Three Wise Men May Have Been Women - and Not Wise

Reuters ^ | Tue, Feb 10, 2004

[presidio9]

The Three Wise Men who followed the star to Bethlehem bearing gifts for the baby Jesus may not have been all that wise -- or even men.

The traditional infant Nativity play scene could be in for a drastic rewrite after the Church of England indulged in some academic gender-swapping over the three Magi at its General Synod in London this week.

A committee revising the latest prayer book said the term "Magi" was a transliteration of the name used by officials at the Persian court, and that they could well have been women.

"Magi is a word which discloses nothing about numbers, wisdom or gender embodied in the term," a Synod spokesman said on Tuesday after the revision was agreed by the Church of England's parliament which meets twice a year.

In the authorized 17th century King James bible used by up to 70 million worshippers in Anglican churches around the world, the gift-bearing visitors are referred to as "The Three Wise Men."

Now they are to be called just "Magi" and no longer gender-specific in the Anglican prayer book.

"Changing 'Wise Men' to 'Magi' seems to be an entirely sensible move," the Synod spokesman said.

The revision committee said: "While it seems very unlikely that these Persian court officials were female, the possibility that one or more of the Magi were female cannot be excluded completely."

There is no theological dispute about the gifts they brought -- gold, frankincense and myrrh -- but the prayer has been changed to use the word Magi on the grounds that "the visitors were not necessarily wise and not necessarily men."

Synod officials denied that the Church of England, a pillar of the Establishment in Britain, was being seized by an attack of political correctness and pandering to feminists.

The decision was greeted by mocking newspaper headlines like "The Three Fairly Sagacious Persons" and "Is it unwise to call the Magi men?"

On Tuesday, the Synod will be turning its attention to "Gender Neutral Titles."

Anglicans are debating whether words like "Chairman" can be replaced at committee meetings by more neutral words like "Chair."

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

In other news, the Church of England recently declared that, in order to speed up and modernize the game, all chess sets sold in the United Kingdom will have their bishops replaced by queens.

[ClearCase_guy]

I believe that the Magi were talking sheep. Given the text as written, this possibility, though far-fetched, cannot be completely excluded.

Idiots.

[dirtboy]

The Anglican Church continues its implosion. I still remember a prominent Anglican bishop years ago questioning the resurrection. As a Deist, I have some doubts myself - BUT I'M NOT A BISHOP IN A CHURCH THAT HOLDS THE RESURRECTION CENTRAL TO ITS SYSTEM OF BELIEFS, and I was astounded that the bishop in question wasn't fired on the spot as a hypocrite of the first order.

[Redcoat LI]

Give me a frickin' break.

[GigaDittos]

Hey, I've always known that Jesus was a woman. </sarcasm>

[Kenny Bunk]

THIS JUST IN FROM KERRY HQ

Well, in your typical home crêche set-up, the Magi have always been ...mmmm how shall we say ....Diverse? So, this feminist slant isn't really that much of a stretch.

In fact, I am all for Affirmative Action on this Magi Question. Now, as to the question of Reparatio.....

[TomGuy]

Sort of like the re-inactment of the Wright "Brothers'" Kitty Hawk flight. The re-inactment a few weeks ago featured a male pilot and a female pilot. I wonder, did she represent Orville or Wilbur?

[4CJ]

The assault continues. KJV Mat 2:1 'Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.'

'Wise men' from the Greek 'ma/gov', masculine noun, transliterated 'magos'

[IronJack]

Can't the revisionists find something else to rewrite? How about Cain and Mabel? How about only 10 disciples and two pinch-hitters? And what do they have to say about the Eight Commandments? I remember reading about them in the Gospels, you know, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Bob.

[VRWCmember]

In the authorized 17th century King James bible used by up to 70 million worshippers in Anglican churches around the world, the gift-bearing visitors are referred to as "The Three Wise Men."

NO THEY WEREN'T referred to as "the three wise men". The were referred to as "wise men" (See Matthew 2:1-16). Tradition has numbered them as "three" wise men because of the three gifts mentioned, but nowhere in the Authorized King James Version of the Bible does it refer to the magi as "three wise men". Since the author couldn't even get this simple fact straight, why should anyone give credence to the rest of the findings.

[Charles Henrickson]

The one thing they are getting right is that the text nowhere mentions the number, i.e., that there were three. That surmise could have arisen in connection with the three types of gifts that are mentioned. And the long tradition of the church is that there were three. But I could not say that there *were*, definitely, three.

However, the magoi *were* considered *learned* (if not "wise"). And they almost certainly were males. The likelihood of that is near 100%.

[ClearCase_guy]

I hadn't heard that. And I'm shocked! What about Black representation? Asian? Native American? Handicapped? They should have had at least a dozen people on the Wright Flyer. Or maybe they were concerned that you can't soar with the eagles if you emphasize diversity too much.

[commish]

I believe that the Magi were talking sheep.

Actually, while 2 may well have been sheep, I have it on good authority that the big one in the middle (The one with the gold) was actually a bull named Gus.

of course this knowledge was imparted upon me by my Golden retriever after a long night of Tequila consumption.

So it is entirely possible he may have been lying to me.

[KarlInOhio]

And what do they have to say about the Eight Commandments?

Apparently you've been looking through the President Clinton Authorized version of the Bible.

[TomGuy]

Reminds me of a story:

Pastor gives a sermon. Afterward a lady parishioner comes up to confront him.

A heated argument ensues.

"That's not in MY Bible!" she angrily says.

"Yes it is" the pastor insists.

"No" the lady cries.

"Yes, give me your Bible and I'll show you" the pastor finally says.

Lady hands the Bible, "That isn't in my Bible" she insists, and continues "because I tore that page out years ago."

[GigaDittos]

Hey the Founding Mothers were all women. Georgette, Thomasina, Jamima, etc...

[Charles Henrickson]

The fact that the word magoi is of the masculine gender does not necessarily mean that the persons referred to were of the male sex. That's just a grammatical fact. Words have gender, people have sex (some more than others :-).

However, the historical reality is that the likelihood of them being males is virtually 100%.

[GigaDittos]

How about a flying wheelchair?

[ClearCase_guy]

Three Wise Men May Have Been Women - and Not Wise

And Jesus said unto them: "You dumb broads! What's with this myrrh stuff? What good is that? Couldn't ya get me anything decent? It's Christmas, ya know!"

This verse does not appear in many versions of the Bible, but give it time.