On the Matter of My Nom de Plume

I chose the name Sophia when I was reading about people taking "Muslim" names when they convert. There's a lot of debate on whether such a thing is necessary, on whether it has to be an Arab name or not, etc. My opinion is that it's not needed, but it might be beneficial. I also don't think it has to be from any particular nationality. I decided that IF I converted and IF I wanted a name to reflect that, it would be Sophia - thus the name of the blog. I read the Bible a long time ago because I was curious, and Proverbs chapter 8 caught my eye. It refers to a personification of wisdom, but some translations simply use the Greek word for wisdom: Sophia. Thus the title of this blog, Theosophia, literally means "god-wisdom".

I'm reading a fascinating book right now; No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan. I hope to write more on this book, but there was a section I read recently that just about made my heart skip a beat:

"Others have suggested that Sufi is a corruption of the Greek word sophia: "wisdom". This is also unlikely, though there is a tempting symbolic connection between the two words. For if sophia is to be understood in its Aristotelian sense as "knowledge of ultimate things," then it is very much related to the term Sufi, just not linguistically."

How 'bout that! I definitely want to study more about Sufism, but I have been trying to ground myself in "the basics" of Islam first. I feel kinda bad... I have read half a dozen books about Islam in the past two months, and I still haven't finished the Quran! Part of the problem is I just bounced around reading whatever section caught my attention, then researching the meaning and history behind certain difficult verses, taking some notes, and bouncing around some more. I decided a few weeks ago to start over from the beginning to make sure I don't miss anything... and I'm only 1/4 of the way through! Oh well, after I finish the book I'm on I'll pick up where I left off... at least now I'm keeping track.