Three 'Wise Men' May Have Been Women And Maybe Not So 'Wise'

[matcom]

<snip>

LONDON (Reuters) - 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.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=2&u=/nm/20040210/od_nm/religion_magi_dc

[grannylib]

1. Not sure about the gender thing, but the number three is based on the

three gifts mentioned (gold, frankincense and myrrh) not on any other fact in scripture or elsewhere. It just says "wise men": could have been two, could have been twenty...it just does not say.