Dr. Bock,

I was skimming through Bauckham's "God Crucified" last night and I think I may have misrepresented his views somewhat. Bauckham divides the intermediary category in two, the first being principal angels and exalted patriarchs, and the second being the personification categories, i.e. Spirit, Word, Wisdom. The first category, which I'll call intermediary figures, he thinks the Jewish literature "univocally excludes" from the identity of God, I think that would also rule out any ideas of greek demiurges or 2nd order Gods against Doherty, whereas the second category Bauckham thinks the literature univocally includes within the identity of God.

With that clarification in mind, it sounds like you and Richard are very close in thinking that treating Jesus as an intermediary figure, a 2nd order god of Jewish or Greek origins, is mistaken given the way that Wisdom and Word are included within the indentity of God, or perhaps closer in line with the way you're describing it, Wisdom and Word are personified ways of talking about God's activity in the world. As you say, it’s a short step to an intimately related figure when the New Testament writters describe Jesus in terms of Wisdom and Word.