The Virgin Mary?

Mary and Jesus

Mary's status as the virginal mother of Christ underlines much of the imagery and conversations that surround her. As Jesus' mother, Mary is the feminization of the divine, depicted as a transcendent, sexless mother, whose miraculous conception brought about the savior of the world (Yamaguchi 2018, 75). Mary's importance in the early Christian community is illustrated in debates surrounding the nature of her son, which often included arguments about the nature of Mary as well (Armstrong 1998, 224). Though Mary is widely believed to have been a virgin when Jesus was conceived, recent feminist, womanist, and queer interpretations of her story question this belief. These new interpretations have reopened debates surrounding Mary's virginity, the (il)legitimacy of Jesus' conception, and the nature of Christ himself. As such, conversations surrounding Mary of Nazareth in the modern day reflect the ancient debates in Jerusalem about the nature of her son. 

Sakoto Yamaguchi (2018) theorizes that the story of Mary's virginal conception originated as an oral tradition among women in the early days of the Jesus movement (Yamaguchi 2018, 77-8). She states that early Christian women may have known that Mary conceived a child while she was engaged to Joseph, but Joseph was not the child's father (Yamaguchi 2018, 77). However, though Jesus was born out of wedlock, Mary's pregnancy was not a sin because Jesus' conception was brought about through the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Yamaguchi 2018, 77). This tradition eventually transformed into the virgin conception via the Holy Spirit Christians know today (Yamaguchi 2018, 77-8). In the original tale, however though Jesus was conceived through the Holy Spirit's guidance, there is no denial that he had a biological father, and that father was not Joseph (Yamaguchi 2018, 77). According to Yamaguchi, God's and Joseph's unwavering support of Mary and Jesus was encouraging for women in the ancient world, who lived under an oppressive patriarchal regime that would severely punish them for having sexual encounters outside of wedlock (Yamaguchi 2018, 77-8). In the oral tradition, Mary is a human woman, whose faith and courage allowed her to bear the social hardships resulting from an illegitimate pregnancy, and Jesus is (most likely) completely human, though his life is clearly protected and sanctioned by God (Yamaguchi 2018, 77-8). 

Yamaguchi illustrates how Matthew and Luke used ancient Jewish, Greek, and Roman traditions to transform the women's tale into their birth accounts. Matthew relies on Jewish traditions to center Joseph within the narrative and stress that, like the Jewish matriarchs before her, Mary exists outside of her society's patriarchal norms (Yamaguchi 2018, 78-80). Luke uses Greco-Roman hero myths to emphasize the Holy Spirit's protection and patronage of Jesus and Mary (Yamaguchi 2018, 80-1). Notably, neither narrative discounts the possible existence of Jesus' biological father, and both stress Mary's humiliation and the harsh punishments she would have faced if her illegitimate pregnancy became known (Yamaguchi 2018, 78-81). In this way, Yamaguchi claims, Matthew and Luke do not state that Jesus was the result of a divine, virginal conception, but rather came about as a result of an illegitimate sexual encounter during his mother's engagement to Joseph (Yamaguchi 2018, 78-81). 

Additional Sources: Yamaguchi, Satoko. 2018. "Rethinking the Life of Mary, the Mother of Jesus". Journal of Early Christian History, volume 8 (issue 3): 74-95.

Image Source: pursuingveritas.com