From Whose Womb?

 

Among several fine talks at the 2012 MAR-SBL was one on the reception of Job 38:29 in the early and medieval Latin West by Shannon Marie McAlister, Catholic University. It was quite fascinating to hear how folks such as Augustine, Gregory, and Aquinas wrestled with the idea of God having a female womb and the question of whether this idea was really a true threat to belief in God’s full transcendence from creation (as some modern theologians firmly assert). Gregory affirmed that God does indeed have a womb and “private parts” as well! Aquinas cross-referenced texts such as Proverbs 8:24-25 and Job 38:8, which similarly envision creation as birthing…