The Conversation

How the cult of Virgin Mary turned a symbol of female authority into a tool of patriarchy

Author: Dorothy Ann Lee, Stewart Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity College, University of Divinity

Madonna with child and angels by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato, 1674. The cult of the Virgin is emblematic of the way the church silences women and marginalises their experienceWikimedia Commons

Belief in the virgin birth comes from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Their birth stories are different, but both present Mary as a virgin when...

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