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Chapter 4 examines the earliest representations of Mary in childbirth in writings dating from the second and early third centuries, including Odes of Solomon, Ascension of Isaiah, Protevangelium of James, and works by Tertullian. In a period in which Mary is not yet canonized as a uniquely sinless Eve, her virginity is interpreted in multiple and complex ways. Mary’s childbearing body is located in the context of both ancient and modern discourses about childbirth. Drawing theoretically on the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty as well as feminist philosophers including Elizabeth Grosz, Luce Irigiray, and Julia Kristeva, chapter 4 considers the parturient body—Mary’s body and, by extension, the bodies of other childbearing women—as a site of corporal knowledge. Corporal knowing begins in the womb.

A survey of the history of the idea of Mary's virginitas in partu shows that the notion had only marginal support in the tradition of the first three centuries. Associated with both docetism and encratism, the doctrine was opposed even by ascetically minded teachers, such as Tertullian and Origen. In the late fourth century, however, the notion of Mary's virginitas in partu reappeared in the sermons of Zeno of Verona and the ascetical treatises of Ambrose; Jerome, by contrast, was more reticent about embracing the idea. Jovinian's opposition to the virginitas in partu, therefore, stood squarely in the mainstream of Christian opinion, as it had developed by the late fourth century.

The conclusion takes up two small fragments not yet analyzed in the book: scenes of paradise and Adam and Eve. Focusing on how the primordial couple was understood in early Syrian Christianity enables a recapitulation of some of the themes of the book, while also showcasing the common initiatory ideas of new creation and paradise restored. The book then ends with a reflective reading of one of the earliest Christian collections of “hymns,” the Odes of Solomon, widely considered to be from second- or third-century Syria. We cannot know for sure exactly what words were on the minds and lips of initiates at Dura-Europos, but many of these odes echo the spiritual themes, biblical narratives, and notions of salvation that were precisely emphasized in this room. Dwelling on representative motifs from these Odes offers a fitting end to this historical reconstruction of the Christian community at Dura-Europos.

The fifth chapter categorizes various early Christian opinions on who exactly was saved during Christ's descent to the underworld or Hades, an event known in later theology as the “harrowing of hell.” Most early theologians posit that only the righteous of the Old Testament were saved, but some texts, like the Odes of Solomon, infer that a general offer of salvation to all the dead was made at that time. Clement of Alexandria interpreted 1 Peter from the New Testament in the same direction. John Chrysostom and Philaster of Brescia were adamant that no one “converted” in hell; only those who had been righteous in this life were eligible to receive Christ in the underworld. Two different versions of the Gospel of Nicodemus give two different answers to this question.

Major Christian writers in the second century saw Jesus largely in terms of God’s self-revelation in the long history of Israel. Central themes included the person of Jesus as God’s “Beloved,” an understanding of his death as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, the celebration of Jewish liturgical feasts, and a sense that in the Church the ancient vocation of Israel was now being extended to include all nations. Works examined include the Odes of Solomon, a collection of prophetic Syriac hymns; the letters of Ignatius of Antioch; the Ascension of Isaiah; the Paschal homily of Melito of Sardis, developing the understanding of Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection as the final meaning of Israel’s Exodus and its later Passover celebration; and the writings of Justin, the second-century Christian “philosopher,” which identify the story of Jesus, his death and resurrection, as the final embodiment of divine wisdom for Jews and gentiles.

Models of self and agency changed over the course of the history of ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism in response to historical and cultural changes. But they were also--in ways less easy to define--part of broader cultural explorations of the nature of the self that can be traced in Greco-Roman culture and later Christian formulations of anthropology.