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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.

Christian literature of the first and second centuries CE contains few references to unborn children; where they are found, however, the unborn become an important rhetorical site for constructing relationships between competing religious groups. The Gospel of Matthew’s genealogy for the unborn Jesus provides him with a rich and contended heritage that displays his destiny as well as his origin. In the Gospel of Luke, the narrative of the joyful recognition of the unborn Jesus in Mary’s womb by the unborn John the Baptist establishes not only the relationship between Jesus and John as adults but also the place of John’s disciples within the Christian movement. The second-century Protevangelium of James tells of Mary’s perception of “two peoples” in her womb, one lamenting and the other rejoicing; these “peoples” signify divergent social and religious responses to Jesus. The practices of joy and lamentation as projected onto the unborn provide a means for negotiating religious differences and shaping a genealogy of religious origins.

This chapter examines the evidence of Marian piety from the first two Christian centuries. It begins with the New Testament, highlighting some perspectives on Mary’s role in the process of salvation from a number of writings of the second-century fathers. In particular, it discusses the Gospel of Luke, which offers the most developed reflection on Mary and her role in the beginnings of Christianity in the New Testament. It then considers early Christian apocrypha, and especially the Protevangelium of James, an early Christian biography of the young Virgin that attests to a surprisingly advanced piety centered on Mary’s ‘sacred purity’ and exceptional holiness already by the later second century. It shows that the Protevangelium’s Marian piety poses a puzzling anomaly that is difficult to relate not only to other elements of second-century Christianity but also to later developments in Marian devotion. The chapter also looks at other texts such as the Ascension of Isaiah and the Odes of Solomon.

This paper examines all of the second- and third-century apocryphal gospels to illustrate their relationship to the Greek text of the New Testament. With a few noteworthy exceptions, there is a surprising dearth of actual citations of the Greek New Testament in these apocryphal documents. The major exceptions include a number of fragmentary Greek papyri and the Protevangelium of James. The vast majority of determinable instances demonstrate that the apocryphal texts are derived from the canonical Greek New Testament.

This book examines the rise of Marian piety in the early Christian period. Focusing primarily on the period from the latter half of the second century to the first half of the fifth, it shows how Mary evolved as a focus of Christian devotion and situates the origins of Marian devotion within the broader context of emergent Christian devotion to the saints. The book draws on scattered and often overlooked evidence for early Marian piety, from the beginnings of Christianity up to and including the events of the Council of Ephesus. It considers one important text, the Protevangelium of James, and bridges it with the Marian veneration of the fifth and later centuries through other sources from the second, third, and fourth centuries. This introduction clarifies some of the relevant terms used in the book to refer to the various kinds of reverence that the early Christians had for the Virgin, such as ‘piety’, ‘devotion’, ‘veneration’, and ‘cult’.

This conclusion summarizes the evidence for Marian devotion and veneration in early Christianity. It first considers the Protevangelium of James, whose interest in Mary as a figure in her own right and its reverence for her sacred purity mark the beginnings of Marian piety in the early Christian period. It then examines a number of apocryphal texts that attest to belief in the power of Mary’s intercessions, including the Sub tuum praesidium papyrus, along with the Book of Mary’s Repose and the Six Books Dormition Apocryphon. It also discusses writings by the fourth-century church fathers, traces of Marian cult and devotion in material culture, and the events of the Council of Ephesus that reveal a vibrant cult of the Virgin standing behind the controversies over Nestorius.

Two second-century works—one Christian, one Rabbinic—reflect anxiety about strictly anatomical definitions of virginity. The Protevangelium of James, even as it extols Mary’s physical virginity, casts doubt on medical standards of virginity by appealing to faith-based standards of virginity testing. One sees a similar pattern emerge in the the Rabbinic Mishnah, which introduces a dissenting view at a critical juncture to disrupt the dominant paradigm. Late antique Syriac poetry builds on the nascent anxiety of the Protevangelium in verses that closely resemble the themes and the stories of the Protevangelium of James. Especially noteworthy in its influence is the continued importance of in partu virginity in the texts of late antique Syriac Christianity.