Content area
Full Text
MARY F. FOSKETT, A Virgin Conceived: Mary and Classical Representations of Virginity (Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2002). Pp. iii + 238. $35.
Mary Foskett investigates the portrayal of Mary as a virgin in Luke-Acts and in the Protoevangelium of James, "identifying both what virginity implies and what it contributes to the characterization of Mary" (p. 3). Parthenia is a multivalent term in first- and second-century C.E. Mediterranean literature. Both of these early Christian texts use "virginity" as a key characterization of Mary; but which cultural images of parthenia are they using and how do they shape them in their portrayals of Mary?
Foskett begins with a review of the images of Mary in the Protoevangelium of James and in Luke-Acts: mother of Jesus, ideal disciple, servant of the Lord, prophet and spokeswoman for the poor, and pure virgin of the Lord. Then she examines the various connotations in Greco-Roman culture of the terms parthenia and parthenos, as used in several arenas: how virginity relates to a woman's health; the connection between virginity and prophecy; rape and seduction of virgins; the monetary value of the virgin to her family; and the vestal virgins as symbolic of the body politic. Virginity symbolizes singleness of heart, honor, power, purity, and salvation....