Holy mothers of God: sex work, inheritance, and the women of Jesus' genealogy*

In this article I consider the stories of Jesus' women ancestors in the genealogy which opens the Gospel of Matthew. Reading these stories in light of Marxist-feminist analyses of marriage, sex work and reproductive labor, alongside contemporary sex workers' rights discourse, and through M...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theology & sexuality
Main Author: Rose, Marika (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group [2019]
In: Theology & sexuality
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Bible. Matthäusevangelium 1 / Jesus Christus / Genealogy / Woman / Sexual ethics
IxTheo Classification:FD Contextual theology
HC New Testament
NCF Sexual ethics
Further subjects:B Theology
B Jesus' genealogy
B sex work
B Matthew's Gospel
B Christian Identity
B Marriage
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:In this article I consider the stories of Jesus' women ancestors in the genealogy which opens the Gospel of Matthew. Reading these stories in light of Marxist-feminist analyses of marriage, sex work and reproductive labor, alongside contemporary sex workers' rights discourse, and through Marcella Althaus-Reid's claim that all theology is "a sexual act", I explore their implications for contemporary debates about property and propriety in both Christian systematic theology and contemporary Christian sexual ethics - which cannot, of course, be disentangled from one another. To conclude, I return to the twinned questions of righteousness and purity which centrally define both theological accounts of Christian identity and Christian sexual ethics, suggesting that righteousness relies for its coherence not only on the abjection of those who fall short of its standards, but also on their labor.
ISSN:1745-5170
Contains:Enthalten in: Theology & sexuality
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13558358.2019.1652031