The Virgin Mother Sarah:

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" The Virgin Mother Sarah: "
Rami Schwartz

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1075540
Doc. No	:	LA119169
Call No	:	‭10.1163/15700631-BJA10026‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Rami Schwartz
Title & Author	:	The Virgin Mother Sarah: [Article] : The Characterization of the Matriarch in Genesis Rabbah\ Rami Schwartz
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Journal for the Study of Judaism
Date	:	2021
Volume/ Issue Number	:	52/1
Page No	:	63–103
Abstract	:	This article analyzes the portrayal of the matriarch Sarah in the fifth-century Palestinian rabbinic midrash Genesis Rabbah. The midrash not only dedicates a large number of derashot to the matriarch, but it repeatedly depicts her as a model of personal and religious excellence. In order to understand this development, I turn my attention to the portrayal of Sarah in the works of Origen of Alexandria. Continuing New Testament themes, Origen presents her as the spiritual mother of Christianity and a prefiguration of Jesus’ mother Mary. Various textual and thematic parallels help demonstrate that the rabbis were both aware of this rhetoric and responded to it. Based on this, I conclude that the rabbis used their portrayal of Sarah to combat the Christian appropriation of the matriarch on the one hand, and to establish her as a Jewish alternative to the Virgin Mary on the other. This article analyzes the portrayal of the matriarch Sarah in the fifth-century Palestinian rabbinic midrash Genesis Rabbah. The midrash not only dedicates a large number of derashot to the matriarch, but it repeatedly depicts her as a model of personal and religious excellence. In order to understand this development, I turn my attention to the portrayal of Sarah in the works of Origen of Alexandria. Continuing New Testament themes, Origen presents her as the spiritual mother of Christianity and a prefiguration of Jesus’ mother Mary. Various textual and thematic parallels help demonstrate that the rabbis were both aware of this rhetoric and responded to it. Based on this, I conclude that the rabbis used their portrayal of Sarah to combat the Christian appropriation of the matriarch on the one hand, and to establish her as a Jewish alternative to the Virgin Mary on the other.
Descriptor	:	cult of the Virgin
Descriptor	:	Genesis Rabbah
Descriptor	:	matriarchs
Descriptor	:	midrash
Descriptor	:	mothers
Descriptor	:	Origen of Alexandria
Descriptor	:	Sarah
Descriptor	:	Virgin Mary
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/15700631-BJA10026‬