Typologies of Marian Maternity

Chapter 5 focuses on female readings of the fleshly connection between Christ and his mother, Mary. For Aemilia Lanyer and Dorothy Leigh, Mary’s material labour had spiritual consequences because, in delivering Christ, she delivered God’s plan for salvation and inaugurated the new covenant which atones for Eve’s sin. Yet a typological reading of the scriptures also allows these writers to suggest that the new covenant initiates a form of maternity that has, within the Christological dispensation, profound spiritual resonance. For if, as Salve Deus and The Mothers Blessing advocate, the Bible is read typologically, Mary’s maternity becomes a mechanism of deliverance for all women, and inaugurates a form of maternity rich in spiritual issue and consequence.

Literal and Spiritual Births: Mary as Mother in Seventeenth-Century Women’s Writing

Mindful of the complex position of Christ’s mother, Mary, in post-Reformation Europe, this article examines how two women writers read Mary’s fleshly relationship with Christ. Reading the Bible typologically, Aemilia Lanyer and Dorothy Leigh determine that Mary’s material labor has spiritual consequences, because, in delivering Christ, she delivers God’s plan for salvation and inaugurates the new covenant. But, interpreting Marian maternity in this way, Lanyer’sSalve Deus Rex Judaeorumand Leigh’sThe Mothers Blessingalso suggest that the new covenant initiates a form of maternity that has sustained spiritual resonance for all women and has profound implications for the female writer.