What Exactly Did Mary ‘Conceive’ in Her Womb?

Abstract

The language Luke uses to depict conception in his infancy narrative calls upon established medical discourse for fertilisation. My argument in this philological study is that ancient gynaecology prompts us to give full weight to the literal meaning of Gabriel’s term sullambanein (“to conceive/grasp”) and to ask what grammatical and material object, other than a son, Mary might have “grasped” in her uterus.

Keywords

• luke
• annunciation
• semen
• pregnancy
• mary
• gynaecology