Who am I, Lord? Intertextuality and the Image of Mary in the Protoevangelium Jacobi
Date
2009
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Advisor
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Haverford College. Department of Religion
Type
Thesis
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
eng
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Haverford users only
Terms of Use
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
In chapter twelve, verse six of the Protoevangelium Jacobi (hereinafter PJames), Mary, the mother of Jesus asks the question: “Who am I, Lord, that every generation on earth will congratulate me?” Mary’s question about the nature of her own identity is closely related to the question that defines a central motivation and raison d’etre of PJames: who is Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ? In providing an answer, PJames crafts an image of Mary defined in part through a web of intertextuality with the Jewish Scriptures. “[T]heories of intertextuality,” as defined by Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg, “suggest that all texts (either consciously or subconsciously) are in dialogue with all other texts.” The web of intertextuality that connects PJames and the Jewish Scriptures produces two levels of intertextual dialogue. The primary dialogue exists between PJames and various narratives of the Jewish Scriptures, and is established through the relatively direct allusions to characters and events in the Jewish Scriptures that appear in the PJames narrative. The secondary dialogue exists between PJames and other early Christian texts and articulations of Christian thought, including the Gospel of Luke, the epistles of Paul, and the writings of early Christian theologians essentially contemporaneous with the creation of PJames. This secondary dialogue derives from the primary dialogue: the intertextual relationships between PJames and these other early Christian texts rest on the images of Mary conjured up by the dialogue between PJames and the Jewish Scriptures. The effect of the primary dialogue is to create an image of Mary as doule kuriou, God’s servant. PJames creates a biography, or perhaps hagiography, for Mary beyond the details of the canonical Gospels, and peppers this expanded biography with references to characters from the Jewish Scriptures, who appear as parallels to the characters of PJames. Following the model of intertextuality provided in the Gospel of Luke, PJames presents Mary as a new Isaac, a new Samuel, a new Eve, and a new sacred space akin to the biblical tabernacle and Holy of Holies. Through this allusion to and appropriation of the Jewish Scriptures, PJames creates a picture of Mary as a woman totally dedicated to God, her entire self an offering to and an instrument for the manifestation of the divine will. The secondary intertextual dialogue enhances this picture of Mary, building on these scriptural allusions to suggest an identity for Mary as both a precursor to Christ and a type of the ideal believer in Christ.