The Female Ancestors of Christ

by Ann Belford Ulanov

Overview

The spiritual power of the Feminine shines forth in this psychological study of four Old Testament heroines from Jesus’ family tree. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba are the only women mentioned by name in the Gospels’ genealogies and, for Ann Belford Ulanov, this indicates that they impart something essential to the lineage of Christ. By exploring their brave and unconventional lives, she demonstrates how salvation enters the world in the feminine mode of being human, through these women’s embodiment of such powerful and deeply feminine qualities as ingenuity, audacity, determination, compassion, seduction, and devotion.

“Like bolts of lightning, the stories of these outcast virgins illuminate what spiritual wholeness can be in the lives of contemporary women and men.
Ann Ulanov’s riveting insights into their daring acts reveal their deep significance in the genealogy of Jesus and expand our understanding of the words courage and love.” — Marion Woodman, author of "Addiction to Perfection" and "Leaving my Father’s House"

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783856309817
Publisher:	Daimon
Publication date:	05/14/2020
Sold by:	Hallenberger Media
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
File size:	654 KB

About the Author

Biography: ANN BELFORD ULANOV, author of "Receiving Woman: Studies in the Psychology and Theology of the Feminine", "The Wizards’ Gate: Picturing Consciousness" and several other titles, was Professor of Psychiatry and Religion at Union Theological Seminary, New York City.

Table of Contents

Why These Women? Why These Four?     1
Tamar     20
Rahab     34
Ruth     46
Bathsheba     66
Conclusion     84
Notes     95
Appendix     109
Index     123

Editorial Reviews

Ulanov ( The Feminine in Jungian Psychology and Christian Theology ) seeks in this slim volume to aid in the rediscovery of the female voice in the Christian religious tradition. Her vehicle is a reexamination of the four women listed in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel according to Matthew. Ruth is the Moabite widow who with the help of her mother-in-law secures a new marriage. Tamar, also a widow, disguises herself as a prostitute and seduces her own father-in-law to produce a child. Rahab is a Canaanite prostitute who, in order to save her family, betrays her own people to aid the Israelite invaders. Bathsheba, whose affair with and marriage to King David were the source of many problems, rounds out the list. Why would such people be included in the lineage of Jesus? According to the author, they embody and closely link sexuality and spirituality, symbolizing Jesus' feminine side. Ulanov's style, however, is difficult and her writing frequently seems deliberately obtuse. Her psychological analyses must often be taken on faith. These flaws obscure the vitality of her argument and risk leaving these women as voiceless as Ulanov shows Bathsheda to be in the biblical text. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In the long line of "begats" named in the Gospel of St. Matthew, only four women ancestors of Jesus Christ are listed. These four women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, are the subjects of a slender yet intriguing study by a professor of psychiatry and religion at Union Theological Seminary. Tamar is in the Book of Genesis. She becomes the wife of Judah, brother of Joseph, by stealth and deceit. Rahab, in the Book of Joshua, strikes a deal with the people of Israel to save her family and herself. She becomes Salmon's wife and Boaz's mother. Ruth, like Tamar and Rahab, is an outsider. Her intrepid love for her mother-in-law, Naomi, produces one of the famous Old Testament passages, "Where you go, I go," etc. The fourth woman, described as "the wife of Uriah," is better known as Bathsheba, whose beauty obsessed King David. David, who repented his sin with Bathsheba for years, later named Solomon, their son, as king at Bathsheba's request. All four women's stories relate to their sexual and spiritual link to their spouses and ultimately to God's will for them and the House of Israel. This is an absorbing and worthwhile study.

Eugene Sullivan