Black Baptist feminist theologians exalted Mary to sanctify womanhood against its degradation

Evidence

Since motherhood was regarded as the greatest sanctity, Mary the mother of Jesus personified the highest expression of womanhood. Of all biblical mothers, she assumed the position of the “last and sublimest illustration in this relation.”2’ Hers was motherhood in its purest, most emphatically female form, for it was virginal and thus without the intercession of a man. To the feminist theologians of the black Baptist church, Jesus, conceived from the union of woman and the Angel of God, became the fruition of God’s commandment in Genesis. Mary Cook used her knowledge of ancient history and the Latin classics to add further insight concerning the virgin mother theme: she revealed its roots in antiquity by calling attention to the concept of virgin mother as a literary motif. Citing parallels with the story of the twins, Remus and Romulus, the mythical founders of Rome, Mary Cook posited, “Silvia became their mother by the God Mars, even as Christ was the son of the Holy Ghost.” — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 601

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Higginbotham’s core politics-of-respectability thesis: women countering external degradation by elevating a pure, self-respecting female image. Also connects to how oppressed groups appropriate and invert dominant domesticity ideals, like the earlier chapters on the women’s convention’s uplift ideology. — connects to: Black Baptist women theologians rejected feminine weakness in favor of womanly power. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 597; Black Baptist women deployed biblical orthodoxy to claim gender equality — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 563; Black Baptist women invoked biblical heroines to justify denominational gender parity — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 594 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Black Baptist women deployed biblical orthodoxy to claim gender equality #expands (0.78) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 563
• Black Baptist women invoked biblical heroines to justify denominational gender parity #expands (0.76) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 594
• Black Baptist feminists built their claims on biblical women like Deborah and Huldah #expands (0.75) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 623