Christian doctrine enshrined the virgin birth to spare God the stain of female embodiment.

Evidence

Christianity’s repugnance for the feminine body is such that it consents to doom its God to an ignominious death but saves him the stain of birth: the Council of Ephesus in the Eastern Church and the Lateran Council in the West affirm the virgin birth of Christ. The first Church Fathers—Origen, Tertullian, and Jerome—thought that Mary had given birth in blood and filth like other women; but the opinions of Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine prevail. The Virgin’s womb remained closed. Since the Middle Ages, the fact of having a body was considered an ignominy for woman. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 365

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Connects to the ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ piece’s theme of how religious/cultural moral frames police the body through doctrine and symbolism — the virgin-birth dogma is a doctrinal equivalent of sumptuary control.
• XREF: The Church Fathers’ dispute over Mary’s birth in blood and filth resonates with the Lindow Man / sacrification material in the sacrifice article — both about bodily abjection acquiring theological weight. — connects to: Patriarchal religions purify woman of her stained nature through male-defined submission — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 170; Christianity granted women equality only by denying their flesh — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 367; Christian theology long held sexual reproduction itself as the vehicle of original sin (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Christianity granted women equality only by denying their flesh #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 367
• Patriarchal religions purify woman of her stained nature through male-defined submission #expands (0.82) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 170
• Christianity fused fear of the flesh with fear of woman as Other. #expands (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 364
• Christian theology long held sexual reproduction itself as the vehicle of original sin #contradicts (0.75)