| This work examines texts within the New Testament related to reproduction and childbirth to determine whether there is a consistent attitude across the texts regarding infertility, including either biological or chosen states of non-reproduction. The majority of examined texts will show that, contrary to the dominant social attitudes of the time, the writings of the New Testament allow space for women (and men) who are not reproducing to read themselves as valued members of the community outside of their reproductive (in)capacity.;While multiple lenses will be used for examining the texts, the overarching theoretical approach will be that of reader-response criticism. This work does not argue that the authors of the New Testament texts intended for liberative spaces to exist in their texts, as that is impossible to prove. Rather, this work argues that the language used in these texts allows space for an infertile reader to read herself into spaces so that she finds that she is not required to bear children in order to have value within her community. |
