Reading Mary Alongside Indian Surrogate Mothers

Sharon Jacob is Visiting Assistant Professor of New Testament, Luther College, USA

• Introduction 1. Breast, Womb, Empire 2. Desired Mothers, Discounted Mothers: The Postcolonial Surrogate Mother Emerges 3. Exploited Exploiters, Victimized Victimizers: Reading the Matthean Mothers alongside the Contextual Body of the Indian Surrogate Mother in Postcolonial India 4. Surrogacy as Performance of Violent Love: Reading Luke's Magnificat alongside the Bodies of Indian Surrogate Mothers 5. The Synoptic Marys and the Synoptic Hierarchies Conclusion Bibliography

"Sharon Jacob's book on Indian surrogate mothers and Mary's conception through the Holy Spirit in Matthew's and Luke's Gospel shows how biblical texts from the first century and a complex global problem of the twenty-first century can shed light on each other. After reading this book, I will never be able to read the birth narratives of the Gospels without thinking of Jacob's provocative questions about these passages." - Tat-siong Benny Liew, Class of 1956 Professor in New Testament Studies, College of the Holy Cross, USA "In Reading Mary Alongside Indian Surrogate Mothers, Jacob explores the implications of thinking beyond entrenched dichotomies and binary configurations in encounters with gendered, at times Marian, bodies. Through the lenses of empire, race, nation, and economic exchange, she encourages a complex view of femininity, motherhood, surrogacy, and colonial subjectivity, both ancient and contemporary. This book is a welcome addition to analyses of biblical interpretation at the intersection of cultures, imperialisms, and relations of power." - Davina C. Lopez, Eckerd College, USA "In Sharon Jacob's skillful and meticulous postcolonial reading, the Synoptic Mary comes across as an ambivalent figure who mirrors the experiences of women. Mary's maternal performance, read through the voices of Indian surrogate mothers, offers agency and choice, but, more importantly, challenges the binary image of her as either victim or liberator. This is an excellent addition to the ever-growing field of contextual and cultural hermeneutics." - R.S.Sugirtharajah, University of Birmingham, UK "Sharon Jacob provides a revolutionary reassessment of Mary. She refuses to reduce Mary to simple roles like model, mother, or victim. By bringing the gospel accounts of Mary into dialogue with the experiences of surrogate mothers in India, Jacob rejects notions of a universal experience for women and reveals Mary as an agent who endures her own exploitation for the sake of liberation. Jacob's study is valuable not only for its challenging assessment of Mary but also as a model for reading across cultural borders." Greg Carey, Lancaster Theological Seminary, USA