“…by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made human”. — The Nicene Creed
Rowan Williams writes that “the real and deepest paradox [of the story of Christ] is that only the Creator can exhibit fully what it is to be a creature.” [1] “He who alone is unlimited in form and being (essence and existence) appears in the patience of the longsuffering of the most extreme limitation — in the ‘deformed’ form of the crucified slave.”[2]This destitution and its aftermath is the goal of what the Holy Spirit and Mary do together.[3] The Spirit “broods” (מְרַחֶ֖פֶת) over the dark waters of formless chaos; “overshadows” (“broods over” — ἐπισκιάσει) Mary; and in like fashion, “broods” over the corpse of that crucified slave in the tomb. These creative acts are all of a piece with the Love that creates all that is.
Concerning Mary’s virginity, attested in Matthew and Luke’s gospels and implied in John,[4] this line in the creeds particularly disturbs many modern churchgoers, who find it hard to believe. Some have told me that they do not recite it or even cross their fingers at that moment! There are many ways that have been tried to palliate such embarrassment, but I think they are wrong.
Mythologize/demythologize
It must be admitted that the doctrine of her “perpetual” virginity (widely held…
