Like a Woman in Labor: The Ritual and Social Dimensions of Childbirth in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel

FAIN: FEL-273584-21

Kerry Marie Sonia
President and Fellows of Harvard College (Cambridge, MA 02138-3800)

Research and writing leading to a book on the ritual and social aspects of childbirth in ancient Israel, drawing on biblical sources and archeological evidence.

What does the biblical depiction of the birthing process, including conception, labor, and post-natal care, tell us about the religious lives of women and children in the ancient world? Motivated by such questions, this project responds to a need for a book-length study of childbirth that re-frames the ritual work of mothers and midwives as a kind of religious expertise. Through close analysis of the biblical text and archaeological evidence from ancient Israel, the project examines the rituals of childbirth and considers their role in creating and sustaining the ancient family. It also examines the ways in which different biblical writers draw upon the rituals of the family in order to articulate their own ideas about the relationship between God and the Israelites. By foregrounding the roles of women in childbirth and family religion, this project fundamentally shapes the construction of the Israelite family as well as biblical ideologies concerning the god of Israel.