Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
God’s Christmas Gift To Women, Revised

God’s Christmas Gift To Women, Revised

Last updated on: December 23, 2020 at 11:34 am by Beth Allison Barr

God’s Christmas Gift To Women, Revised 2020-12-23T11:34:12-04:00 Beth Allison Barr

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

One year ago, in my post God’s Christmas Gift to Women, I reflected on how a nativity sermon written by the late medieval preacher John Mirk reveals the significance of God choosing Mary. As I wrote, “the Christmas story tells women we are more. Because God used Mary to be the mother of Jesus, God made sure that women would always have a seat at the Christian table. Because of Christmas, women can never be written out of God’s story.” Yet history shows us how often Christians have written women out of God’s story–downplaying and even ignoring women’s roles in church history. Isn’t it interesting that many of these same Christians have also downplayed Mary? The medieval Jesse Tree, combined with a new book about the Virgin Mary, inspired me to revisit what I wrote last year.

The train platform in Shrewsbury, Shropshire (UK) is narrow and long. Sometimes it is hard to tell the end of one train from the beginning of the next. Once I was confused enough to step into the wrong carriage. I was tired from a long day of archival research and, as soon as I sat down, I fell asleep. Which means I missed that we were heading in the wrong direction. Instead of making my way back to Birmingham, I woke up in Aberystwyth.

Luckily this mistake didn’t put me off traveling to Shrewsbury. It remains one of my favorite places in England. I just look more carefully at the platform signs.

It is true that the Shrewsbury rail station is neither as grand nor as ideally situated as it once was. From the imitation Tudor style building constructed in 1848 to its location on the outskirts of town (literally at the bottom of the hill), the station reflects more Shrewsbury’s past then present. But it is also true that entering Shrewsbury from the train station provides a great introduction to the medieval city. Just cross the car park and take a left. You will see what I mean.

The steep incline of the hill on the narrow Castle Gates road–lined on both sides with crowded buildings liberally sprinkled with black and white timber frames–evokes a past world. Did you know that Shrewsbury boasts one of the best preserved layouts of medieval streets in all of England? The red sandstone walls of the remodeled 11th century castle (which lends its name to the street) beckon camera shots just as does the castle’s neighbor, a large Elizabethan town house built on Dogpole street in 1620 and moved to its present location on Castle Gates in 1696 (to house a lord’s mistress, but that is a story for another day…).

I would like to say that, since I have walked up this street so often, I no longer pause to gawk and take pictures. But that wouldn’t be true. I always pause–especially when I reach the top of the hill. Today, a War Memorial marks the spot where the old market cross once stood. I always turn left here, walking quickly from the highest point of town to one of the oldest sections of town: St. Mary’s Place. Around 970, King Edgar dedicated the old Saxon church here (possibly founded as early as the 7th century) to St. Mary the Virgin, the Mother of God.

There is so much I could tell you about St. Mary’s. I could tell you how the church was important enough to be included in the Domesday Book of William the Conqueror in 1087. I could tell you how it is the most intact medieval church in Shrewsbury. I could tell you how, despite one lightning strike and two earthquakes, the 15th century Perpendicular-style spire still ranks as the third tallest in England–helping inspire A.E. Housman’s immortal words: “High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam/ Islanded in Severn Stream.” But I want to tell you about St. Mary’s magnificent medieval stained glass, specifically the Jesse Window.

No so long ago my daughter brought home a Jesse Tree craft. She carefully unpacked it from her back pack, showing me each of the symbols and telling me the biblical stories they represented (at least those she could remember). I confess I was taken aback. “This is a Jesse Tree?,” I asked her, holding up an image of a burning bush. “Yes, mom,” she said. “A Jesse Tree.” I didn’t argue with her. I learned that the Jesse Tree, in the form of my daughter’s hand-colored ornaments, was a modern Christmas phenomenon. From Amazon to homeschool blogs, the internet is full of Jesse Tree crafts. They teach the biblical stories, from Old Testament to New, leading up to the birth of Jesus. Each ornament depicts a symbol of the story it represents (such as an apple representing the Fall), and one is hung each day of advent on a tree, culminating in an image of a baby in a manger or the nativity scene (Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus).

Almost every blog post describing these Jesse Tree crafts note that it was a medieval tradition–rooting their modern practice in medieval Christianity.

Yet, as a medieval historian, I have to tell you that medieval Jesse Trees look different.

Take the Jesse Window at St. Mary’s in Shrewsbury. Originally designed in the fourteenth-century for the Franciscan friary in Shrewsbury, it was moved to the nearby church of St. Chad’s during the Reformation (to protect it during the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII) and (when St. Chad’s collapsed) moved again to St. Mary’s (it is about 60% medieval glass). Rather than reflecting images of bible stories, this Jesse Tree depicts the ancestry of Christ–starting with the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), blooming upward through the genealogy of Matthew 1:1-16 (with additions from Luke 3:23-38), and culminating in the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

While the spirit of modern Jesse Trees (depicting the biblical steps to Jesus) match the medieval tradition, the medieval presentation of these ideas is different. Rather than symbols, medieval artists focused on people–the human lineage of Christ. Medieval artists also highlighted a figure much less visible in modern Jesse Trees–the mother of God. Just look at a few of the examples of medieval Jesse Trees here and here. Isn’t it striking? While the lineage of Jesus overflows with men in medieval depictions of the Jesse Tree, the central image is often that of a woman: Mary. Sometimes she is depicted directly beneath the image of Jesus (here also); sometimes she is depicted holding the infant Christ (such as at St. Mary’s); and sometimes she is depicted as the most prominent figure on the tree, as Queen of Heaven (and in the Jesse Window at York Minister).

Mary plays a central role in the medieval Jesse Tree that seems different from modern depictions. This is clearly seen in the 14th-century Jesse window at St. Mary’s. Fifty-three panels make up the story of this medieval window. Forty-six of these panels (omitting only the medieval donors of the windows and the panel paying homage to the English king Edward III) display the life of Jesus, the lineage of Jesus, and the Old Testament Prophets. The only figures to appear more than once are Jesus (4 depictions) and Mary (3 depictions). Mary’s presentation of the infant Christ to her mother St. Anne (a popular medieval story) is one of only three moments depicted from the life of Jesus, alongside his baptism and crucifixion. While I cannot guarantee that Mary’s image was centrally located in the medieval window as it is now in the restored window, I can guarantee that Mary was centrally located within most medieval Jesse Trees.

Indeed, Mary is highlighted in medieval churches in a way that she is not among modern Protestants. As I wrote last year:

In a world that told women they were less than men, the Christmas story told medieval women something different. As one late medieval preacher wrote, “The daughter of Eve was the beginning of damnation for mankind; [but] the faith of women in the new law was the beginning of salvation for mankind. The faith of Our Lady Saint Mary was the beginning of salvation for our world,” (Longleat House MS. 4, folios 35v-37v). For medieval people, a woman was not only part of God’s salvation plan; she was crucial to its success.

Like in modern Jesse Trees, however, Mary today is relegated to a smaller role. I am a self-identified evangelical, which means I do not believe in teachings about Mary’s immaculate conception, perpetual virginity, nor (potential) role as co-redemptrix. I believe Jesus alone saves. But I can’t help but wonder about the implications of deemphasizing Mary? By limiting Mary, have we also limited women?

In her new book, The Virgin Mary’s Book at the Annunciation, Laura Saetveit Miles argues that doctrinal differences only account for part of why Protestants deemphasize Mary. The medieval Mary presented a sophisticated intellectual model for women as readers and spiritual instructors whose very bodies had the power to conceive of God. “Physical conception of the Word,” writes Miles, “grants Mary immediate authority in the scholastic realm of letters, texts and books, otherwise generally closed to women; through her maternal body she becomes exempt from the patriarchal requirements that make ‘maistres’ out of men” (144). For medieval Christians, Mary’s conception of Jesus authorized her as a spiritual and intellectual teacher. She was “incredibly powerful” in a way that did not survive the Protestant Reformation. “Protestant aversion from Mary was never merely doctrinal; it was often a thinly veiled outlet for misogyny,” writes Miles. “Certainly some medieval clerical authorities had always felt threatened by and sought to control this female independence linked to Mary…but the Reformation witnessed a stark shift to zero tolerance for female ‘overreach’ linked to Mary. While medieval holy women such as Birgitta of Sweden and Julian of Norwich had found in Mary inspiration for asserting their own spiritual authority, reformist sermons, for instance, emphasized her humility as demonstrated by scriptural references to ‘her obedience to lawfully constituted authority'” (255-256). Rejecting the more multifaceted, independent, and powerful medieval image of Mary helped to disempower her. Could this, in turn, have helped to disempower women?

I stand by my conclusion from last year–it is impossible to write women out of God’s story. Too bad history keeps showing how much we try to do it anyway….

Merry Christmas, y’all!

Beth Allison Barr

Catholicism

medieval Christianity

Previous Post

December 22, 2020

The Christian Eyewitnesses to Hiroshima

Next Post

December 23, 2020 The Christmas Beginning of Making Biblical Womanhood

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe guest post Guest Post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was told to prophesy to the mountains and valleys of Israel?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Hosea Daniel Ezekiel Micah