Endorsements of “A Complicated Pregnancy: Whether Mary Was a Virgin and Why It Matters””

Last updated on: October 11, 2017 at 12:41 pm by Kyle Roberts

Endorsements of “A Complicated Pregnancy: Whether Mary Was a Virgin and Why It Matters”” 2017-10-11T12:41:24-05:00 Kyle Roberts

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With the release of my forthcoming book, A Complicated Pregnancy: Whether Mary Was a Virgin and Why It Matters, closer on the horizon, I thought I’d share the endorsements it’s received–as a bit of a preview. I think very highly of each of these scholars and I’m honored by their confidence in the book.

Incidentally, I’m also completing a study guide to accompany the book. If you’re interested in using the book for a group study, complimentary copies of that guide will be available to download.

“In A Complicated Pregnancy, Kyle Roberts offers a dramatic, sincerely honest, and deeply personal exploration of the question of Jesus’ virginal conception. While many other books wrestle with this topic primarily from another angle (that of historical uncertainty and Gospel discrepancies, which Roberts does also cover), in Roberts’ book a profoundly theological approach dominates, as he surveys a wide array of famous and neglected early Christian authors. He also invites readers to take a long hard look at our aversion to blood and semen, to sex, spit, and excrement, and the way this has motivated us to disconnect Jesus from such mundane yet essential human elements – with troubling results for our view of Jesus’ own humanity, and thus also his connection to us. The book’s wrestling with history, science, and the various facts of life are offered not in order to tear down cherished beliefs with no good reason, but precisely in order to counter the devaluation of human existence in general, and of women, reproduction, and the humanity of Jesus in particular, so as to make the case that in Jesus, we encounter God precisely in a human being who was not immune or exempt from those characteristic experiences that make us human.”

–James McGrath, author, blogger, and Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University

“Few of us have ever taken the time to ponder the implications and questions surrounding the virgin birth of Jesus. But in this brilliant, fun, and fascinating book, Kyle Roberts pulls on the thread of the virgin birth to unravel some of the deepest issues facing us as Christians and human beings–from sex, to how we read the Bible, to the mystery of the Incarnation. Reader be warned: After reading A Complicated Pregnancy you’ll never think of Christmas the same way again.”

–Richard Beck, speaker, blogger, and author of Reviving Old Scratch and Stranger God

“Sex, sharks, blood, and purity balls — this book has it all. Roberts writes like a theological investigative journalist, taking his readers on a fantastic and winding journey to discover what this virgin-birth business is all about. In pursuing the question was Jesus born of a virgin?, Roberts gives us a theological work that is challenging and informative but also personal and fun. While the focus of this book is about the beginning of Jesus’s earthly life, Roberts ends with a soulful meditation on the resurrection brimming with hope. You won’t regret taking the time to wonder along with Roberts as you move through this captivating little text.”

–Christina Busman Jost, author of Walking With the Mud Flower Collective and professor of theology, Bethel University

“In this book – A Complicated Pregnancy – Kyle Roberts invites readers into honest reflection on important theological and scientific issues of sexuality and gender, empathy and disgust, and embodiment and the sacred, among others. As a therapist, I have worked with many, many Christian clients wounded by the patriarchal and sexist theologies that Roberts seeks to counter. Whether or not you agree with Roberts’ conclusions, I am confident you will be stretched by his intelligent and personally transparent probing of the full and authentic meaning of the doctrine of the incarnation – God with us, as one of us. May we see more of this kind of thoughtful, courageous interdisciplinary theology aimed at the unique combination of spiritual formation and social justice”

Steven J. Sandage, Albert & Jessie Danielsen Professor of Psychology of Religion and Theology, Boston University

“With passion and integrity, Kyle Roberts deconstructs myths about the virgin birth in order to lead us into the wonder and mystery of the incarnation—that in Jesus “God dives deep into creation” sparking salvation, healing, and reconciliation. Engaging and conversational, A Complicated Pregnancy makes an important theological argument that has profound implications for how we relate to God, to one another, and to the world around us.”

–Lois Malcolm, author and professor of theology, Luther Seminary

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