Commentarius in Sapientiam VI
A Beginner’s Guide
4.1 κρείσσων ἀτεκνία μετὰ ἀρετῆς· ἀθανασία γὰρ ἐστιν ἐν μνήμῃ αὐτῆς, ὅτι καὶ παρὰ θεῷ γινώσκεται καὶ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις. The virtuous woman unable to bear children is a repeated theme in the Hebrew Bible, from Sarah to Rachel to Manoah’s wife to Hannah to, in the later New Testament, Elizabeth. In general, the ancient world was obsessed with fertility: what…
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