Denial of the virgin birth of Jesus is found among various groups and individuals throughout the

history of Christianity The history of Christianity began with the life of Jesus, an itinerant Jewish preacher and teacher, who was Crucifixion of Jesus, crucified in Jerusalem . His followers proclaimed that he was the Incarnation (Christianity), incarnation of Go ...

. These groups and individuals often took an approach to

Christology In Christianity, Christology is a branch of Christian theology, theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would b ...

that understands

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

to be human, the literal son of human parents. In the 19th century, the view was sometimes called psilanthropism, a term that derives from the combination of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

(''psilós''), "plain", "mere" or "bare", and (''ánthrōpos'') "human". Psilanthropists then generally denied both the

virgin birth of Jesus In Christianity and Islam, it is asserted that Jesus of Nazareth was conceived by his mother Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary solely through divine intervention and without sexual intercourse, thus resulting in his Virgin birth (mythology), virgin bir ...

and his divinity. Denial of the virgin birth is distinct from

adoptionism Adoptionism, also called dynamic monarchianism, is an early Christian nontrinitarian theological doctrine, subsequently revived in various forms, which holds that Jesus was adopted as the Son of God at his baptism, his resurrection, or his ...

and may or may not be present in beliefs described as adoptionist.

Early Christianity

The group most closely associated with denial of the virgin birth were the

Ebionites Ebionites (, derived from Hebrew , , meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') as a term refers to a Jewish Christian sect that existed during the early centuries of the Common Era. Since historical records by the Ebionites are scarce, fragmentary and ...

. However,

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

does not say that all Ebionites denied the virgin birth, but only contrasts their view with the acceptance of the doctrine on the part of a related group, the Nazarenes. The view was rejected by the

ecumenical council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are ...

s, especially in the

First Council of Nicaea The First Council of Nicaea ( ; ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. The Council of Nicaea met from May until the end of July 325. This ec ...

, which was convened to deal directly with the nature of Christ's divinity.

Pagan and Jewish accounts

In the 2nd century, the Greek philosopher

Celsus Celsus (; , ''Kélsos''; ) was a 2nd-century Greek philosopher and opponent of early Christianity. His literary work '' The True Word'' (also ''Account'', ''Doctrine'' or ''Discourse''; Greek: )Hoffmann p.29 survives exclusively via quotati ...

claimed that Jesus was the illegitimate son of a soldier named

Panthera ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family (biology), family Felidae, and one of two extant genera in the subfamily Pantherinae. It contains the largest living members of the cat family. There are five living species: the jaguar, leopard, lion, ...

. The same claim is made by the medieval Jewish text

Toledot Yeshu The ''Toledot Yeshu'' (''History of Jesus'') is a set of Jewish, anti-Christian Gospel parodies surrounding the life of Jesus Christ (called in the text). There is no definitive version of the Toledot Yeshu. Instead, many versions exist scattered ...

Reformation

The turmoil of the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

gave rise to many radical groups and individuals, some of whom were accused of denying, or actually did deny, the virgin birth. For example, during the trial of Lorenzo Tizzano before the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

at Venice in 1550, it was charged that the circle of the late

Juan de Valdés Juan de Valdés (c.1490 – August 1541) was a Spanish religious writer and Catholic reformer. He was the younger of twin sons of Fernando de Valdés, hereditary ''regidor'' of Cuenca in Castile, where Valdés was born. He has been confused ...

(died 1541) at Naples had included such individuals. Early

Unitarians Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present) ...

, often called

Socinians Socinianism ( ) is a Nontrinitarian Christian belief system developed and co-founded during the Protestant Reformation by the Italian Renaissance humanists and theologians Lelio Sozzini and Fausto Sozzini, uncle and nephew, respectively. It ...

, after

Laelio Sozzini Lelio Francesco Maria Sozzini (; 29 January 1525 – 4 May 1562), often known in English by his Latinized name Laelius Socinus ( ), was an Italian Renaissance humanist and theologian, and, alongside his nephew Fausto Sozzini, founder of the ...

who first published the first unitarian analysis of John's ''Logos'' in 1550, were sometimes accused of denying the virgin birth, but mainly only denied the

pre-existence of Christ The pre-existence of Christ asserts the existence of Christ prior to his incarnation as Jesus. One of the relevant Bible passages is John 1 () where, in the Trinitarian interpretation, Christ is identified with a pre-existent divine hypostasi ...

in heaven. For Sozzini's better known nephew

Fausto Sozzini Fausto Paolo Sozzini (; ; 5 December 1539 – 4 March 1604), often known in English by his Latinized name Faustus Socinus ( ), was an Italian Renaissance humanist and theologian, and, alongside his uncle Lelio Sozzini, founder of the Nontrinit ...

the miraculous virgin birth was the element in their belief which removed the need for the pre-existence to which they objected. The Socinians in fact excommunicated from their number the translator of the first Bible in Belarusian,

Symon Budny Szymon Budny or Symon Budny (, , ; c.1533, Budne – 13 January 1593, Vishnyeva) was a Polish- Belarusian humanist, educator, Hebraist, Bible translator, Protestant reformer, philosopher, sociologist and historian, active in the territory of ...

, for his denial of the virgin birth. A large scale change among Unitarians to acceptance of a human father for Jesus took place only in the time of

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, Unitarian, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher, English Separatist, separatist theologian, Linguist, grammarian, multi-subject educator and Classical libera ...

. The young

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

was an example of what he called "a psilanthropist, one of those who believe our Lord to have been the real son of Joseph" but later in life Coleridge decisively rejected this idea and accepted traditional Christian belief in the virgin birth.

19th–21st centuries

Biblical scholars, churchmen, and theologians who have notably rejected the virgin birth include: *

Albrecht Ritschl Albrecht Benjamin Ritschl (25 March 182220 March 1889) was a German Protestant theologian. Starting in 1852, Ritschl lectured on systematic theology. According to this system, faith was understood to be irreducible to other experiences, beyond ...

, nineteenth-century German Lutheran theologian, considered one of the fathers of Liberal Protestantism. *

Harry Emerson Fosdick Harry Emerson Fosdick (May 24, 1878 – October 5, 1969) was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the fundamentalist–modernist controversy within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominen ...

, American Baptist pastor, prominent proponent of Liberal Protestantism. In a famous 1922 sermon delivered from the pulpit of First Presbyterian Church in New York, titled "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?", Fosdick called the Virgin Birth into question, saying it required belief in "a special biological miracle." *

Fritz Barth Karl Barth (; ; – ) was a Swiss Reformed theologian. Barth is best known for his commentary '' The Epistle to the Romans'', his involvement in the Confessing Church, including his authorship (except for a single phrase) of the Barmen Declara ...

, Swiss Reformed minister, and father of

Karl Barth Karl Barth (; ; – ) was a Swiss Reformed theologian. Barth is best known for his commentary '' The Epistle to the Romans'', his involvement in the Confessing Church, including his authorship (except for a single phrase) of the Barmen Decl ...

. Fritz's views cost him at least two significant promotions. * James A. Pike, Episcopal bishop of California (1958–1966), who first declared his doubt about the Virgin Birth in the December 21, 1960 issue of the journal ''

Christian Century ''The Christian Century'' is a Christian magazine based in Chicago, Illinois. Considered the flagship magazine of US mainline Protestantism, the monthly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and reviews ...

''. *

Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his a ...

's private writings show that he rejected

biblical literalism Biblical literalism or biblicism is a term used differently by different authors concerning biblical interpretation. It can equate to the dictionary definition of literalism: "adherence to the exact letter or the literal sense", where literal me ...

; he described the Bible as "

mythological Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

", doubted that Jesus was born of a virgin and did not believe that the story of Jonah and the whale was true. *

John Shelby Spong John Shelby "Jack" Spong (June 16, 1931 – September 12, 2021) was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, he served as the Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, from 1979 to 2000. Spong was a liberal Christian ...

, retired Episcopal bishop of Newark, author of ''Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus'', who following feminist scholar Jane Schaberg, wrote that, "A God who can be seen in the limp form of a convicted criminal dying alone on a cross on Calvary can surely also be seen in an illegitimate baby boy born through the aggressive and selfish act of a man sexually violating a teenage girl." * Marcus J. Borg, prominent member of the

Jesus Seminar The Jesus Seminar was a group of about 50 biblical criticism scholars and 100 laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk that originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute.''Making Sense of the New Testament'' by Craig Blomberg (Mar 1, 200 ...

, author of numerous books, and co-author of ''The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions'', who viewed the birth stories as "metaphorical narratives", and stated, "I do not think the virginal conception is historical, and I do not think there was a special star or wise men or shepherds or birth in a stable in Bethlehem. Thus I do not see these stories as historical reports but as literary creations." *

John Dominic Crossan John Dominic Crossan (born 17 February 1934) is an Irish-American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity and former Catholic priest. He was a prominent member of the Jesus Seminar, and is an emeritus professor at DePaul Universit ...

, prominent member of the

, author of ''Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography'', who has stated, "I understand the virginal conception of Jesus to be a confessional statement about Jesus' status and not a biological statement about Mary's body. It is later faith in Jesus as an adult retrojected mythologically onto Jesus as an infant." * Robert Funk, founder of the

, and author of ''Honest to Jesus'', who has asserted, "We can be certain that Mary did not conceive Jesus without the assistance of human sperm. It is unclear whether

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

or some other unnamed male was the biological father of Jesus. It is possible that Jesus was illegitimate." * Jane Schaberg, feminist biblical scholar and author of ''The Illegitimacy of Jesus'', who contended that Matthew and Luke were aware that Jesus had been conceived illegitimately, probably as a result of rape, and had left hints of that knowledge, even though their main purpose was to explore the theological significance of Jesus' birth. *

Uta Ranke-Heinemann Uta Ranke-Heinemann (2 October 1927 – 25 March 2021) was a German theologian, academic, and author. In 1969, she was the first woman in the world to be habilitated in Catholic theology. She held a chair of ancient Church history and the New T ...

, who contends that the virgin birth of Jesus was meant—and should be understood—as an

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

of a special initiative of God, comparable to God's creation of

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

, and in line with legends and allegories of antiquity. * David Jenkins,

Bishop of Durham The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham u ...

from 1984 until 1994, was the first senior Anglican clergyman to come to the attention of the UK media for his position that "I wouldn't put it past God to arrange a virgin birth if he wanted. But I don't think he did." * Gerd Lüdemann, German New Testament scholar and historian, member of the Jesus Seminar, and author of ''Virgin Birth? The Real Story of Mary and Her Son Jesus'', argued that early Christians had developed the idea of a virgin birth as a later "reaction to the report, meant as a slander but historically correct, that Jesus was conceived or born outside wedlock. ... It has a historical foundation in the fact that Jesus really did have another father than Joseph and was in fact fathered before Mary's marriage, presumably through rape." *

Robin Meyers Robin Rex Meyers is an American Christian minister, peace activist, philosopher and author of seven books on Liberal and Progressive Christian theology in Western society and the Christian left. He has been a syndicated columnist and a commentat ...

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

minister, proponent of

Progressive Christianity Progressive Christianity represents a range of related perspectives in contemporary Christian theology and practice. It is a postmodern theological approach, which developed out of the liberal Christianity of the modern era, although progressive C ...

, and author of ''Saving Jesus From the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus''. Asserts that "A beautiful, but obviously contrived, tale is the virgin birth, which may have been used to cover a scandal."

Sects and denominations

The ''

Divine Principle The Unification Church () is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists or sometimes informally Moonies. It was founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon in Seoul, South Korea, as the Holy Spirit Association for the Unificatio ...

'', the textbook of the

Unification movement The Unification Church () is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists or sometimes informally Moonies. It was founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon in Seoul, South Korea, as the Holy Spirit Association for the Unificatio ...

(also called the Unification Church), a

new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or Spirituality, spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part ...

founded in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, does not include the teaching that Zechariah was the father of Jesus; however some of its members hold that belief. Notably, this view is advanced by

Young Oon Kim Young Oon Kim (; 1914–1989) was a leading theologian of the Unification Church and its first missionary to the United States.J. Isamu Yamamoto, 1994, ''Unification Church: Zondervan guide to cults & religious movements'', Zondervan, pages 8 ...

, citing the work of British liberal theologian

Leslie Weatherhead Leslie Dixon Weatherhead (14 October 1893 – 5 January 1976) was an English Christian theologian in the liberal Protestant tradition. Weatherhead was noted for his preaching ministry at City Temple in London and for his books, including ...

in her book ''Unification Theology'' (1980).Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains, By U. S. Department of the Army, Published by The Minerva Group, Inc., 2001, , , page 1–42
Google books listing
/ref> The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—usually distinguished with a parenthetical (Strangite)—is one of the several organizations that claim to be the legitimate continuation of the church founded by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830. I ...

, founded by

James Jesse Strang James Jesse Strang (March 21, 1813 – July 9, 1856) was an American religious leader, politician and self-proclaimed monarch. He served as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1853 until his assassination. In 1844, he said he ...

, rejects the virgin birth and believes that Jesus' father was

, husband of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

.Brasich, Adam S. “Jesus Christ, Son of Man: James J. Strang's Apologetic Christology.” ''Journal of Mormon History'', vol. 45, no. 3, 2019, pp. 26–50. ''JSTOR'', www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jmormhist.45.3.0026. Accessed 14 Dec. 2020.

References