Can a Virgin Give Birth?Yes—but it's very, very, very, very unlikely.
Updated Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, at 6:24 PM ET
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StumbleUponChloe Breyer reviewed the ancient "illegitimacy tradition," which holds that Jesus had a human father. Three biblical scholars debated which aspects of the New Testament should be taken literally. Brendan I. Koerner explained how a grilled-cheese sandwich bearing the image of the Virgin Mary remained free of mold for 10 years. William Saletan called parthenogenesis the top sex story of 2007, and argued that "the categories we've taken for granted—mommy, daddy, people, animals—are blurring."
Explainer thanks Jose Cibelli of Michigan State University, George Daley and Willy Lensch of Children's Hospital Boston, Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon Stem Cell Center, and Kent Vrana of Pennsylvania State University.
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Remarks from the Fray:
The explainer didn't answer the exact question that was posed today: can a virgin give birth (without supernatural intervention). The answer given explained how a baby could theoretically have a biological mother without the contribution of a biological father. As for the mother being a virgin, there may be many instances of this occurring. Suzanne Somers, for example, claimed that she became pregnant when the father of her baby ejaculated outside her vagina the first time she was going to have sex--no intercourse occurred. Although it wouldn't be the most reliable way to conceive, this seems like a possible way to become pregnant (regardless of the reliability of Somers' account).
--AlliHart
(To reply, click here.)
There have been occasional cases of child born to virgins under unusual circumstances. One I recall reading about was during a Civil War battle in Mississippi, a miniball tore off the testicle of a Confederate soldier, and then struck a young woman who was watching the battle some distance away. After her wound healed, she was discovered to be pregnant, although still a virgin.
Strange but (supposedly) true.
--woking57
(To reply, click here.)
Nice article, but in the context of Christmas, misses one more improbable event: where would Jesus' Y chromosome come from? Parthenogenesis is just a recycling of the mother's DNA.
--LaurencePassmore
(To reply, click here.)
(12/25)