From Whose Womb Did the Ice Come Forth? Augustine of Hippo,Gregory the Great,and Thomas Aquinas on Job 38:29

Abstract

Against the backdrop of current debates over womb-imagery for God, this article examines the writings of Augustine of Hippo, Gregory the Great, and Thomas Aquinas on Job 38:29 (‘From whose womb did the ice come forth?’). In the works of these Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the ‘womb’ of Job 38:29 is a multivalent symbol that has been interpreted in a variety of ways—including as a reference to the ‘womb of the Creator’ that conceives and gives birth to creatures. These patristic and medieval texts highlight several characteristics of the maternal body, showing that metaphors of pregnancy and birth do not necessarily symbolize dependency, immanence, materiality, or an identity with one’s child: the imagery of a pregnant and birthing God has not always been construed to imply a pantheistic identity between God and the material world, or a divine dependency upon creation.