Scholars have noted that Luke’s portrait of Mary, particularly in Lk. 1.26-56, characterizes her as a prophet. Nevertheless, the evangelist refrains from explicitly calling Mary a prophet. A case for the Lukan prophetic characterization of Mary is made on literary, lexical and thematic grounds. The connection between prophecy and virginity is examined in Judaism, Greco-Roman antiquity and early Christianity. Finally, the explicit characterization of Mary as a prophet in the early Church Fathers is demonstrated, and a hypothesis is offered to explain both Luke’s reluctance and the later patristic readiness to identify Mary in such terms.
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