| This dissertation surveys and analyzes rabbinic aggadic traditions on the fetus and its development. The primary focus is on aggadic traditions which appear in Palestinian documents of the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, but parallels from the Babylonian Talmud and later midrashic works are also considered. Although rabbinic documents have been extensively culled for what they offer concerning the halakhic status of the embryo, this dissertation searches out the aggadic traditions on the fetus for the purposes of exegetical, theological, and gendered readings.;The dissertation situates the rabbinic aggadic traditions on the fetus among the Greco-Roman gynecological writings from the Hippocratic corpus, Aristotle, Herophilus, Soranus, and Galen. Furthermore, patristic sources from Clement, Tertullian, Jerome, and Augustine on the ensoulment of the fetus are also discussed.;This dissertation demonstrates that rabbinic aggadic traditions on the fetus set forth a mutual relationship between God and the fetus. These traditions expand upon materials already set forth in the Hebrew Bible. Furthermore, rabbinic aggadic traditions portray God as the primary creator and caretaker of the fetus—to the displacement of both the mother and father.;Theologically, these traditions may be understood as part of the rabbinic construction of a caring, immanent God. The fetus is symbolic of humanity/Israel. Thus God and humanity/Israel are in relationship from humanity's very beginnings. |
