His Mother, the Queen of Sheba: A Case of Religious Co-production
Abstract
The Queen of Sheba is a rarity: a non-Israelite woman who is a part of the scriptures of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. The Queen of Sheba is best known for her visit to Solomon's court in the height of his rule. This visit is depicted in 1 Kings 10:1-13, 2 Chronicles 9:1-12, and Qur'an 27:15-44. The visit is also mentioned briefly in Luke 11:31 and Matthew 12:42. Post-Qur'anic interpretations of the Queen of Sheba are remarkably heterogeneous, with a variety of motifs, themes, and characters associated with her visit. My current project explores the formation and early reception of the Queen of Sheba from the biblical texts to the medieval Ethiopian epic the Kebra Nagast. In this case study, I explore two important premodern texts where the Queen of Sheba is presented as a mother of a child borne to her and Solomon, which reveals mutual influence and anxieties around the porousness of boundaries between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities. Narratives of the Queen of Sheba as a mother show that the Queen of Sheba was co-produced between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim tradition, and that this co-production was a continual process. This case study opens interesting issues of temporality, as the biblical past was constantly re-made in moments of creative engagement with it.
Date Issued
2023
Publication Type
Article
Language(s)
en
Author(s)
Stinchcomb, Jillian |
Related Collection(s)
Access(Rights)
open.access