"Only the church that manages to free itself from its sexist definition of women, anchored significantly in the Virgin Mary tradition, will survive", writes Bishop Spong. He challenges the doctrine that Jesus's mother Mary was a virgin, traces its development in the early Christian Church and the Christmas narratives, and reveals its legacy in our contemporary attitudes toward women and female sexuality. Other books by Spong include "Living in Sin", "Beyond Moralism", "The Easter Moment" and "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism".