# At what age did Mary become pregnant with Jesus?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-mary-become-pregnant-with-jesus/807729>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 29, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-mary-become-pregnant-with-jesus/807729 "2018-01-29T15:41:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-mary-become-pregnant-with-jesus/807729/21 "2018-01-29T21:48:58Z")

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I don’t know if there was a minimum age for betrothal vs. a minimum age for marriage, or being promised in marriage.

Regards,  
Shodan

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-mary-become-pregnant-with-jesus/807729/22 "2018-01-29T23:29:10Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Quoth **astorian** :
> 
> There are assorted Gnostic gospels and “infancy narratives” that may assign her an age, but no conventional Christian cares what those books say.

Many conventional Christians care about what those books say, in the sense that they’re regarded as interesting stories that might (or might not) have some truth and/or wisdom in them, and certainly reflect what some people thought was true and/or wise. They’re not canon, true, but that doesn’t mean that they’re always discarded entirely.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-did-mary-become-pregnant-with-jesus/807729/23 "2018-01-29T23:33:35Z")

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> [@Shodan](#):
>
> I don’t know if there was a minimum age for betrothal vs. a minimum age for marriage, or being promised in marriage.
> 
> Regards,  
> Shodan

OK. Anyway, thanks for straightening out the bit about betrothal. I think a lot of folks (me included) would just assume it was like being engaged.

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