Rahab, illa meretrix

Abstract

This article focuses on the controversial Biblical figure, Rahab, the harlot of Jericho, and especially how the Latin Church fathers saw her. Rahab, whose story is told in the second chapter of the book of Joshua, betrayed her own people by receiving the spies of the enemy into her home and when the city of Jericho collapsed, she and her family were saved. For the Latin Fathers, Rahab was a symbol of the church, and the fact that she and her family were saved also pointed to the inclusion of the gentiles into the church.