Posted on 03/20/2005 7:10:10 AM PST by Teófilo
Marian Renaissance among Protestants? The surprising answer is yes
The signs do not point to a complete restoration of the Blessed Mother's rightful place in the Church, but the signs are surely intriguing, and thoroughly biblical which is to say, thoroughly Catholic. The Marian renaissance includes pastors from all mainline Protestant denominations: Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists. High -Church Anglicans are mentioned only in passing because they're old hands at this. Here is a favorite quote from the Time Magazine article:
In a shift whose ideological breadth is unusual in the fragmented Protestant world, a long-standing wall around Mary appears to be eroding. It is not that Protestans are converting to Catholicism's dramatic exaltation: the singing of Salve Regina, the Rosary's Marian mysteries, the entreaty to her in the Hail Mary to "pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." Rather, a growing number of Christian thinkers who are neither Catholic nor Eastern Orthodox (another branch of faith to which Mary is central) have concluded that their various tradition have short-changed her in the very arena in which Protestantism most prides itself: the careful and full reading of Scripture.Of course, there's always a spoiler, in this case, Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Southern Seminary:
He is underwhelmed by the Scripture-based reconsiderations of [Mary's Protestant defenders]. "Insofar as Evangelicals may have marginalized Mary's presentation in the Bible, it needs to be recovered," he concedes. "But the closer I look at the New Testament, the more convinced I am that it does not singler her out for the kind of attention that is being proposed. We have not missed the point about her. To construct a new role for her is simply overreaching."Perhaps the good Dr. Mohler should be reminded that the intention of his fellow Protestant theologians--as I read them--is not "to construct a new role" for the Blessed Mother, but to rescue and restore herold, rightful roles.
Anyway, there's always going to be someone with plenty of diplomas and who is highly respected in his circles that will never understand, or choose to understand, the Blessed Mother and her place in the Bible, so I'm not surprised nor will I lose any sleep on it.
The article is a good one, refreshing for Time Magazine. Buy the magazine and read it, and consider purchasing some of the Protestant-authored books on the Blessed Mother that are beginning to change some long-held prejudices or omissions held by Christians of that tradition.
- Read The Blessed Evangelical Mary in Christianity Today.
- Read What About Mary? Protestants and Marian Devotion in the Christian Century.
- Purchase Mary: Glimpses of the Mother of Jesus by Princeton Theological Seminary's Beverly Gaventa, from Amazon.com
- Purchase the icon above from MonasteryIcons.com
Mohler would be well served to learn the teachings and writings of Calvin, Luther, Zwingli et al on the Blessed Virgin Mary, which he is apparently very ignorant of.
**Mohler would be well served to learn the teachings and writings of Calvin, Luther, Zwingli et al on the Blessed Virgin Mary, which he is apparently very ignorant of.**
Ditto!
Time Magazine also reported there was NO WAY Bush would win a second term, that elections in Iraq were impossible, that Ronald Reagan was an idiot and that the U.S. used nerve agents against the Vietnamese.
What can I say. (sigh)
At least, Time Magazine finally published something uplifting, for a change. The rest remains to be seen.
. "All of creation rejoices in you, 0 full of grace: the assembly of angels and the human race. You are a sanctified temple and a spiritual paradise, the glory from whom God was incarnate and became a child; our God, existing before all ages. He made your womb a throne, and your body more spacious than the heavens. All of creation rejoices in you, 0 full of grace. Glory to you."
Dr. R. Albert Mahler is a good man with deep faith and very pro-life. His new pro-life book is called, “The Age of Infanticide: The Culture of Death Marches On”
by Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr.
With the maltreatment that Baptists suffered from Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, who tried to virtually wiped out the Baptist, most true Baptist scholars and polemicists understandably want to keep a fair distant from their writing. Today, Baptists cooperate around the essentials of pro-life, holiness of marriage, and conservative issues and try to put aside personal agendas.
The Southern Baptist Convention is on the front lines in culture war and like all brave solders in battle find that our similarities far outweigh our differences. People in the military, and people on the Free Republic, are working to serve this great country. As great patriots, in fighting this war on terrorism, conservative religious teamwork is absolutely necessary for USA to win. We sometimes forget that fact, but I can't think of any other site, where conservatives of different faiths are coming together to accomplish a vital national mission. And that takes teamwork. We work together, different conservative faiths, and different faith backgrounds, because we are looking out to win this “War on Terrorism “ and the "Culture War."
My God Bless Our Troops, and God Bless America.
. His theological neglect of Mary contributes to the notion that the Virgin Birth is a doctrine of secondary importance, It was no accident that it was the fight against Arianism that led Christians of the 4th Century loudly to pro cliam that Mary was theotokos. I suspect that Baptists are prone to Arianism.
(SIGH)
Once again. For Mary to hear the prayers of multitudes worldwide, at the same time, would require her to be God.
Sorry, she was blessed by God, and I'm sure was an excellent mother, but she is not God.
What Mary gave birth to, while "fathered by the Holy Ghost", was a child that was as mortal as anyone. But, was sinless because he had the "Father in him doing the works" (who also left his body long enough for it to die, returning 3 days and 3 nights later to raise it up). Jesus, said "...The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do..." "I of mine own self do nothing.." John 5:19,30. Also, deity cannot grow hungry, thirsty, or die.
Col. 2:9 "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Col. 3:17 "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." Those are only two, of a multitude of verses, telling us who to pray to, who live by and for, and who to give thanks to.
And to all a goodnight, be back in a few days.
Zuriel
I don't question Dr. Mahler's goodness or patriotism, nor do I deny the many common interests we share and the advantage of fighting together. There's nothing wrong in noticing what separate us, as well as what unite us.
I'm a reserve officer. I will fight alongside other fellow citizens sharing Dr. Mahler's persuasion without hesitation, any time, any place.
In Christ,
Theo
Nor do we say that she's God. We know she's God's creature as much as anyone else.
But she has been graced greatly, in fact, infinitely. She doesn't need "to be God" to hear prayer; she needs God's permission and enabling. We Catholics believe she holds both God's permission and enabling to do so. We posit that God could do so, wanted do so, and did in fact do so. If God's not offended, neither should we.
Not holding myself to the tenet of Sola Scriptura, I find no contradiction between what has been revealed or recognized in the oral and liturgical tradition of the Church, and what is recorded in the Holy Scriptures--or in the prooftexts you quote. Nor do I feel myself bound to prove it to you "chapter and verse" from the Bible because that would be pre-assuming Sola Scriptura. So, here we are.
That's what makes me a Catholic Christian and you, a whatever Christian.
In Christ,
Theo
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