Posted on 06/18/2009 4:02:05 PM PDT by bronxville
Mary not just for Catholics anymore
By Patricia Zapor Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As publications from Time magazine to Christianity Today have discovered recently, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is not just for Catholics anymore.
Features on Mary are perennial favorites for editors looking for a religion-themed story before Christmas, and in the last few years many of these articles have focused on the increasing popularity of Mary among Protestants.
Marianist Father Thomas Thompson, editor of the Marian Library Newsletter at the University of Dayton in Ohio, points out that the expanding Protestant acceptance of Mary is based upon a strictly scriptural view of her, rather than on any change in Protestant theology.
Some Catholic doctrines about Mary, such as the Immaculate Conception -- the belief that she was conceived without sin -- remain controversial among Protestants, Father Thompson said. But as anti-Catholicism has waned among Protestants, the barriers to Episcopalians, Baptists and evangelicals turning to Mary have faded as well.
"We're very happy to see others taking an interest in Mary," he said in a telephone interview with Catholic News Service.
Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, a Baptist college in Birmingham, Ala., wrote recently that "it is time for evangelicals to recover a fully biblical appreciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in the history of salvation, and to do so precisely as evangelicals." George's comments appeared in the December 2003 issue of Christianity Today and in a 2004 collection of essays by various theologians, "Mary: Mother of God."
"We may not be able to recite the rosary or kneel down before statues of Mary, but we need not throw her overboard," George wrote.
In the magazine, he quoted an early 20th-century Southern Baptist New Testament scholar, A.T. Robertson, who said Mary "has not had fair treatment either from Protestants or Catholics." Robertson argued that while Catholics have "deified" Mary evangelicals have coldly neglected her.
"We have been afraid to praise and esteem Mary for her full worth," said George, citing Robertson, "lest we be accused of leanings and sympathy with Catholics."
George's article went on to explain historical, scriptural and theological reasons why Protestants should embrace Mary.
"We need not go through Mary in order to get to Jesus," George concluded, "but we can join with Mary in pointing others to him."
Another recent book, "Blessed One," is a collection of 11 essays about Mary by Protestant scholars.
In their introduction, editors Beverly Roberts Gaventa and Cynthia L. Rigby, professors at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Texas, respectively, said their goal for the book was to help Protestants think in new ways about Mary, "blessing her and being blessed by her."
"She is a person of faith who does not always understand but who seeks to put her trust in God," they wrote.
For Muslims, on the other hand, Mary has always been a part of the picture.
John Alden Williams, professor emeritus in the humanities of religion at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, is a Catholic historian who has studied Islamic civilization and religion. He and fellow William and Mary professor James A. Bill published "Roman Catholics and Shi'i Muslims" in 2002.
It notes that two sections of the Quran, the sacred book of Islam, are devoted to Mary, known there as Maryam. She is recognized as the purified woman chosen to be the mother of the promised Messiah. Islam considers Jesus an important prophet, but not the incarnation of God.
Williams explained in a phone interview that, like Catholics, Shiite Muslims, who are a minority compared to the vastly more numerous Sunni Muslims, believe in intercessory prayer through saints and other holy people. That includes Mary, who is highly revered as a mediatrix between humans and God, or Allah. Sufis, another Islamic sect, also believe in intercession.
In Sunni Islam, "the whole idea of intercession is disputed," Williams said, "just as it is among Calvinist Protestants."
Among the differences the leaders of the Protestant Reformation had with the Catholic Church was the growth during the Middle Ages of devotion to Mary. Reformers argued that Jesus was the only mediator between God and mankind and that "exuberant Marian devotion seemed to them to threaten the clarity of the Gospel message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone," wrote Daniel L. Migliore, a theology professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, in his chapter in "Blessed One."
Muslims who seek Mary's intercession, on the other hand, see her in much the same way Catholics do, said Williams.
While living in the Middle East, he said he witnessed several striking examples of the reverence many Muslims have for Mary.
At the Convent of Our Lady, an Orthodox church in Sednaya, Syria, he watched devout Muslims roll out prayer rugs to join Christians in reverencing an icon of Mary that is reputed to have been painted by St. Luke the Evangelist and believed to have the power to cure illnesses.
And in the late 1960s, many Muslims were among the millions who gathered in a Coptic Orthodox church in Egypt, hoping to catch a glimpse of reported Marian apparitions, he said.
For more than a year starting in 1968, apparitions of Mary were reported over the domes of the Church of the Virgin Mary in the Zeitoun area of Cairo.
Williams went to the church once during that time and was surprised to see Muslims among the crowd, he said.
"I asked some people, 'Isn't it a little funny for you to be coming here to a Christian church?'" Williams said. They said they considered it only proper that Mary would appear at a church dedicated to her, but explained that they believed she was speaking to all Egyptians, not just Christians.
"They all saw it as a great sign of consolation after the war with Israel (in 1967) that God had not forgotten the people of Egypt," he said.
That’s from a Protestant Bible.
From the Douay-Rheims it says....
“26 And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.”
Sorry if you have a bad translation.
I appreciate your postings, you know your Bible.
Can you explain to me why FreeRepublic posts so many Catholic and Mormon teachings on the religion forum?
I get the feeling Evangelicals aren’t given the same consideration. Is this my imagination?
Is she the Mother of God? Is she in Heaven? If so - as a Saint in Heaven, is not Her Ministry at least as valid as the Communion of Saints that the Apostles Creed confesses?
A Statement of Evangelicals and Catholics Together
In a world where many believe that this life is all there is, Christians are called to bear bold witness to the solidarity of the communio sanctorum, a solidarity secured by our communion with Jesus Christ—crucified, risen, and coming again—and with all, both the living and the dead, who are alive in Christ.Is not the Apostles Creed part of the Body of Christ?
“Can you explain to me why FreeRepublic posts so many Catholic and Mormon teachings on the religion forum?”
Clearly the owner is a dreaded Mormon Catholic, a rare and difficult breed. Beware that you don’y offend, who knows the eternal {ZOT} torments that await?
I honor my mother and I’m 56 years old. I do not, however, OBEY her anymore. Neither does she expect me to.
I believe yours is following the Vulgate to conform to your Church’s teaching. That is bias, not scholarship or honesty.
>>I get the feeling Evangelicals aren’t given the same consideration. Is this my imagination?<<
Yes, that is your imagination.
Anyone can and do publish on the Religion forum.
The Catholics and LDS threads are hot because there is a group of people who jump on them instantly to “debate” or “minister”.
However, many FReepers would certainly enjoy an Evangelical POV and would welcome threads from Evangelicals. Some of us cross over threads to other religions for solidarity.
If you post something, I’d welcome a ping. If you don’t mind that I’m Catholic. Many of my family members are Evangelical and will vouch for me. *smile*
"The Douay-Rheims Bible, also known as the Rheims-Douai Bible or Douai Bible and abbreviated as D-R, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English. The New Testament was published in one volume with extensive commentary and notes in 1582. The Old Testament followed nearly thirty years later in two volumes; the first volume (Genesis to Job) in 1609, the second (Psalms to 2 Machabees plus the apocrypha of the Clementine Vulgate) in 1610. Marginal notes took up the bulk of the volumes and had a strong polemical and patristic character. They also offered insights on issues of translation, and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate. The purpose of the version, both the text and notes, was to uphold Catholic tradition in the face of the Protestant Reformation which was heavily influencing England. As such it was an impressive effort by English Catholics to support the Counter-Reformation."
Actually, the Douay-Rheims is taken from Latin Vulgate, which is itself a translation from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.
Nevertheless, it was a translation of a translation of the Bible. Many highly-regarded translations of the Bible still use the Vulgate for consultation, especially in certain difficult Old Testament passages, but nearly all modern Bible versions go directly to the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Biblical texts for translation and not to a secondary version like the Vulgate (written by Saint Jerome (345-420) a little bit before your translation)
And like I said, sorry your translation is lacking.
I gave Bible verses...where are yours? Truth is absolute and not relative. The Bible is the inspired Word of God and calls itself thus. Traditions do not trump inspiration, at least not for me. You are certainly free to believe whatever you want but if you want to argue theology you have to pick an authoritative source we can both agree on. Do you not accept the Bible as a sole authority?
I think there are just a lot of Protestants, Catholics, and Mormons who wish to post about their faith. DU wouldn’t, since most posters there hate God.
Yeah, and I’m sure those underlined parts were added by Catholics /s/
LOL!
Like I said, the Vulgate was a bit before the reformation.
I’m not the one quoting a 500 year old translation that, by your own admission, is from the Latin. Your use of a translation made from Latin to promote Roman Catholic belief 500 years ago makes your posts suspect, not mine.
>>Truth is absolute and not relative.<<
Your own personal interpretation of scripture is yours.
Mine is mine.
I’m not the brightest bulb in the bunch and got Bible interpretation wrong during my “I’m going to do let God inspire me” phase.
Now I let the experts handle the job. They have been doing it as long as the Written Word of God has been around.
ah-hem
“Actually, the Douay-Rheims is taken from Latin Vulgate, which is itself a translation from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.”
Little older than 500 years ago, my FRiend!
Luther, Calvin, and Other Early Protestants on the Perpetual Virginity of Mary
Luther, Calvin, and Other Early Protestants on the Perpetual Virginity of Mary
I always love when you throw in the right links!
You don’t sound like a loving person to me. If I try to persuade someone concerning my faith I do it respectfully. My post was for MrRogers and maybe should have been a personal post. That doesn’t give you the right to ridicule.
If your mother asked you for a favor that you could easily grant, would you honor that request?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.