A Protestant Discovers Mary

Romano Guardini wrote in his book on the Rosary, “To linger in the domain of Mary is a divinely great thing. One does not ask about the utility of truly noble things, because they have their meaning within themselves. So it is of infinite meaning to draw a deep breath of this purity, to be secure in the peace of this union with God.”

Guardini was speaking of spending time with Mary in praying the Rosary, but David Mills, in his latest book, Discovering Mary, helps us linger in the domain of Mary by opening up to us the riches of divine revelation, both from tradition and Scripture. Mills, a convert from the Episcopal Church, former editor of the Christian journal Touchstone and editor of the 1998 book of essays commemorating the centennial of C.S. Lewis’ birth The Pilgrim’s Guide: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Witness, as well as the author of Knowing the Real Jesus (2001), has written a rock-solid introduction to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and done so with intellectual rigor and an affable tone.

His book begins with an introduction in which he describes how he came to discover the riches of the Church’s teachings on Mary: “I began to see how a sacred vessel is made holy by the sacred thing it carries,” he writes. “I began to feel this in a way I had not before. I found myself developing an experiential understanding of Mary and indeed a Marian devotion. Which surprised me. It surprised me a lot.”

Unfortunately, he notes, he did not learn about Mary from contemporary Catholics, nor in homilies, “even on Marian feast days.” It seems he learned on his own by reading magisterial documents and going back to Scriptures in light of those documents.

This book shares the fruit of that study. Mills examines the life of Mary, Mary in the Bible, Mary in Catholic doctrine, Marian feast days and the names of Mary. He includes an appendix full of references to papal documents and books on Mary.

Most of the book is done in a question-and-answer format, which usually works well, although at times it feels awkward. Would someone really ask, for instance, “What is happening in the liturgy on the Marian feast days?”

But most of the questions are natural. “What is the point of Marian devotion?” Mills asks. It is “to live the Catholic life as well as we can,” he answers. “This means going ever more deeply into the mystery of Christ, to become saintlier, more conformed to his image, by following Mary’s example and by turning to her for help and comfort.”

“Christians since the beginning of serious Marian devotion have been careful to emphasize Mary’s subordination to her son,” Mills replies. “In fact, they have said it so often that the reader begins to expect it. In the fifth century St. Ambrose put it nicely: ‘Mary was the temple of God, not the god of the temple.’”

David Mills, with the same radical clarity he showed in Knowing the Real Jesus, has written what has to be one of the best, if not the very best, short introductions to Catholic teaching on Mary, the Mother of God. Discovering Mary is ideal for those wanting to know more about her, whether they be skeptics, Protestants, or Catholics who don’t know the Mother of the Church well enough.

Thank you oh so very much for sharing your meditations and testimony, dear brother in Christ!

Truly we may be called to do different things in different places or with different people. The important part is to follow His leading and not do whatever seems right to us.

[There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace. Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. - Romans 8:1-9

To God be the glory, not man, never man.

And of course, the quote 2 Tim 3:16-17, but if you read it from 2 Tim 3:14 to 20 you see

14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Firstly, 2:Tim 3:16-17 says that all inspired writing is "profitable", but to say that does not mean that only writing need be followed is a non sequitor.

This passage gives no argument that sacred Scripture without Tradition is the sole rule of faith; for although sacred Scripture ios profitable for these 4 ends, it is not said in that passage to be sufficient. Paul says in 2 Thess 2:15 "15So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings[a] we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter." that one requires both Tradition AND Scripture.

The scriptures referred to in 2 Tim 15 says "and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures" -- note infancy. The good part of the New Testament was not written in TImothy's boyhood: the epistles were not written even after Paul wrote to Timothy and none of the books of the NEw Testament were then placed on the canon of the Scripture books which were scriptures of the Old Testament. If one takes the false sola scriptura argument from this, one could erroneously say that the scriptures of the NT were not (incorrectly) necessary for the rule of faith.

And, as you see if you do not excerpt

14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

when you read 16-17 in the context of the surrounding passages, one discovers that Paul's reference to Scripture is only part of his telling Timothy to take as his guide Tradition and Scripture. 14-15 says

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus"

Paul tells Timothy to continue in what he has learned -- from Paul (Apostolic Tradition) and from Scripture

10You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them

This is a direct appeal to apostolic Tradition, the oral teaching Paul gave to Timothy.

3:16 taken out of context to prove sola scriptura, when read in context actually is teaching the importance of apostolic Tradition.
In fact, if you read 2 Timothy 2:1-2 you see

1You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others

viz. that much Christian teaching is to be found in Tradition which is handed down by word of mouth. He instructs us to

15So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings[a] we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

2 Thess 2:15

Just as in Luke 10:16

16"He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

Refer to Rom 10:17

17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

To limit Christ's word to the written only or to suggest that all his teachings were reduced to writing is to use the terms of the publishing age to refer to acts of the oral age. The Bible nowhere supports that Christ's word is limited to the written only or that all his teachings were reduced to writing

And the oral teaching lasts until the end of time -- 1 Peter 1:25

25but the word of the Lord stands forever."[a] And this is the word that was preached to you.

Note that the word has been "preached", orally. This will be supplemented by the Bible but not supplanted.

And from John

30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may[a] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Tradition overlaps with what is contained in Scripture, but the mode of their transmission is different.

Paul illustrated Tradition when he said in 1 Cor 15:3-11

3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed

And in 1 Cor 11:2

2I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings,[a] just as I passed them on to you.

And Acts

35In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "

which is an oral tradition handed down to Paul.

Good question -- let me answer what I, personally,in my humble opinion, have read is the "spin" of Calvin and Luther on predestination. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Lutheran believed in an unconditional election to salvation while Calvin believed in Unconditional election to salvation and damnation

Martin Luther's attitude towards predestination is set out in his On the Bondage of the Will, Luther based his views on Ephesians 2:8-10, which says: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Luther maintained that sin incapacitates human beings from working out their own salvation, that they are completely unable to bring themselves to God. Luther believed in single predestination. That is to say, desiring to save all fallen human beings, God sent his Son Jesus Christ to atone for the sins of the whole world on the cross.

This differs from Calvin's view of Unconditional election which teaches that before God created the world, He chose to save some people according to His own purposes and apart from any conditions related to those persons

Calvin believed that human beings did not have free will because that would take away from the power of God. Man could not actively work to achieve salvation. God predetermines at the beginning of time who would be saved and who would be damned. Those predestined for salvation were defined by their virtuous lines, and they were referred to as "the elect." Also, the elect could be determined by their economic and material success.

In contrast, Luther believed that anyone could reach salvation as long as he had faith. This belief is shown in his famous statement "justification by faith." One does not have to be "chosen" to have faith under Martin Luther's beliefs.

The lutheran position is, imho, far closer to the orthodox and to the idea of a loving God than the calvinist.

37. But as earnestly as we maintain that there is an election of grace, or a predestination to salvation, so decidedly do we teach, on the other hand, that there is no election of wrath, or predestination to damnation. Scripture plainly reveals the truth that the love of God for the world of lost sinners is universal, that is, that it embraces all men without exception, that Christ has fully reconciled all men unto God, and that God earnestly desires to bring all men to faith, to preserve them therein, and thus to save them, as Scripture testifies, 1 Tim. 2:4: "God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." No man is lost because God has predestined him to eternal damnation. -- Eternal election is a cause why the elect are brought to faith in time, Acts 13:48; but election is not a cause why men remain unbelievers when they hear the Word of God. The reason assigned by Scripture for this sad fact is that these men judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life, putting the Word of God from them and obstinately resisting the Holy Ghost, whose earnest will it is to bring also them to repentance and faith by means of the Word, Act 13:46; 7:51; Matt. 23:37.

I'll quote from newadvent which describes this difficult subject far better than I could aspire to do so

the Catholic dogma of predestination keeps the golden mean, because it regards eternal happiness primarily as the work of God and His grace, but secondarily as the fruit and reward of the meritorious actions of the predestined. The process of predestination consists of the following five steps: (a) the first grace of vocation, especially faith as the beginning, foundation, and root of justification; (b) a number of additional, actual graces for the successful accomplishment of justification; (c) justification itself as the beginning of the state of grace and love; (d) final perseverance or at least the grace of a happy death; (e) lastly, the admission to eternal bliss. If it is a truth of Revelation that there are many who, following this path, seek and find their eternal salvation with infallible certainty, then the existence of Divine predestination is proved (cf. Matthew 25:34; Revelation 20:15). St. Paul says quite explicitly (Romans 8:28 sq.): "we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints. For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son; that he might be the first born amongst many brethren. And whom he predestinated, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified." (Cf. Ephesians 1:4-11) Besides the eternal "foreknowledge" and foreordaining, the Apostle here mentions the various steps of predestination: "vocation", "justification", and "glorification". This belief has been faithfully preserved by Tradition through all the centuries, especially since the time of Augustine.

...[cf. Apocalypse 3:5: "and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life" (cf. Exodus 32:33)].

And the rest of it requires a lot more deeper reading by me -- but interestingly enough, it holds true. The Calvinist position does not

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