Mary, the mother of Jesus

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Saint Mary redirects here. See Saint Mary's for entities named after St. Mary. See Blessed Virgin Mary for the Catholic cult.

In Christianity according to the New Testament, Mary (Judæo-Aramaic מרים Maryām "Bitter"; Septuagint Greek Μαριαμ, Mariam, Μαρια, Maria; Arabic: Maryem, مريم) was the mother of Jesus of Nazareth and at the time of his conception was the betrothed wife of Joseph (cf. Matt 1:18-20, Luke 1:35). Most Christians and Muslims understand the Gospel accounts in this respect to mean that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus through a miracle of God.

Mary is the subject ra of much veneration in the Christian faith, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Church, and is also highly regarded by Muslims. The area of Christian theology concerning her is Mariology. The feast of the nativity of Mary is celebrated both in the Orthodox and in the Roman Catholic (and also Anglican) churches on 8 September.

Contents

Titles given to Mary

Mary's most common titles include the Blessed Virgin Mary or Our Lady (this latter, in French, Spanish, and Italian, is rendered Notre Dame, Nuestra Señora, and Madonna respectively). Among Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox she is called Theotokos (Greek for God-bearer) and St. Mary. Catholics also refer to her as Mother of the Church, Queen of All Saints, Mother of God, Queen of Angels, and Queen of Heaven; other Catholic names for Mary can be found in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Historical records

Historicity of Mary

Most, though not all, historians accept that Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure, even if they accept only selectively the account of his life in the Christian Gospels. His mother Mary is mentioned by name in three of the four canonical Gospels, and the Book of Acts; the Gospel of John does not mention her by name.

Beyond the accounts given in the Gospels and a few other early Christian sources, there is no independent or verifiable information about any aspect of Mary's life. An account of the childhood of Mary is given in the mid-second century non-canonical Gospel of James. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions built around the figure of Mary, and the centuries of Marian cult derived from the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, are based on faith, traditions of the Church Fathers (including the Gospel of James), and their interpretations of the Scriptures¹.

Mary is also directly named in the Qur'an, although this was written some six hundred years later.

Christian scriptures

Image:Annunciation.jpg

Little is known of Mary's personal history from the New Testament. She was a relative of Elizabeth, wife of the priest Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah, who herself was of the lineage of Aaron (Luke 1:5; 1:36). Mary resided at Nazareth in Galilee, presumably with her parents, while betrothed to Joseph of the House of David (Luke 1:26). It has sometimes been argued that she, too, must have been a descendant of King David. During their betrothal – the first stage of a Jewish marriage, during which the couple are not ever permitted to be alone together under one roof, hence may not yet cohabit, despite already being husband and wife in legal terms – the angel Gabriel announced to her that she was to be the mother of the promised Messiah by conceiving him through the Holy Spirit, the power of the Most High (the Annunciation, Luke 1:35). When Joseph was told of her conception by the Holy Spirit, he was afraid; but "an angel of the Lord" commanded him in a dream to be unafraid and take his wife to his home, which Joseph obediently did, thereby formally completing the wedding rites (Matthew 1:18-25). Since the angel had told Mary ra that Elizabeth, having previously been barren, was now herself pregnant by the power of the word of God, Mary then hurried to visit her relation, who was living with her husband Zechariah in a city of Judah in the hill country (probably at Juttah, Joshua 15:55; 21:16, in the neighbourhood of Maon), at a considerable distance (about 160 km) from Nazareth (Luke 1:39). Immediately on entering the house she was saluted by Elizabeth as the mother of her Lord, and then forthwith gave utterance to her hymn of thanksgiving (Luke 1:46-56; comp. 1 Samuel 2:1-10) commonly known as the Magnificat. After three months Mary returned to her house. Shortly before her own confinement a decree of Augustus (Luke 2:1) required that Mary and Joseph should proceed to Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), some 80 or 90 miles (about 130 kilometers) from Nazareth; and while there they found shelter in the inn (a shelter-place provided for strangers, cf. Luke 2:6,7). But as the inn was crowded, Mary had to retire to a place among the cattle.

There Mary gave birth to her son, whom Joseph in accordance with the angel's instruction called Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). This was followed by Jesus's circumcision, his presentation to the Lord, the visit of the Magi, the family's flight into Egypt, their return after the death of King Herod the Great about 2/1 BCE and taking up residence in Nazareth (Matthew 2). Mary apparently remained in Nazareth for thirty uneventful years. She is involved in an incident during the only event in Jesus's early adult life that is recorded: his going up to Jerusalem when twelve years of age, where he was found among the teachers in the temple (Luke 2:41-52). Probably some time between this event and the opening of Jesus's public ministry Mary was widowed, for Joseph is not mentioned again.

After Jesus's baptism by His cousin, John "the Baptist" (in which the Holy Spirit came down and rested upon Jesus "like a dove"), and His temptations by the Devil in the desert wilderness, Mary was present at the marriage in Cana, where Jesus worked his first public miracle, at her intercession (John 2:1-11). After this event, there is little mention of Mary in the Gospel accounts; until we find her at the Cross along with her sister Mary, and Mary Magdalene, Salome and other women (John 19:26). Mary, cradling the dead body of her Son, is a common motif in art, called a "pietà" or "piety".

After the Ascension, of about 120 people gathered in the Upper Room on the occasion of the election of Matthias to the vacancy of Judas, Mary is the only person mentioned by name other than the eleven Apostles and the candidates (Acts 1:12-26, especially v. 14). From this time, she wholly disappears from the historical, Biblical accounts, although it is held by many Christians that she is again portrayed as the heavenly Woman of Revelation (Revelation 12:1).

Her death is not recorded in Scripture.

Later Christian writings and traditions

According to the Gospel of James, which, though not part of the New Testament, contains biographical material about Mary considered "plausible" by some Orthodox and Catholic Christians, she was the daughter of Joachim and Anna. Before Mary's conception, Anna had been barren, and her parents were quite old when she was conceived. They took her to live in the Temple in Jerusalem when she was three years old, much like Hanna took Samuel to the Tabernacle, as recorded in the Old Testament (Tanakh, Hebrew Bible).


According to Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition, between three and fifteen years after Christ's Ascension, in either Jerusalem or Ephesus, Mary died; while surrounded by the apostles. Later, when the apostles opened her tomb, they found it empty, and concluded that she had been bodily assumed into Heaven. ("Mary's Tomb" - a tomb in Jerusalem is attributed to Mary, but it was unknown until the 6th century.)

Mary in The Qur'an

And We Made son of Mary and his mother a Sign ... (23.50)

Mary, mother of Jesus, enjoys a singularly distinguished and honored position amongst women in The Qur'an:

She is the only woman directly named in The Book; declared (uniquely along with Jesus) to be a Ayat Allah or Sign of The God to mankind (23.50); as one who "guarded her chastity" (66.12); an obedient one (66.12); chosen of her mother and dedicated to Allah whilst still in the womb to the-God (3.36); uniquely (amongst women) Accepted into service by Allah (3.37); cared for by (the High Priest) Zakariya (Zecharias) (3:37); that in her childhood she resided in the Temple and uniquely had access to Al-Mihrab (understood to be the Holy of Holies), and was provided with heavenly 'provisions' by Allah (3:37); a Chosen One (3.42); a Purified One (3.42); a Truthful one (5.75); a fulfillment of Prophecy (66.12); a vessel for the Spirit of The-God breathed into her (66.12); her child conceived through "a Word from The-God" (3.45); and "exalted above all women of The Worlds/Universes" (3.42).

The Qur'an relates detailed narrative accounts of Maryam (Mary) in two places: 3:35-47 and 19:16-34.

The account given in (Sura 19 of) The Qur'an is nearly identical with that in The Gospel according to Luke, and it should be noted that both of these (Luke, Sura 19) begin with an account of the visitation of an angel upon Zakariya (Zecharias) and Good News of the birth of Yahya (John), followed by the account of the annunciation.

It should also be noted that the account in (Sura 3 of) The Qur'an tracks the accounts in Apocrypha, namely the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and infancy gospel of James the Just, regarding the use of 'rods' to determine a guardian/husband after she reached the age of puberty (3.44), and, the account of the scandal caused upon the discovery of her with child (19.27-28), both of which are not recorded in the canonical Gospels.

Finally, the Qur'an describes Mary (Maryam) as "sister of Harun" (19.28-29) and "daughter of Imran" (66.12). Harun is the Arabic form of the Hebrew Aaron, while Imran is an Arabic form of the Hebrew Amram. Amran was the father of "Aaron, Moses and Miriam" in the Old Testament (Numbers 26.59). The title "sister of Aaron" is further given to Miriam in the Old Testament. Based on this, some commentators have posited a confusion in the Qur'an between Mary, mother of Jesus and Miriam, sister of Moses. This is denied by other commentators, who argue that the similarity in family names is either coincidental or metaphorical.

Christian and Muslim beliefs about Mary

Immaculate Conception of Mary

Main article: Immaculate Conception

The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that states that Mary was filled with grace from the very moment of her conception in her mother's womb. While it might be permitted for Orthodox Christians to believe the doctrine, only the Roman Catholic Church has officially adopted this teaching, and the title "Immaculate Conception" is one used only by Catholics.

Most Protestants reject the idea that Mary was saved by God from her very first moment, since they consider it unscriptural.

While it is technically true to say that Orthodox believe Mary was conceived immaculate, Orthodox do not believe in the same idea of original sin as the West, and they believe all babies are born immaculate. Sin is not considered ontological in Orthodoxy, only the tendency toward it. (This tendency is referenced by the phrase, "ancestral curse," which sometimes leads to confusion on the Orthodox view of the fall.) Mary is considered sinless in the Orthodox Church because it is believed that the grace of God allowed her not to sin, thereby remaining immaculate. So in the Orthodox view, it seems Mary was conceived immaculately but her conception was not out of the ordinary in any way.

Mary's age

Whilst the teaching of the Catholic Church that Mary was a virgin is not accepted by a number of Christian scholars who argue that the Greek term parthenos in Luke 1:27 does not necessarily have to mean "virgin [intacta]" but that there is also evidence for it signifying any "young woman", it is generally agreed that Mary was very young when she conceived Jesus. Some insight into traditions concerning her later life, e.g., that she died between three and 15 years after the crucifixion of Jesus, can be found in the New Testament Apocrypha. Assuming that Jesus died in his 30s, there is also little reason to doubt that his mother could still be alive at the time of his death, or that she could have witnessed it (cf. Jn 19:25).

Virgin birth of Jesus

Image:Mary16thC.jpg
Main article: Nativity

The Apostles' Creed and Nicene Creed both refer to Mary as "the Virgin Mary". This alludes to the belief that Mary conceived Jesus through the action of God the Holy Spirit, and not through intercourse with Joseph or anyone else. That she was a virgin at this time is affirmed by Eastern Christianity, Roman Catholicism and by many (though not all) Protestants. Denial of this is considered heretical by Catholics and Eastern Orthodox (and Evangelicals) alike.

Historic Christianity, including modern-day Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, teaches that she was a virgin before, during, and after giving birth to Jesus. Islam also takes this position, which is stated explicitly in the Quran (3:47). Some Protestants also hold this view, while many others believe that she was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, but that she later was not and had other children with her husband, Joseph. Catholics and Orthodox explain references to Jesus' brothers as either cousins, or as step-brothers who were Joseph's children by a prior marriage. Pope Boniface VIII denied the virginity of Mary.

Persons who are neither Christians nor Muslims generally doubt that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. A common view by non-Christian sources speculates that Mary had relations with a Roman soldier and then married Joseph who protected her from the harsh Jewish laws of the time which would have sentenced her to death by stoning for such an act. This version is recorded by Origen in the third century and attributed to Celsus of the second century, who said he heard it from a Jew, in Origen's Contra Celsum 1.28-32. Also see: Illegitimacy of Jesus: A Feminist Theological Interpretation of the Infancy Narratives (Biblical Seminar Series, No 28), Jane Schaberg, ISBN 1850755337.

The Gospel of Matthew describes Mary as a virgin who fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. The Hebrew word almah that appears in this verse, and the Greek word parthenos that Jews used to translate it in the Greek Septuagint that Matthew quotes here, have been the subjects of dispute for almost two millennia. This disagreement is related to the question of whether Isaiah 7:14 is a prophecy of Jesus' birth. Regardless of the meaning of this verse, it is clear that the authors of the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke asserted that Mary had "no relations with man" before Jesus' birth.

Virgin birth of Jesus in the Qu'ran

The Qur'an quite decisively declares that Jesus was the result of a virgin birth, but that neither she nor her son were divine, but merely "honoured servants" (21.26). The most detailed account of the annunciation and birth of Jesus is provided in Sura 3 and 19 of The Qur'an wherein it is written that Allah/The-God sent an angel to announce that she could shortly expect to bear a son, despite being a virgin:

(Remember) When the angels said O Mary! Allah Gives thee Good News of a son through a Word from Him! His name shall be the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honoured in this world and in the next, and of those who Are Granted Nearness to Allah! (3.45)
And he shall speak to the people in the cradle, and when of middle age, and he shall be of The Righteous (3.46)
She said My Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me ? He Said, That is as it shall be. Allah Creates what He Pleases. When HE decrees a thing HE says to it "Be" and it is! (3.47)

The Qur'an also declares that one of the reasons (amongsts many listed) for the punishments of The-God upon the People of The Book -- "Allah has sealed their hearts" (4.155) -- is for their "uttering a monsterous lie against Mary" (4.156). This is generally understood to refer to the accusations of wanton unchastity which was directed by some against Mary in her lifetime and which remain recorded in the Talmud.

Sura 5 Signs 116-119 of The Qur'an includes the Prophecy of the Judgement Day where "Jesus son of Mary" will be questioned by Allah as regards to those who worship him and Mary, and that Jesus will deny them:

And when ALLAH will say O Jesus, son of Mary, didst thou say to men: Take me and my mother for two gods beside ALLAH ? He will answer Holy art Thou! I could never say that which I had no right. If I had said it, Thou wouldst have surely known it. Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Thy mind. It is Thou alone Who Art the Knower of all hidden things
I said nothing to them except that which Thou didst command me - Worship Allah (The-God), my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them, but since Thou didst cause me to die, Thou, hast been the Watcher over them, and Thou art Witness over all things
If Thou punish them, they are Thy servants; and if Thou forgive them, Thou surely art the Mighty, the Wise.
Allah Will Say This is a Day when only The Truthful shall profit by their truthfulness. For them are Gardens beneath which streams flow; therein shall they abide forever. Allah Is well Pleased with them, and they are well pleased with HIM! That indeed is the Supreme Triumph!

Theotokos ("Mother of God")

Main article: Theotokos

At the Third Ecumenical council, the Council of Ephesus (against the Nestorians), A.D. 431, it was decided that it was entirely appropriate to refer to Mary as the Theotokos, to emphasize that Mary's child, Jesus Christ, was in fact God (Denziger §111a). That Council clarified that the Church Fathers "did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God" (ibid.), thus affirming what had always been held as true: e.g. St. Ignatius of Antioch, ca. A.D. 110 (Jurgens §42); Alexander of Alexandria, A.D. 328 (Jurgens §680); among other references from similar sources. She is often referred to as "Theotokos" in Eastern Orthodox hymns.

The Qur'an quite decisively declares that neither Mary nor her son Jesus were divine, but merely "honoured servants" (21.26).

Perpetual virginity

Main article: Perpetual virginity of Mary

That Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus is a doctrinal stance of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Of the early fathers of the Church, only Tertullian seems to have questioned the teaching.

The question of Mary's virginity is related to the interpretation of the New Testament references to Jesus' "brothers". Those who defend the doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity point out that Aramaic, the language spoken by Christ and his disciples, lacked a specific word for "cousin," so that the word "brother" was used instead. This is also true in Hebrew, and there are several places in the Old Testament that use the word "brother" to mean nephew or cousin. Others argue that Jesus' "brothers" were sons of Joseph by a previous wife - and thus Jesus' stepbrothers, who would have been regarded as his half-brothers by the people Jesus and Mary lived alongside, who were unaware of Jesus' divinity and assumed him to be the son of Joseph. (For more details, see this section of the article on James the Just.)

The most prominent leaders of the Reformation, Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin also defended the perpetual virginity of Mary against those who questioned it. But by the 17th century, the Catholic and Protestant churches came to see Mary as a major point of division, and Protestant theologians began arguing that Mary did not remain a virgin and that the "brothers" of Jesus were indeed his half-brothers, sons of Mary and Joseph. Today most Protestants reject the doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity.

Islam teaches that Mary conceived Jesus as a virgin, but that Jesus had a single parent (Mary) and was not the Son of God. Muslims also believe that Mary remained a virgin for her entire life.

Dormition and Assumption


Main article: Assumption of Mary

For Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics alike, Mary's assumption, i.e., the lifting up of her body into Heaven after her death, is seen as a concrete and present instance of the resurrection of the body, a belief integral to Christian theology and found in the creeds.

The doctrine in Roman Catholicism

The belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary was formally declared to be dogma by Pope Pius XII in 1950; Roman Catholics must therefore hold the doctrine as true. Pope Pius XII states in Munificentissimus Deus [1]: "[W]e pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith." This is an example of an invocation of papal infallibility. The Feast of the Assumption is celebrated on August 15.

The promulgated dogma is not worded so as to force the issue as to whether she experienced death prior to her Assumption, as there is no theological basis for doing so. Ludwig Ott (Bk. III, Pt. 3, Ch. 2, §6) states that "the fact of her death is almost generally accepted by the Fathers and Theologians, and is expressly affirmed in the Liturgy of the Church," to which he adduces a number of helpful citations, and concludes that "for Mary, death, in consequence of her freedom from original sin and from personal sin, was not a consequence of punishment of sin. However, it seems fitting that Mary's body, which was by nature mortal, should be, in conformity with that of her Divine Son, subject to the general law of death." In keeping with the historical consensus of the Church, Pius XII himself almost certainly rejected the notion of Mary's "immortality" (the idea that she never suffered death) in favor of the more widely accepted understanding that her assumption took place after her physical death.

The doctrine in Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy

The tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church holds that Mary died, and that after her death and burial, she was not resurrected but that her body was miraculously transposed into heaven, as was the body of Enoch, Moses and Elijah. This two-fold event is celebrated as the Dormition ("falling asleep") of the Theotokos. The Feast of the Dormition is celebrated on August 15, and is preceded by a fourteen day fast from meat and dairy products, the third longest fast of the liturgical year after Great Lent and Winter Lent. Despite the great importance of this feast in the Orthodox liturgical calendar, it is not considered a matter of dogma as in the Catholic Church (dogmatization of the Dormition for the Roman Catholic Church was formalized by a Roman Catholic pope after the Great Schism, whose authority Eastern Orthodox did not recognize).

Religious attitudes towards Mary

Veneration of Mary: Divisions Among Christians

Image:Giant-mary.jpg Roman Catholic, Orthodox and many Anglican Christians venerate Mary, as do the non-Chalcedonian or Oriental Orthodox, a communion of churches that has been traditionally deemedmonophysite(such as the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt and the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church). This veneration especially takes the form of prayer for intercession with her Son, Jesus Christ. Additionally it includes composing poems and songs in Mary's honor, painting icons or carving statues representing her, bowing or kneeling before such images as a token of respect to the one portrayed by them, and conferring titles on Mary that reflect her exalted position among the saints. She is also one of the most highly venerated saints in both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church; several major feast days are devoted to her each year. (See Liturgical year.) Protestants have generally been less enthusiastic about the veneration of the Virgin than their Catholic and Orthodox cousins, often arguing that if too much attention is focused on Mary, there is a danger of detracting from the worship due to God alone. By contrast, certain documents of the Second Vatican Council, such as chapter VIII of the dogmatic constitution "Lumen Gentium" [2] describe Mary as higher than all other created beings, even angels: "she far surpasses all creatures, both in heaven and on earth"; but still in the final analysis, a created being, solely human - not divine - in her nature. On this showing, Catholic traditionalists would argue that there is no conflation [3] of the human and divine levels in their veneration of Mary.

Image:NFromentBurningBush1476.jpg

The major origin and impetus of veneration of Mary comes from the Christological controversies of the early church - many debates denying in some way the divinity or humanity of Jesus Christ. So not only would one side affirm that Jesus was indeed God, but would assert the conclusion that Mary was the mother of God.

Both Roman Catholics and Orthodox make a clear distinction between such veneration (which is also due to the other saints) and worship which is due to God alone. Mary, they point out, is not in herself divine, and has only such powers to help as are granted to her by God in response to her prayers. Such miracles as may occur through Mary's intercession are ultimately the result of God's love and omnipotence. The term worship is used by some theologians to subsume both categories: sacrificial worship and worship of praise: Orestes Brownson in his book Saint Worship is a good example of that usage. Roman Catholicism distinguishes three forms of honor: "latria", due only to God, and usually translated by the English word adoration; "hyperdulia", accorded only to the Blessed Virgin Mary, usually translated simply as veneration; and "dulia", accorded to the rest of the saints, also usually translated as veneration. The Orthodox distinguish between worship and veneration but do not accept a sort of "hyper"-veneration only for the Theotokos.

The surge in the cult of Mary in the High Middle Ages owes some of its initial impetus to Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard expanded upon Anselm of Canterbury's role in transmuting the sacramental ritual Christianity of the Early Middle Ages into a new, more personally held faith, with the life of Christ as a model and a new emphasis on the Virgin Mary. In opposition to the rational approach to divine understanding that the schoolmen adopted, Bernard preached an immediate faith, in which the intercessor was the Virgin Mary. "the Virgin that is the royal way, by which the Savior comes to us." "Bernard played the leading role in the development of the Virgin cult, which is one of the most important manifestations of the popular piety of the twelfth century. In early medieval thought the Virgin Mary had played a minor role, and it was only with the rise of emotional Christianity in the eleventh century that she became the prime intercessor for humanity with the deity." (Cantor 1993 p 341)

Some early Protestants venerated and honored Mary. Martin Luther said Mary is "the highest woman", that "we can never honour her enough", that "the veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart", and that we should "wish that everyone know and respect her". John Calvin said, "It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor." Zwingli said, "I esteem immensely the Mother of God," and, "The more the honor and love of Christ increases among men, so much the esteem and honor given to Mary should grow." Thus the idea of respect and high honour was not rejected by the first Protestants; but, they criticised the Catholics for blurring the line, between high admiration of the grace of God wherever it is seen in a human being, and religious service given to another creature. The Roman Catholic practice of Saints' days and requests addressed especially to Mary, and other departed saints, they considered to be idolatry, and unlawful worship. With the exception of some portions of the Anglican Communion, Protestantism usually follows the reformers in rejecting the practice of addressing Mary and other saints in prayers of admiration or petition, as part of their religious worship of God. Protestants will not typically call the respect or honor that they may have for Mary, veneration, or adoration, because of the special religious significance that these words have for the Catholic practice.

  • Norman F. Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages 1993

Joint Anglican/Roman Catholic document

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On May 16, 2005, the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches issued a joint 43-page statement, "Mary: Hope and Grace in Christ" (also known as the Seattle Statement) on the role of the Virgin Mary in Christianity as a way to uphold ecumenical cooperation despite differences over other matters. The document was released in Seattle, Washington, by Alexander Brunett, the local Catholic Archbishop, and Peter Carnley, Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Western Australia, co-chairmen of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC).

The joint document is said to seek a common understanding to help both churches agree on the theological reasoning behind the Catholic dogmas, despite Anglicans not accepting the papal authority that underpins them. Carnley has reportedly said that Anglican concerns, that dogmas about Mary are not provable by scripture, would "disappear", with the document discussing that Anglicans would stop opposition to Roman Catholic teachings of the Immaculate Conception (defined in 1854) and the Assumption of Mary (defined in 1950) as being "consonant" with the Biblical teachings.

Non-Abrahamic worship of Mary

Some followers of non-Abrahamic religions, particularly followers of Wicca, link Mary to the Earth Mother of various Neo-pagan traditions. Some Buddhists have even been known to link Mary to Kwan-Yin, a Bodhisattva of compassion venerated by various Chinese Buddhist faiths. Followers of Santería identify Mary (as Our Lady of Regla) with the goddess Yemaja.

Mary and Shakespeare

In sixteenth-century England, veneration of Mary was a central issue in public controversy about the sense of Scriptural text, religious images, and religious practices in Christian life. Some leading figures in sixteenth-century England considered pilgrimages to Marian shrines and praying the rosary to be un-Scriptural, "superstitious", and/or idolatrous. From 1535 to 1538, under orders from Henry VIII, all Christian shrines in England were destroyed. Most of these shrines were Marian shrines, and they included the highly-popular shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, as well as other popular shrines at Ipswich, Worcester, Doncaster, and Penrise.

At the same time, "Mary" rose dramatically in popularity, as a given name for baby girls in sixteenth-century England. About 1500, in Warwick County, England, perhaps only 1% of baby girls were named Mary. By 1600, the share of baby girls named Mary had risen to about 10%.[4] This change is remarkable, in light of extensive government efforts during that same time-period to extirpate veneration of Marian images, and to direct Christian worship to the written word.

William Shakespeare had keen appreciation for the controversy over the "sense of Mary" in Christian life. Concern about the relationship between words and images, and players, shadows, and real persons, pervades Shakespeare's work. His play, Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5, includes a dialogue, formally organized as a sonnet, that uses Marian pilgrimage to figure Romeo's wooing of Juliet. The last scene in The Winter's Tale includes instructions from Paulina, that place Perdita in the position of asking the statue of Hermione for intercessory prayer, much as a pilgrim to a Marian shrine might have prayed before an image of Mary. Turmoil about the sense of Mary in sixteenth-century English history is closely-related to the development of Shakespeare's theatre, according to some critics.

Portrayals

Mary has been portrayed in several films:

See also

Further reading

External links

Footnotes

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