- Feb 5, 2002
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If there's such scant biblical evidence for these doctrines, why does the Church promote them?
When I began seminary, my biggest question was, “Where in the Bible does it teach that Mary was immaculately conceived?” I thought it had to be there . . . somewhere . . . anywhere. Maybe it was in the original languages, but not in the English translation.
I searched until I found a strong answer—but that answer was not primarily from the Bible. Rather, I found it in the writings of St. John Henry Newman.
Newman didn’t say, “The Marian dogmas aren’t provable with Scripture alone.” But what he did do is explain the most relevant Marian dogma to his time (the Immaculate Conception), and he didn’t use Scripture as the primary source to do it. Newman’s primary source was the writings of the first Christians, whom he called the Fathers.
Among scholars who study Newman, this is a famous quote:
Continued below.
‘But Marian Dogmas Aren’t in the Bible!’
How can Catholics prove the Church's doctrines about Mary when there's such scant biblical evidence for them? One of our saints shows the way.
