Is Mary the Woman in Revelation 12?

Even many Protestant scholars believe she is an image of the mother of Jesus​

When Protestants say, “Catholics believe in doctrines that aren’t found in the Bible,” they often appeal to the dogma of Mary’s assumption in order to justify the claim. In response, some Catholics say the Assumptionis in the Bible because Mary is the woman John sees in heaven that is described in Revelation 12. Protestants often counter this claim by accusing Catholics of shoehorning Mary into a text that is actually talking about the Church or the people of Israel.

So who is right?

In one sense, both. But before I explain how that could be, I need to remind Catholics that we are not Protestant.

Challenges that we must “prove” all Catholic doctrine from Scripture shouldn’t worry us because we reject the unbiblical doctrine of sola scriptura. When St. John Henry Newman preached on Mary’s assumption and immaculate conception, he gave evidence for those doctrines, but he also said, “I am not proving these doctrines to you, my brethren; the evidence of them lies in the declaration of the Church. The Church is the oracle of religious truth, and dispenses what the apostles committed to her in every time and place.”

A plausible case can be made, however, that the Bible “reflects” the doctrine of the Assumption and that evidence for this dogma is implicitly found in John’s description of the woman in Revelation 12:1-6. This isn’t enough to prove that Mary was assumed into heaven, but it does cohere with prior belief in Mary’s assumption and provides additional support for that claim. So let’s examine what John says about this woman and consider the possible Marian symbolism:

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