The Blessed Evangelical Mary

[Miss Shelby]

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/012/1.34.html

Right on!

Michelle

 

[Dominus Fidelis]

That was brave for a non-Catholic to write. Kudos.

 

[Miss Shelby]

That was brave for a non-Catholic to write. Kudos.

No doubt the author will take some guff for it.

I especially respect this part:

Evangelicals can and should join with other Christians in celebrating the virgin Mary as theotokos: or as historian Jaroslav Pelikan translated the classic theological word, as "the one who gave birth to the one who is God." This title takes us back to the debates about Christology in the fifth century.
The teacher Nestorius did not like to give Mary the title theotokos. He preferred to call her christotokos, "the bearer of Christ." This is because he understood the divinity and humanity of Christ to function as two separate compartments not intrinsically related to one another. Believing that this portrayed a schizophrenic kind of Christ who could hardly be understood as one undivided person, the Council of Ephesus (431) declared Nestorius's teaching heretical and recognized the title theotokos, God-bearer, as an orthodox way to describe Mary.

Michelle

 

[Benedicta00]

This is true orthodox Protestantism.

 

[JeffreyLloyd]

yes it is!

 

[MariaRegina]

That was brave for a non-Catholic to write. Kudos.

Speaking of the last name George ....

Since I am studying linguistics, I am also interested in the origin of last names. Many people who have the last name "George" tell me that when their parents, grandparents or ancestors came to America, only the wife spoke English. So the immigration officer would ask,

"What's your husband's name."

The wife would respond, "George, his name is George."

Immigration officer: What's his first name?

Wife: George.

Immigration officer: Okay, Mrs. George. And what is your name?

Wife: Maria

Immigration officer: Maria George, welcome to the United States of America!

Since the wife had heard that her name would most likely be changed, she usually didn't challenge this.

Therefore, some Italians, Greeks, and Lebanese bear the name "George", which is a very common Christian name in those countries. In the same way, "Thomas" and "Victor" became a last name.

So perhaps, just perhaps, the author, Timothy George, will come full circle and embrace once again the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith which his ancestors originally embraced.

Let us pray...

 

[Michelina]

This is fantastic. Great Courage. I will pray that it will be well-received. Even Billy Graham was called on the carpet by the Baptist Conference when he preached in this vein some years ago. But maybe things are slowly changing. Oremus.

 

[MorphRC]

Imperssive from a non-catholic. Not to much biasim, a pleasant surprise

 

[Miss Shelby]

This is true orthodox Protestantism.

Right. I'm saving this article for the next time that I am told that Mary is a vessel who played not particularly large part in salvation history.

That's why I thought the article was so good.

Michelle

 

[Benedicta00]

Right. I'm saving this article for the next time that I am told that Mary is a vessel who played not particularly large part in salvation history.

That's why I thought the article was so good.

Michelle

In all honesty it isn’t fair to compare all Protestants with one another. From what I read, many, not all but many of the Protestants on this board do not represent true orthodox Protestantism.

 

[Miss Shelby]

In all honesty it isn’t fair to compare all Protestants with one another. From what I read, many, not all but many of the Protestants on this board do not represent true orthodox Protestantism.

Agreed. And I don't mean to misrepresent orthodox Protestantism, I'd just like to be able to point it out to those Protestants who malign the Mother of God that that isn't orthodox Protestantism.

If that makes any sense. Not sure if it does.

Michelle

 

[Benedicta00]

Agreed. And I don't mean to misrepresent orthodox Protestantism, I'd just like to be able to point it out to those Protestants who malign the Mother of God that that isn't orthodox Protestantism.

If that makes any sense. Not sure if it does.

Michelle

It makes perfect sense.

 

[KennySe]

Somebody visiting OBOB needs to read the article of the OP.

 

[Bastoune]

Not quite accurate on the doctrines we Catholic and Orthodox hold regarding Mary, as evidenced by this quote, but overall, for a Protestant article, not bad!

First, we find no biblical warrant for the kind of devotion to Mary that flourishes among many of the Catholic faithful. Mary's perpetual virginity (the belief that she had no children after Jesus and remained a virgin throughout her life), immaculate conception (that she was born without the stain of original sin), and bodily assumption (that she was taken body and soul into heaven after she died without seeing corruption) are extrabiblical beliefs that cannot be traced to the earliest historical memory of the church.

To be sure, if God had wanted to raise Mary and take her directly to heaven without her waiting for the general resurrection, he certainly could have done so. We know that God took Elijah into heaven without death. But to declare this teaching an infallible dogma, as Pope Pius XII did in 1950, creates an even deeper divide between Catholics and other Christians. This is why Brother Roger Shutz, the Swiss Protestant founder of the Taizé community, felt it necessary to travel to Rome to urge the pope not to take this step. Brother Roger rightly saw that this act would drive Christians further away from one another.

Protestants believe that an undue extolling of Mary obscures, if it does not contradict, the sole sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the unique Savior and only mediator between God and human beings. Recent efforts to have Mary officially recognized as mediatrix of all graces, or as co-redemptrix with Christ himself—though unsuccessful thus far—have only added to the fear that lifting up Mary can only result in bringing down Jesus.

 

[Polycarp1]

Brilliant and beautiful article!

I was convicted by the Holy Spirit of "Mariophobia" some years ago. I don't hold it an article of faith that she was in fact conceived without original sin, or taken bodily into Heaven -- but I figure that is between her and God, not my business or need to make a judgment about one way or the other.

The role I've always seen our Lady in is the one who points to Christ, who follows Him and serves as our example of how to live a life committed to Him. For every Christian, be he the most fundamental evangelical or the most Blue Army-ite Catholic, her words at Cana are (I believe) the heart and soul of the Christian message: "Do what He tells you!"

BA (and congratulations on your "coming home"! ) -- I don't misread that part you highlighted as pejorative at all -- from a sola Scriptura standpoint, the evidence for the perpetual virginity, immaculate conception, and assumption is not in Scripture, and it is only later, with Justin Martyr and others of his time, that we find any early writings strongly supportive of those doctrines. (I'm not arguing for sola Scriptura in OBOB! by any means, but simply saying that from a Protestant perspective, the statements are accurate -- without the Magisterium, a Protestant depends on Scripture to guide him into truth.)

Our Eucharistic Prayers end with a doxology calling the Communion of Saints into witness and praise along with us for God's work of redemption. Of late, our (woman) priest has made it a point to begin the list of those invoked with Mary and Mark (our parish patron saint). This is as it should be.

There is one other point I'd raise, very tentatively -- our Lady is worthy of our respect and love, to be sure -- but is it possible, in witnessing to God's grace at work in and through her, to draw attention to the fact (which I believe is solid Catholic doctrine) that her life bears witness that even the holiest among us is saved through the redeeming Atonement of Christ, and not through our own virtues? She, who devoted her whole life to Him, bears witness to that most fully of all saints.

 

[Miss Shelby]

Not quite accurate on the doctrines we Catholic and Orthodox hold regarding Mary, as evidenced by this quote, but overall, for a Protestant article, not bad!

Agreed. There are some things that I am not in agreement with obviously, but it's as about as orthodox as you can get for Protestantism. And it's refreshing to see.

Michelle