This past week I was reading an article titled "Hail, Mary" in Time magazine written by David Van Biema. Since yesterday was Easter he was pointing out that though she was at the cross "Protestants seldom talk about Jesus' mother at Easter-or at most other times. But they are starting to now." (check out some of the links on the page especially Virgin Faith)
Biema was talking about a pastor, Rev. Brian Maguire, who had a brainstorm due to a scheduling conflict involving Good Friday (the Day Jesus was crucified) and the day of Annunciation when Mary learns from Gabriel that she will give birth to the Messiah. This year both fell on Friday March 25. While Roman Catholics are prepared for this eventuality celebrating the Annunciation on April 4th. Most other Christians weren't. Maguire said instead of just preaching about Jesus this Good Friday he would also bring in Mary as well. "She should play a part in that-because she was the first and last disciple to reach out during his life." Biema says throughout the article there has been a movement in the Protestant faith to recognize Mary as she should be.
I have to say that when I first became a Christian there was a lot of emphasis on Jesus. Which isn't a bad thing, however when broaching the subject of Mary it seemed to be a policy of "Silence is Golden." Biema says, and I also agree, that this has largely to do with a reactionary position that Protestants took when separating from the Catholic church. Because Mary had been elevated to a position of near worship, which some Protestants view as idolatry they have chosen to downplay Mary's significance in the Bible.
What was kinda cool was that last year on Mother's Day Joe and Lisa Racek, two really good friends of mine (Joe is also a pastor at Kairos), gave a teaching about Mary. One of the books that Lisa said she found most helpful was titled "Jesus called her mother". She was saying that when she was a girl there was definitely an anti-Mary sentiment. Like other denominations they felt that there is something we can learn, by studying the character of Mary, just like there is something when learn by study other people of the Bible.
When writer Kathleen Norris talked about her upbringing she said, " We dragged Mary out at Christmas...and...packed her safely in the creche box for the rest of the year. We...denied [her] place in Christian tradition and were disdainful of the reverence displayed for her, so public and emotional, by Catholics. I personally am always interested in women in the Bible so Mary has featured largely in my studies, but only insomuch as finding out what roles women should play in the church. In that sense I've tried to look at Biblical women as character models.
I think that in reaction to so many years of denigrating Mary, there is a chance that she might have too much emphasis placed on her...if that is possible. I was discussing with my friend Mark the other day and he was saying that he thinks that Mary should be more recognized, but that there could be a reactionary backlash that brings Mary into too much prominence i.e. bringing her to a position equivalent with Christ. I don't know whether that is true or not.
According to Biema a critic of Protestant Faith said that it seems that the treatment of Mary is odd because Protestants claim that they are trying to get an accurate view of the Bible though they seem to leave Mary out of it. Biema finishes by saying there is a pro-Mary movement in the Protestant church. He says when thinking on this subject, "It gives us a chance to look at our doctrine and to ask, 'What do we actually teach?"
It all made for some interesting reading. Please feel free to share your thoughts. As always have a good day and enjoy.
I am 50% Left Brain and 50% Right Brain. Interesting...
| You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained |
 Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports. |
2 comments:
So cool that you wrote about this! I was watching the History channel yesterday and noticed there was a lot of talk about Mary. It got me also thinking about how we ignore Mary in the protestant church, but I understand Mark's concerns. In the Catholic church they pray to Mary, and she is at times held up as Christ's equal. We've distanced ourselves from that to an extreme, and need to undo some of that, while being cautious to not go too far in the other direction.
while I acknowledge that Protestantism in general hasn't emphasized Mary, I don't know that I would say that we have gone too far in the other direction (not most of us, anyway).
For one, Mary doesn't play as prominently in our theology- she had a role in bringing about God's plan, but she played a part much like other humans in history played apart. As it comes to salvation, we are (rightly, in my opinion) focussed on Christ. Mary, or any other person for that matter, doesn't really come into the picture in a significant way (we have no mediator/rix, and definitely no coredemptor/rix).
There is also the desire to stay away from teachings and practices that Protestants disagree with regarding Mary.
Finally, I don't think that scripture has so much to say about Mary. While I think we could give her her due as we go through heroes of the Faith, there is much more written about Isaiah or David, perhaps even more about Adam and Eve. This is not to say that there are lessons taught through her life and example, there are, and those should be taught (I would contend that for the most part they are being taught). But anything beyond the scant passages in Scripture would be conjecture, and conjecture of soteriological significance is to be approached with the utmost caution.
I think we could probably remove some of the (perceived) taboo in talking about Mary, but I don't know if there's much further to go form there.
I read a while back during the Mariamania of the late '90's about how she is making her way back into Methodist hymns. I'm wondering what hymns exactly, and what exactly is being sung? It is interesting to note that in the middle east in areas where Muslims and Christians have historically coexisted, there is a sizable Mary cult (used in the non-derogatory way) among Muslim women. On the one hand we see the constant search for the female divine in the patriarchical religions, but on the other, it is very sad. They won't pray to Jesus, the savior of the world, but they will pray to Mary, his mother and the Lord's handmaiden.
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