I really don't understand why we can't accept the fact that Mary was a
young jewish maiden who "found favour with God." Now the question is how
did she find favour with God as a young maiden, unless she was allowed (by
God) to be a young maiden, not exempt from sin, but who apparently was
righteous? Scripture tells us that she was already betrothed to a man
whose name was Joseph, when the angel Gabriel was sent to Nazareth. It was
then that she was told that she had "found favour with God," but it was not
until she said, "Let it be to me according to your word," that the
Incarnation took place. And the words of Elizabeth to her, "Blessed is she
who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were
told her from the Lord." If this had already been fulfilled prior to her
birth and she was lacking any sense of free-will, how could she have (once
again) found favor with God? ?????
S.Michael's Broken Arrow
Original Message:
-----------------
From: Knox Duncan knoxduncan@...
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:11:17 -0500
To: faithandlife@...
Subject: [FaithandLife] Hyperdulia or Latria?
The range of well-informed opinion generated in this forum fascinates me
and--a bit tongue in cheek--poses a rhetorical question: why argue
against women as "priestesses" but at the same time revere the Virgin Mary
as a "de facto" goddess? Last Sunday, I used an excerpt from a sermon by
Howard Chandler Robbins, the tenor of which reflects in considerable degree
my take on the Holy Family and religious expression generally. Educated at
Yale, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Episcopal Theological School,
Dr. Robbins in the first half of he 20th Century became Dean of the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine and later Professor of Pastoral Theology
at General Theological Seminary. Quoting Robbins: "Our Lord became came
God’s ineffable gift to humanity. The babe whose coming divided history as
with a sword of light was a babe of flesh and blood, born of a woman,
wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger. The infancy was like that
of other babes, the innocent questioning childhood was like theirs. The
life that followed was like that of other men, so far as outward
circumstances were concerned. Jesus grew in grace and wisdom, as other men
have grown. He felt temptation, opposition, bereavement, disappointment,
'though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered.' In Jesus, God did not compel our allegiance with thunderbolts.
He did not woo us in whirlwinds. Generation after generation of doubters
searched heaven for a sign, and no sigh was given but that of a life in
their midst so natural, so divinely human, that they lost sight of its
uniqueness and exclaimed, 'Is not this the carpenter’s son, and are not his
brethren with us'?
Following is a summary of the truly massive past and present Roman Catholic
veneration of the Virgin Mary—often and, I think, reasonably called
"Mariolatry. (In law school, I learned to "always read the dissent," so
please feel free to correct as you see fit.) There being two sexes, Goddess
worship not surprisingly has deep roots in humanity. I do not dismiss the
cultural importance of the huge numbers who worship at the shrines of Mary,
but disagree with it I surely do. My favorite "religious psychoanalyst",
Carl Jung, applauded Pius XII’s proclamation of the Assumption as a
recognition that every person has male/female aspects-both physical and
mental. I appreciate Jung's thoughtful concern. Still, as an heir of the
Reformation, the notion of goddesses-- Ancient Age or New Age—remains
culturally alien to me.
Mary of course is first mentioned at the Annunciation, when Gabriel tells
her that she will conceive God’s son. St. Luke's "Magnificat" exalts and
praises Mary, but after describing her travels with Joseph, the birth of
the baby Jesus and his veneration by shepherds and kings, the biblical
narrative ignores Mary except for brief encounters with her son and an
appearance at the Crucifixion. Some early theologians restricted her role
to that of Theotokos, or God-bearer, but the countless prayers, songs, and
paintings celebrating her motherhood suggest the powerful influence of the
ancient "mother-son dyad" (a pair of beings who are also one substance).
Mary, like many mother-goddesses before her, such as Demeter, Isis,
Astarte, Cybele and Atagartis, gave birth to a god incarnate who died for
the salvation of humankind and returned, resurrected, on the third day. The
biblical account alone could not have inspired a popular love that--in many
well-informed minds--amounts to deification. No doubt, the ancient aspect
of the Virgin-as-Goddess could not be expunged from popular consciousness,
and Mary was soon credited with numerous pagan attributes and miracles.
Mariolatrous cults proliferated and abound to this day within the safety of
the Roman Catholic Church. The lack of biblical testimony has inspired many
theologians to try to snuff out Mariolatry, but to no avail. The first
relics and icons of the Virgin are usually dated back to the 5th Century.
The Roman Empress Eudocia (408-450) reportedly acquired Mary's shroud. The
power of such objects to heal the sick is still widely reported throughout
the RC world. Some of the most extravagant miracles have been claimed for
the so-called Black Madonnas. Roman Catholic culture exudes images of the
Madonna that seem to shed real tears, not all of them in churches.
Mass-produced figurines hanging in houses have often become the focus of
regular pilgrimages. One small weeping porcelain statuette was declared in
Santiago, Chile, in 1992, to be shedding type O human blood. The RC
hierarchy rarely denies such reports but always officially distances itself
from them. This does not prevent local priests and worshippers from
acclaiming them as miracles. When a plaster of Paris plaque depicting the
Virgin cried for four days in Sicily in 1953, the Archbishop of Syracuse
wrote: "Mary has wept! ...Weeping is fecund. There has never been a sterile
tear. As the rain that falls from on high irrigates the countryside and
prepares it to receive, in all fertility, the crops and seed and fruit...so
it happens in the realm of the spirit. A woman who weeps always becomes, in
the very act, a mother." The archbishop's words acknowledged the link to
the early earth goddesses who also wept for their sons. The cult of the
mourning Mary probably arose in the 6th Century, with a Good Friday
lamentation written by the poet, Romanos Melodos, for the Emperor
Justinian, very likely reflecting the imagery of tears shed by the Egyptian
goddess Isis for her dead husband.In the 4th Century, the Virgin Mary was
described as unspotted (amiantos)by St. Gregory Nazianzen and as undefiled
(acheantos) by Marcellus of Anycra. The Western Church already considered
her incapable of sinning. The Greek theologians, by contrast, although they
considered her exceptionally pure, attributed several sins to her,
including vanity. St. Augustine declared Mary to be free of the Original
Sin committed by Eve which was transmitted to every human in the womb, but
he stopped short of claiming that Mary had been conceived without sin, that
is, without sexual intercourse. The first suggestion that Mary herself was
the product of a virgin birth was probably from the 2nd Century apocryphal
Book of James. Despite great theological dispute, the idea that the Virgin
was immaculately conceived gained widespread popularity, and the feast of
the Conception of St. Anne probably was celebrated from at least the 7th
Century. The Immaculate Conception became doctrine in 1854 in a bull by
Pope Pius IX. The death of the Virgin Mary is not mentioned anywhere in the
Bible. There are no contemporary accounts of her burial. The lack of any
scriptural authority provoked feverish speculation among the faithful, and
by the 4th or 5th Centuries many heretical texts mentioned circumstances of
Mary's death, and some of them became the basis for the medieval tradition
of the Assumption, the belief that Mary had ascended bodily into heaven.
Perhaps the earliest reference to the physical Assumption is in the
anonymous "Obsequies of the Holy Virgin" written Syriac, an Aramaic
dialect, which is still the language of the Syrian Church. As the tradition
of the Assumption became increasingly accepted, Mary's identity was
irrevocably confirmed as divine. Like Isis, Ishtar and others before her,
she was now the Queen of Heaven. At the evening service of Compline, when
the sun has set , Mary is addressed: "Hail, Queen of Heaven...whence the
light of the world has arisen." She also acquired the appellations of other
supreme goddesses, including Star of the Sea and, most significantly,
Mother of God. In AD 754, Emperor Constantine the Iconoclast urged the
compulsory worship of Mary, barring the entry of Heaven to anyone "who does
not confess the Holy Ever-Virgin, truly, properly the Mother of God, to be
higher than any creature whether visible or invisible, and does not with
sincere faith seek her intercession, as one having confidence in her access
to God." St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) described Mary in the same
terms as he might a goddess of Nature: "By you the elements are renewed,
demons are trampled down and men are saved, even the fallen angels are
restored to their places. O woman, so full and overflowing with grace,
plenty flows from you to make all creatures green again."
The Immaculate Conception placed Mary above the sinful race of Adam and the
Assumption exempted her from the Adamite law of death. However, because
there was no biblical evidence that justified either the "Virgin Sinless"
or the "Virgin Assumed into Heaven," the Church did not officially sanction
these doctrines for centuries. The Immaculate Conception became an Article
of Faith in 1854 and the Assumption as late as 1950. Both papal decisions
were based upon a recognition of the overwhelming passion demonstrated by
Roman Catholics the world over for the Madonna. Pope Pius XII made the
decision as a direct result of a petition signed by 8 million people. In
1954, the Roman Catholic Church officially declared Mary "Queen of Heaven."
centuries after this had become one of her most commonly used titles. Since
at least the 5th Century, the Virgin has been seen as a
co-redemptress—humankind's intercessor with God. She performs blessings and
miracles, inspires mass pilgrimages and commands her own body of
worshippers. (Whereas God is owed latria, or adoration, Mary is only
entitled to "hyperdulia," a superior form of the "dulia", or veneration,
that is the right of sainthood conferred by the Church.)
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