471 - Mary in the New Testament

Mary in the New Testament
Raymond E. Brown, Karl P. Donfried, Joseph A Fitzmyer, and John Reumann, eds.
Philadelphia, Fortress and New York, Paulist, 1978. 323 pp. $3.95.

Books on Mary have not been a dominant feature of scholarly theological output during the past twenty years. Currently, however, there is some indication of renewed attention to the place of Mary in the Christian plan of salvation. This is evident in the recent appearance of some thoughtful treatments of Mary in book and article form by Protestant writers, in the continued restrained pursuit of the subject by Roman Catholic specialists in Mariology, as well as in a polemical preoccupation with Mary by feminist writers.

Mary in the New Testament, a collaborative study by twelve New Testament scholars, sponsored by the National Dialogue of Lutheran and Roman Catholic theologians, is an important contribution to this current train of interest in Marian studies. As in the case of the earlier Peter in the New Testament, produced under the same sponsorship, the authors have taken a divisive issue of New Testament interpretation and examined it with the appropriate tools of historical-critical method. All of the pertinent texts in the Pauline corpus, the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation are considered in what the authors establish as a chronological order. In addition, a chapter devoted to the literature of the second century is included to indicate the early trends in transition from the New Testament to later Mariology.

The work is painstaking and careful, respectful of the differing views of its collaborators and potential readers. It demonstrates throughout that while subsequent doctrine and popular piety centered in Mary are profuse, the scriptural basis for this development is meager. The authors frequently conclude that the scriptural evidence neither affirms nor denies definitively what later tradition has accorded to Mary, for example, her perpetual virginity. They register divergent viewpoints on the New Testament writers' intent to employ Old Testament motifs, such as Daughter of Zion or Ark of the Covenant. The reader is provided with points of the authors' agreement on the major issues, and the basis for continued variance of interpretation according to differing insights in assessing the evidence.

472 - Mary in the New Testament

While necessarily technical, Mary in the New Testament is readable and eminently informative. It provides a solid foundation for those who wish to pursue facets of Mariological teaching along other than scriptural lines. For such a purpose it deserves a wide circulation and attentive study.

M. Nadine Foley, O.P.
Harvard Divinity School
Cambridge, Mass.