Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion
Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion

Author: Stephen J. Shoemaker

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2016-07-28

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 0300219539

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For the first time a noted historian of Christianity explores the full story of the emergence and development of the Marian cult in the early Christian centuries. The means by which Mary, mother of Jesus, came to prominence have long remained strangely overlooked despite, or perhaps because of, her centrality in Christian devotion. Gathering together fresh information from often neglected sources, including early liturgical texts and Dormition and Assumption apocrypha, Stephen Shoemaker reveals that Marian devotion played a far more vital role in the development of early Christian belief and practice than has been previously recognized, finding evidence that dates back to the latter half of the second century. Through extensive research, the author is able to provide a fascinating background to the hitherto inexplicable “explosion” of Marian devotion that historians and theologians have pondered for decades, offering a wide-ranging study that challenges many conventional beliefs surrounding the subject of Mary, Mother of God.

Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion
Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion

Author: Stephen J. Shoemaker

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2016-01-01

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 0300217218

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For the first time a noted historian of Christianity explores the full story of the emergence and development of the Marian cult in the early Christian centuries. The means by which Mary, mother of Jesus, came to prominence have long remained strangely overlooked despite, or perhaps because of, her centrality in Christian devotion. Gathering together fresh information from often neglected sources, including early liturgical texts and Dormition and Assumption apocrypha, Stephen Shoemaker reveals that Marian devotion played a far more vital role in the development of early Christian belief and practice than has been previously recognized, finding evidence that dates back to the latter half of the second century. Through extensive research, the author is able to provide a fascinating background to the hitherto inexplicable "explosion" of Marian devotion that historians and theologians have pondered for decades, offering a wide-ranging study that challenges many conventional beliefs surrounding the subject of Mary, Mother of God.

Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption
Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption

Author: Stephen J. Shoemaker

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2003-01-17

Total Pages: 477

ISBN-13: 0191530573

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This is an open access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), a copy of which is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. The ancient Dormition and Assumption traditions are a collection of over sixty different narratives, preserved in nine ancient languages, that commemorate the end of the Virgin Mary's life. These traditions have long been overlooked by scholars of early Christianity, no doubt largely because this complicated corpus was insufficiently well known. The present study aims to remedy this situation with a detailed analysis of the earliest traditions of Mary's death, including liturgical and archaeological evidence as well as the numerous narrative sources. Several of the most important narratives are translated in appendices, many appearing in English for the first time. The book will be of interest to all scholars of early Christian literature.

The Life of the Virgin
The Life of the Virgin

Author:

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2012-05-29

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 0300183720

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Long overlooked by scholars, this seventh-century "Life of the Virgin," attributed to Maximus the Confessor, is the earliest complete Marian biography. Originally written in Greek and now surviving only in Old Georgian, it is now translated for the first time into English. It is a work that holds profound significance for understanding the history of late ancient and medieval Christianity, providing a rich source for understanding the history of Christian piety.This "Life "is especially remarkable for its representation of Mary's prominent involvement in her son's ministry and her leadership of the early Christian community. In particular, it reveals highly developed devotion to Mary's compassionate suffering at the Crucifixion, anticipating by several centuries an influential medieval style of devotion known as "affective piety" whose origins generally have been confined to the Western High Middle Ages.

Mary and Early Christian Women
Mary and Early Christian Women

Author: Ally Kateusz

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-02-18

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 3030111113

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This book is open access under a CC BY-NC-ND license. This book reveals exciting early Christian evidence that Mary was remembered as a powerful role model for women leaders—women apostles, baptizers, and presiders at the ritual meal. Early Christian art portrays Mary and other women clergy serving as deacon, presbyter/priest, and bishop. In addition, the two oldest surviving artifacts to depict people at an altar table inside a real church depict women and men in a gender-parallel liturgy inside two of the most important churches in Christendom—Old Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the second Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Dr. Kateusz’s research brings to light centuries of censorship, both ancient and modern, and debunks the modern imagination that from the beginning only men were apostles and clergy.

Mary and the Fathers of the Church
Mary and the Fathers of the Church

Author: Luigi Gambero

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2019-10-23

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 1642290971

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Father Luigi Gambero, internationally-known expert on early Christianity, presents a comprehensive survey of the development of Marian doctrine and devotion during the first eight centuries. Focusing on the lives and works of over thirty of the most famous Church Fathers and early Christian writers, Fr. Gambero has produced a clear and readable summary of the richness of the patristic age's theological and devotional approach to the Mother of God. The book contains numerous citations from the works of those men who developed the defining Christological and Mariological positions that have constituted the foundational doctrinal teaching of the Church. Each chapter concludes with an extended reading from the works of the patristic authors. A number of these texts have never before been published in English. The thought of the Fathers and early Christian writers continues to fascinate readers today. Their theological acuity and spiritual depth led them faithfully into the mysteries of Sacred Scripture. Their vast experience made them reliable and trustworthy witnesses to the faith of the people of God.

Meet Mary
Meet Mary

Author: Mark I. Miravalle

Publisher: Sophia Institute Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 1933184329

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Meet Mary teaches you everything the Bible says about her, what the early Christians believed, and all of the Church's key Marian teachings of 2,000 years.

Walking with Mary
Walking with Mary

Author: Edward Sri

Publisher: Image

Published: 2013-09-10

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 0385348045

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Mary appears only a few times in the Bible, but those few passages come at crucial moments. Catholics believe that Mary is the ever-virgin Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven and Earth. But she also was a human being--a woman who made a journey of faith through various trials and uncertainties and endured her share of suffering. Even with her unique graces and vocation, Mary remains a woman we can relate to and from whom we have much to learn. In Walking with Mary, Edward Sri looks at the crucial passages in the Bible concerning Mary and offers insight about the Blessed Mother's faith and devotion that we can apply in our daily lives. We follow her step-by-step through the New Testament account of her life, reflecting on what the Scriptures tell us about how she responded to the dramatic events unfolding around her. “This book is the fruit of my personal journey of studying Mary through the Scriptures, from her initial calling in Nazareth to her painful experience at the cross,” writes Edward Sri “It is intended to be a highly readable, accessible work that draws on wisdom from the Catholic tradition, recent popes, and biblical scholars of a variety of perspectives and traditions. With the riches of these insights, we will ponder what her journey of faith may have been like in order to draw out spiritual lessons for our own walk with God.” He add, “It is my hope, therefore, that whether you are of a Catholic, Protestant, or other faith background, this book may help you to know, understand, and love Mary more, and that it may inspire you to walk in her footsteps as a faithful disciple of the Lord in your own pilgrimage of faith.”

From Judgment to Passion
From Judgment to Passion

Author: Rachel Fulton

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 706

ISBN-13: 9780231125505

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How and why did the images of the crucified Christ and his grieving mother achieve such prominence, inspiring unparalleled religious creativity as well such imitative extremes as celibacy and self-flagellation? To answer this question, Fulton ranges over developments in liturgical performance, private prayer, doctrine, and art.