The Dormition and Assumption Apocrypha
The Dormition and Assumption Apocrypha

Author: Stephen J. Shoemaker

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789042935990

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This volume gathers a dozen essays by the author on the ancient traditions of Mary's Dormition and Assumption, all of which expand on the work published in his major study on this topic, The Ancient Traditions of Mary's Dormition and Assumption (Oxford, 2002). The essays were originally published between 1999 and 2011 and cover a broad range of topics in relation to traditions about the end of Mary's life, from ancient gnostic Christianity to Christian anti-Judaism to the beginnings of Marian veneration. Although each of these items was previously published in another venue, for the first time this volume makes these writings on the Virgin's Dormition available together, offering an important supplement and in some cases update of the earlier monograph. While its chapters remain largely faithful to the original publications in their content, when appropriate, they have been selectively updated to account for more recent research.

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.

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.

On the Dormition of Mary
On the Dormition of Mary

Author: Brian E. Daley

Publisher: RSM Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 9780881411775

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"Since the time of the early Church, Orthodox Christians have honored Mary, the Mother of God, with special solemnity on August 15. From the sixth century on, that celebration has been explicitly associated with her death, as the culmination of a human life uniquely "full of grace," uniquely involved in the Mystery of our salvation and transformation in Christ. ...." [from back cover]

The Reception of the Virgin in Byzantium
The Reception of the Virgin in Byzantium

Author: Thomas Arentzen

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-08-15

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 1108476287

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Images and texts tell various stories about the Virgin Mary in Byzantium, reflecting an important cult with strong doctrinal foundations.

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.

Mother of God
Mother of God

Author: Miri Rubin

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2009-04-21

Total Pages: 577

ISBN-13: 0300156138

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A sweeping, ambitious study of the Virgin Mary’s emergence and role throughout Western historyHow did the Virgin Mary, about whom very little is said in the Gospels, become one of the most powerful and complex religious figures in the world? To arrive at the answers to this far-reaching question, one of our foremost medieval historians, Miri Rubin, investigates the ideas, practices, and images that have developed around the figure of Mary from the earliest decades of Christianity to around the year 1600. Drawing on an extraordinarily wide range of sources—including music, poetry, theology, art, scripture, and miracle tales—Rubin reveals how Mary became so embedded in our culture that it is impossible to conceive of Western history without her.In her rise to global prominence, Mary was continually remade and reimagined by wave after wave of devotees. Rubin shows how early Christians endowed Mary with a fine ancestry; why in early medieval Europe her roles as mother, bride, and companion came to the fore; and how the focus later shifted to her humanity and unparalleled purity. She also explores how indigenous people in Central America, Africa, and Asia remade Mary and so fit her into their own cultures.Beautifully written and finely illustrated, this book is a triumph of sympathy and intelligence. It demonstrates Mary’s endless capacity to inspire and her profound presence in Christian cultures and beyond.

Revelation of the Magi
Revelation of the Magi

Author: Brent Landau

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2010-11-02

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 0061947032

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Each Christmas, adults and children alike delight at the story of the kings from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem to offer gifts to the newborn Christ. While this familiar tale is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, another little-known version later emerged that claimed to be the eyewitness account of the wise men. This ancient manuscript has lain hidden for centuries in the vaults of the Vatican Library, but through the determined persistence of a young scholar, Brent Landau, this astonishing discovery has been translated into English for the very first time as the Revelation of the Magi. Everything we know about the wise men is based on only a few verses from the Bible. With the Revelation of the Magi, we can now read the story from the Magi's perspective. Readers will learn of the Magi's prophecies of God's incarnation from the beginning of time, their startling visitation in the form of a star, the teachings they receive from the baby Jesus, and the wise men's joyous return to their homeland to spread the good news. This ancient version of the Christmas story is guaranteed to astonish and delight. It will also raise larger questions of the significance and meaning of Christ's birth, and the mission to spread the good news to every corner of the globe. All the drama and intrigue of the brief description of Jesus's birth in the Bible is filled out in greater, more colorful detail, offering for the first time the complete story of these beloved characters.

The Apocryphal New Testament
The Apocryphal New Testament

Author: J. K. Elliott

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2005-10-27

Total Pages: 788

ISBN-13: 9780198261810

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The Apocryphal New Testament includes new translations of the most significant and famous of the non-canonical Christian works. These apocryphal texts reveal the popular legends of Christians after the New Testament era, and throw light on the origins of many later beliefs and practices.