Our Lady reconsidered: John Knox and the Virgin Mary

2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-177
Author(s):  
Gabriel Torretta OP
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Andrews University ◽  
Elite Culture ◽  
Timothy 2 ◽  
Cult Of The Virgin ◽  
Religious Praxis ◽  
Cult Of Mary

AbstractThe cult of the Virgin Mary had a complicated history in Scotland during the sixteenth century, with historical, devotional and literary evidence indicating both widespread acceptance of the church's traditional practices and growing dissatisfaction with them, particularly in elite culture. Anti-Marian polemics entered Scottish Christianity through various sources, including the Lollards around Kyle, the prominent witness of Patrick Hamilton, the preaching of Thomas Guillaume and George Wishart, the theological climate at St Leonard's college in St Andrews, as well as a number of popular works.John Knox (1514–72) incorporated many of his contemporaries’ concerns in his own treatment of the question, being trained at St Andrews University and heavily influenced by Guillaume and Wishart. Knox considered the cult of Mary using the same tool that he used to analyse the cult of the saints in general, the mass, and liturgical ritual, contending that they could not be reconciled with his stringent doctrine of sola scriptura, in particular as read through the lens of Deuteronomy 12:32.Yet for all that Mary and her place in Christian life and devotion formed a major aspect of sixteenth-century Scottish religious praxis, Knox gave little attention to her, preferring to indicate her proper place in Christian theology by presenting a vision of Christianity which omitted her almost entirely. Knox does indirectly indicate what he considers to be the proper Christian attitude towards the Virgin, however, through his explication of sola scriptura and its implications for genuine religious practice as opposed to idolatry, and his understanding of 1 Timothy 2:5 and the unique mediation of Christ. Where Knox does directly address the Marian question, he expresses his rejection of her cult in far more restrained terms than readers of his polemics against the mass may expect; while he is firm and unequivocal in denying Mary's intercessory role and in uprooting Marian devotional practice, his rhetorical restraint points to the irreducible dignity of Mary in the scriptural texts.This article analyses the theology of Mary which Knox reveals in occasional comments scattered through his writings and attempts to place his ideas in their historical and theological context. By explicating the precise nature of Knox's objection to the cult of Mary, the article attempts to open the door for future Reformed–Catholic dialogue on the person of Mary and her place in the church of Christ.

Lutherans and the Suffering of Christ

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Heal
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Devotional Literature ◽  
Physical Pain ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Mining Region

Chapter 5 focuses on one particular type of Lutheran devotional image: the crucifix. It examines transformations in Lutheran Passion piety from the early Reformation to the era of Paul Gerhardt (1607–76), using this to illustrate the increasing significance accorded to images. Luther himself had condemned the excesses of late-medieval Passion piety, with its emphasis on compassion for Christ and the Virgin Mary, on physical pain and on tears. From the later sixteenth century onwards, however, Lutheran sermons, devotional literature, prayers and poetry described Christ’s suffering in increasingly graphic terms. Alongside this, late-medieval images of the Passion were restored and new images were produced. Drawing on case studies from the Erzgebirge, a prosperous mining region in southern Saxony, and Upper Lusatia, the chapter investigates the ways in which images of the Passion were used in Lutheran communities during the seventeenth century.

scholarly journals List apostolski Duodecimum saeculum Ojca Świętego św. Jana Pawła II z okazji tysiąc dwusetnej rocznicy Soboru Nicejskiego II. Miejsce ikony w wierze i rozumieniu św. Jana Pawła II

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (4 Zeszyt specjalny) ◽  
pp. 57-71
Author(s):  
Urszula Mazurczak
Keyword(s):  
Religious Practice ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Religious Art ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Spiritual Expression ◽  
The Church

The letter of the Holy Father John Paul II written in Rome in 1987, in the tenth year of His pontificate, on December 4th, on the day of memorial of Saint John Damascene, the doctor of the Church, on the Twelfth Centenary of finishing the controversy over the icon, is of great importance for the Pope’s program of ecumenism. The Holy Father indicated various directions of the dialogue, however, the one of the utmost importance concerned the agreement with the Orthodox Church, which was confirmed in the letters and in His other documents quoted in this paper. The image used to be essential for religious practice, for illustrating the word of prayer and of the song, in order to preserve the tradition of the Church. The strict prohibition introduced by the iconoclasm depreciated not only the artistic tradition of paintings but also the basic dogmas of Christ’s Incarnation and the one which introduced Virgin Mary as the Theotokos (the God-bearer). The ban constituted a threat not only for the icons but also for the Christian faith. In His Letter, the Pope underlined the important role of the Second Council of Nicaea which reintroduced icons and maintained and deepened the meaning of the cult in the faith of believers. Furthermore, the Holy Father indicated the connection with the Second Vatican Council in understanding the function and form of images in contemporary Church. Contemporary trends are overwhelmed by the impotence of the spiritual expression of sacral art, which is a great concern for the Pope. The Letter is, therefore, a dramatic warning of the threats for religious art in contemporary time, expressed by the Holy Father with these words: ‘The rediscovery of the Christian icon will also help in raising the awareness of the urgency of reacting against the depersonalizing and at times degrading effects of the many images that condition our lives in advertisements and the media.’ (DS, 11).

(Re)visiting Délie: Maurice Scève and Marian Poetry*

2001 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérard Defaux
Keyword(s):  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Maurice Sceve ◽  
Cult Of The Virgin

Si iracunda, aut avaritia, aut carnis illecebra naviculam concusserit mentis, respice ad Mariam.— Bernard, In laudibus Virginis MatrisFactat animam Vulcanus, vestes aptat Pallas, fucat Venus, & cesto cingit, ornant cteterte Den, docet pessimos mores Mercurius. Et quia omni genere rerum a Diis donata esset, Pandoram appellat.— Jean Olivier, PandoraCelle qui est la Vertu, et la Grace …Monstre, qu'en soy elle a plus, que de femme.— Délie, D354 and 284This study proposes a new reading of Delie and tries to shed a new light on the poet himself. Sceve appears here not only as the humanist we all know, but as a Christian poet, a poet as much interested in biblical and other religious sources as in Classical and Italian ones. In his canzoniere, Scève follows very closely, and even sometimes imitates, a corpus of fixed-form poems — rondeaux parfaits, ballades, and chants royaux — written by poets of the two previous generations for poetic contests known as Puys. And he constantly expresses his love and describes his idol in terms, images, and symbols directly borrowed from Marian poetry. To the Christian cult of the Virgin Mary corresponds for the Lover the pagan cult of Délie.

At Home in Renaissance Bruges

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie De Groot
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Domestic Spaces ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
At Home

How did citizens in Bruges create a home? What did an ordinary domestic interior look like in the sixteenth century? And more importantly: how does one study the domestic culture of bygone times by analysing documents such as probate inventories? These questions seem straightforward, yet few endeavours are more challenging than reconstructing a sixteenth-century domestic reality from written sources. This book takes full advantage of the inventory and convincingly frames household objects in their original context of use. Meticulously connecting objects, people and domestic spaces, the book introduces the reader to the rich material world of Bruges citizens in the Renaissance, their sensory engagement, their religious practice, the role of women, and other social factors. By weaving insights from material culture studies with urban history, At Home in Renaissance Bruges offers an appealing and holistic mixture of in-depth socio-economic, cultural and material analysis. In its approach the book goes beyond heavy-handed theories and stereotypes about the exquisite taste of aristocratic elites, focusing instead on the domestic materiality of Bruges’ middling groups. Evocatively illustrated with contemporary paintings from Bruges and beyond, this monograph shows a nuanced picture of domestic materiality in a remarkable European city.

The Cult of the Virgin Mary

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL P. CARROLL
Keyword(s):  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Cult Of The Virgin

Martyrdom, Matrilineality, and the Virgin Mary

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Strasser
Keyword(s):  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Mariana Islands ◽  
Marian Devotion ◽  
Cult Of The Virgin ◽  
European Women ◽  
The Way

This chapter focuses on a later stage in the Mariana Islands mission and on Father Augustinus Strobach, another purported avatar of Francis Xavier. Inspired by the Spanish ‘Xavier,’ Diego de Sanvitores, Strobach journeyed from Bohemia to the Marianas to suffer martyrdom and help plant the seeds of Christ among the Chamorro. His story underscores that Jesuit self-fashioning was bound up with imposing patriarchal norms and controlling the sexuality of converts, especially women. Matrilineal traditions in the islands became a chief point of friction while also paving the way for the Cult of the Virgin championed by Jesuits like Strobach. Marian devotion became an avenue for indigenous women, as it had long been for European women, to claim influence and agency within patriarchal Christianity.

4. Mary the goddess?

2021 ◽  
pp. 57-74
Author(s):  
Mary Joan Winn Leith
Keyword(s):  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Black Madonna ◽  
History Of

‘Mary the goddess?’ considers the question of whether the Virgin Mary is a goddess. According to official Christian theology throughout the centuries, Mary is not and cannot be a goddess. Nevertheless, Christian piety has at times followed a separate track from official theology by treating Mary as a goddess. It is worth considering here the oft-noted parallels between the Virgin Mary and Graeco-Roman goddesses, the history of the Black Madonna, and contemporary forms of goddess-centred spirituality.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document