The Virgin Mary in the Christian Faith: The Development of the Church's Teaching on the Virgin Mary in Modern Perspective · Page 39 of 64
The Virgin Mary in the Christian Faith: The Development of the Church's Teaching on the Virgin Mary in Modern Perspective
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- David Braine
- St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
- Steubenville, OH
- 2009 AD
David Braine presents Catholic teaching on the Virgin Mary as an integrated development rooted in Scripture and the doctrine of the Incarnation. The virgin conception safeguards the truth that Jesus is one divine person, eternally the Son of God, rather than a human person later joined to divinity. Mary’s consent, contrasted with Eve’s disobedience, makes her the new Eve and spiritual mother of believers; her presence at Cana, the Cross, and Pentecost expresses this vocation. The communion of saints explains Marian intercession as participation in Christ’s work, while latria and dulia distinguish worship of God from veneration of Mary and the saints. Mary’s perpetual virginity is defended through interpretations of Jesus’ “brothers and sisters” and early Christian tradition. The Immaculate Conception is understood as prevenient redemption through Christ, not as freedom from the need for redemption. Braine traces the Assumption through patristic reflection, Marian feasts, Jerusalem traditions, and liturgical development, while treating apocryphal Dormition narratives as unreliable historical foundations. Mary’s bodily glorification follows from her divine motherhood, sinlessness, and representative role for Israel and the Church. Her prominence, he argues, does not compete with Christ, the Eucharist, or the Our Father, but clarifies God’s saving work through human consent.
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