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About This TabMary is not referenced directly throughout many biblical passages, and yet she is one of the most powerful female figures in the world. Why was Mary not notably prevalent? How did she become the emblem of female role models?
We interpret these questions and break down the universal concepts on the mother of the Messiah, the Virgin Mary. |
Mary in the Scriptures |
Throughout the scriptures, Mary, the mother of Jesus was not mentioned often. She is one of the most important figures in Catholic history because she bore the messiah. We can reasonably expect that she would be a prominent figure in the scriptures and in the stories of his life. However, she is not. The earliest mention of Mary in the scriptures is in Galatians 4:4, where Paul writes, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” (Galatians 4)This is the first time we see Mary being mentioned in the scriptures. This passage was written in 57 A.D.. After this quiet and seemingly unimportant mentioning, Paul never mentions her again. He also does not directly refer to her as Mary. Many other authors in the Bible follow a similar pattern. For example, John never mentions the mother of Jesus by name. (Warner, 15) In John 2, he writes, “When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” (John 2) This is a more direct mentioning of a mother figure and Mary, however, she is not explicitly referred to.
Mary is not referenced directly throughout many passages. However, when she is mentioned, it is more often in passages and scriptures referring to Jesus’s birth. Luke writes, “to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary”. (Luke 1:26) The same is true for many of the scripture writings such as Matthew and Mark. The birth of Jesus is told with direct reference to the Virgin Mary and after that there is little to no mention and her name is not mentioned. Mary is arguably the most important figure in Jesus’s life. Without God choosing her to immaculately birth the messiah, Jesus would never have been born. She is mentioned in the bible for that exact reason. It seems that Mary as an independent figure is not acknowledged as much as her son. She is viewed as important because she birthed Jesus, not because of who she was. She is an insignificant and unapparent figure in the scriptures before, during and after Jesus’s life. As the most identifiable female figure in the world, the scriptures many individuals worship today barley scrape the surface of the Virgin Mary and her imperative role in history. It is up for debate whether this resulted from the oppression of women, or just a lack of female historical sources. Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, a Romanian born Roman Catholic, as well as a feminist, elaborates on the oppression of women and the Jews in the text “The Jesus Movement as Renewal Movement within Judaism”. She states, “We must seek to reconstruct the historical experience of those Jewish women who stand at the beginnings of Christianity. Such a historical experience is, as we have seen, available only in and through Jewish or Christian male texts and historical sources.”[4] Fiorenza illustrates the concern that there is a lack of female historical sources , playing a role in the minimal knowledge we have on the influential women of this time period. A professor at Tufts University, Brian Bethune, also addresses the Virgin Mary’s absence in the scriptures. Bethune states “Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus Christ, rates a mere 19 references in Scripture, and barely dented the consciousness of Western Christianity in the first millennium of its existence.”[5] This has been a major concern of Bethune’s, as well as humanity for centuries because the Virgin Mary is such a prominent figure in many religions. Her significance in theology is not reflected in her frequency in the scriptures. Bethune reiterates that she is only referenced 19 times throughout the scriptures and yet “today she is the most recognizable female figure in the world.”[6] She is largely identifiable in modern-day Europe with “50 churches and other religious foundations named after her…in Catholic Spain, it's impossible to turn a corner without encountering something or someone, woman or man, named after Mary.” Though she is such a prominent figure today it frequently confuses people how she became such a blatant figure. Bethune argues that Mary’s lack of presence should not decrease her credibility as such an important figure. Whether she is mentioned a great deal or not has little relevance because her importance. As well the scriptures that she is in fact mentioned in are cherished throughout Christianity. Bethune also highlights the idea that “a constant state of tension has surrounded Mary. That tension -- poised between virgin and mother, human and divine -- is the source of her endless variety of portrayals.”[7] Therefore societies curiosity n her as a person drives her power and recognition. The few scriptures she is mentioned in contribute very little to her identification as the most powerful women in history. As well, eventually “In the West, popular interest in Mary was much slower to form, but when it took root, in the early 12th century, it sparked an explosion of art and devotion.” Therefore the inequality and lack of female historical sources did not negatively influence her overall impact throughout history. |
[1] Warner, Marina. Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary. New York: Knopf, 1976. 15.
[2] Warner, Marina. Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary. New York: Knopf, 1976. John 2.
[3] Warner, Marina. Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary. New York: Knopf, 1976. Luke 1:26.
[4] Schussler Fiorenza, Elizabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. Crossroad, 1994 (originally published in 1984). 146
[5] Bethune, Brian. 2009. "THE MAKING OF MARY." Maclean's 122, no. 14: 48-49. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 16, 2016).
[6] Bethune, Brian. 2009. "THE MAKING OF MARY." Maclean's 122, no. 14: 48-49. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 16, 2016).
[7] Bethune, Brian. 2009. "THE MAKING OF MARY." Maclean's 122, no. 14: 48-49. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 16, 2016).
[8] "King James Bible." BIBLE VERSES ABOUT VIRGIN MARY. 2016. Accessed April 21, 2016. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Virgin-Mary/.