Four Views on Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology by Gary T. Meadors & Stanley N. Gundry

Author:Gary T. Meadors & Stanley N. Gundry [Meadors, Gary T. & Gundry, Stanley N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Biblical Studies, Exegesis & Hermeneutics, Christian Theology, General
ISBN: 9780310276555
Google: 5US5ngEACAAJ
Amazon: 0310276551
Barnesnoble: 0310276551
Goodreads: 6411658
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2009-05-14T22:00:00+00:00

Immaculate Conception (Vatican City, 1854): The “Great Exception”

In 1854, Pope Pius IX pronounced the Immaculate Conception—the notion that Mary was preserved free of original sin by a special grace from the moment of her conception in her mother’s womb—to be a doctrine that “has been revealed by God, and on this account must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.”80 The dogma was intended “to translate into doctrine the understanding of Mary that had developed through the centuries in the church’s prayer and liturgy.”81 The relevant question here is whether these developments, the doctrine and the practices, were indeed “according to the Scriptures.” Is Mary, to use Pelikan’s phrase, “the Great Exception” to the rule that “all sin”?82 And is the postulate of Mary’s sinlessness necessary to preserve the integrity of Jesus’ identity as the sinless Son of God?

We begin by stating the obvious: the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception has no explicit biblical basis.83 This has not deterred the tradition from amplifying Mary’s role along the lines of Duns Scotus’s principle that “it seems preferable to attribute greater rather than lesser excellence to Mary” as long as one does not contradict the authority of Scripture.84 Again, what is required is good theodramatic judgment formed and informed by the holy script. Hence the key questions: Who is Mary in the theodrama, where is she in the overall story line, and what is she doing there? Who should we say that she is?

A full answer to these questions is beyond the scope of the present chapter, but the following points are germane to making a right theodramatic judgment. First, Mary occupies a key role in the center of the theodrama: the birth of Jesus Christ. Second, she plays a key transitional role in salvation history: she represents both the faithful remnant of Israel (“daughter of Zion”) and the first member of the church (“daughter of her son” [Dante]). Her significance is perhaps best understood when her story is set beside that of John the Baptist. According to Jesus, John is both the greatest born of women, yet least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 11:11), for John the Baptist exits the stage before Act Four. Mary, by contrast, stands in a long line of pious mothers who give birth to children of the promise (Sarah, Hannah) and, more importantly, with the remnant of Israel who believe God’s promise of salvation. Mary thus represents both the faithful remnant of Israel and the firstfruits of Pentecost, as she is last seen at prayer in the upper room with the apostles (Acts 2:14). She is also depicted at the foot of the cross, but only in the fourth gospel (John 19:25–27).

Mary is thus the only figure in the Bible who plays a role in Acts Two, Three, and Four alike: she represents the believing remnant of Israel; she is the mother of Jesus who remains with him to his death; she is a follower of the risen Jesus and gathers together with other believers to pray.

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