A must for those seriously interested in the Virgin Mary

books:


	• Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion Hilda C. Graef Sheed and Ward, 1999 - 532 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews
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A Mini-Encyclopedia of Mariology

Hilda Graef has written a very detailed and comprehensive account of the development of Marian doctrines. She begins with Mary in the New Testament, pointing out the fact that the Lord actually extended the motherhood of Mary from Himself to the entire church (John 19:26). Graef devotes some detail to Revelation 12 and notes that, because of the "totality thinking" of the Hebrew mind, this chapter refers to BOTH Mary and the entire Christian church.

A good summary of the development of Marian doctrines in the first few centuries of the Church is given by Graef on page 160. She points out that the concept of Mary as the "second Eve" goes back to early post-apostolic times. Graef suggests that the veneration of Mary, at least in the Greek church, was well underway by the middle of the 4th century. By that time, Mary was called Theotokos.

Epiphanius is credited with being the first witness to the idea of Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven. Soon thereafter, a sect called the Collyrideans actually worshipped Mary. Ephiphanius condemned this, pointing out that, while Mary is beautiful and holy and venerable, she is not to be worshipped (pp. 72-73).

Graef then traces the course of Mariology throughout the remainder of history. One notable aspect of this is the Ave Maris Stella. In this Marian hymn dating from the Middle Ages, Mary was portrayed as the Star of the Sea who guides travelers into port.

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A must for those seriously interested in the Virgin Mary

I have had the oportunity to work extensively with this book as a theology student studying the history and development of the doctrine and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I am a Catholic priest and I work in Latin America in the Family Rosary Apostolate. I have been taking this past year to study, and as much as I can I have finally been getting to the more in depth study of Marian devotion that I have wanted to do for years. This book, together with Jaroslave Pelikan's "Mary through the Centuries" have been the most valuable resources, and someone who did not have much time to study could simply work with these two books and come away with quite a bit of depth and breadth in their Marian knowledge. Mrs. Graef offers a wealth of detailed yet broad knowledge about Marian devotion and Mariology as it has developed through the centuries. Her treatment is at the same time reverent and questioning in a healthy way (i.e., she questions tendencies to excess that at times have entered into Marian devotion. As John XXIII said, Mary is not pleased when she is elevated higher than her Son.) The work is well written, and is appropriate equally for the scholar and any intellegent and interested reader.

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