One of the most enjoyable projects I have ever had was researching and then writing up what I often call a “Protestant Biblical Theology of Mary.” I call her the real Mary, and if my Roman Catholic and Orthodox friends think I’m saying so with a wink and nod, they know what I mean.
Most Protestants know what they don’t believe about Mary, and it amounts to whatever Catholics or the Orthodox do believe. But few have examined the Bible about Mary. So I did.
In The Real Mary: Why Protestant Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus, I compose a basic narrative of the life of Mary — from the angel Gabriel’s visit to her appearance — so I think — in Revelation 12. In that narrative I seek to let the Bible’s own narrative display the character at work in Mary and I do this over against the Mary of Christian Art (pious, pensive, blue gown draped). She was anything but a pensive wallflower. She was quite active and confident and influential in the early church.
I hope you have a chance to engage the book when you think about Mary, and Christmas season is one of the times in the church calendar that Mary appears quite often!
Thanks to Paraclete a new release of the book is now available with a beautiful new cover.
