Mary for Evangelicals: Toward an Understanding of the Mother of Our Lord

In this dense, learned study, Perry, a professor of theology at Manitoba's Providence College, attempts to bridge the different accounts of Mary that have long divided Catholics and evangelicals. The book was born of Protestant Perry's nagging sense that his tradition did not give the mother of Jesus her due. He insists, in good Protestant fashion, on grounding his evangelical Mariology in scripture, not in "postbiblical legends." Perry first examines how Mary figures in the New Testament. The major New Testament writers, according to Perry, had wildly different views of Mary, with Luke seeing her as a prophet and Paul viewing her as "no more than an anonymous mother." Perry then turns to the church fathers, arguing that medieval doctrines about Mary were not new inventions, but elaborations and clarifications of doctrines that were articulated in the patristic era. He concludes with a constructive (but too brief) Protestant theology of Mary, including the controversial claim that, in some senses, it is appropriate to consider Mary a "mediator." Thanks to Dan Brown and Elaine Pagels, many readers are interested in the women in Jesus' life. Although this book is too scholarly to attract a large following, Perry makes an important contribution to Catholic-evangelical dialogue. (Nov.)