The Real Mary: Why Protestant Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus

As a lifelong Roman Catholic believer, I can't stomach this book. I've read the introduction and the first 2 chapters and now this book is going into the garbage can. I gave the author a fair chance to give me a more detailed view of Mary during this Advent season for my reading. Unfortunately, as far as I've read, there is some insulting sentence (or more than one) per chapter aimed at my Catholic faith, teachings, and traditions. I care not for this book. I will stick to books written by Catholic authors for Catholic readers.

This is an extremely good book for Protestant people. People need to realize and understand the value of Mary and see what a huge role she has played in the history of the Chrsitian Church. She was the Mother of Jesus....that alone should let you know that she has great importance. The author is very open-minded and extremely fair & balanced. He shows us the truth of the life of Mary and gives a great account of all views...Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox...and I like it because he gives you much to read and then lets you think about it and make your own decision. He does not try to force you to believe anything, but he gives you so much accurate information and impressive points of view. This was an excellent book.

In general, if you want to get Evangelical Protestants nervous, start talking positively about Mary. Not that they think Mary the mother of our Lord is a bad person or anything, but that they insist she needs to kept in her place - which usually is limited to a brief mention during the Christmas season. Even those who think that positive Scriptural role models for women are important would much rather talk about Ruth or Esther or anyone but the virgin who gave birth to the Savior. In their eyes, Mary is more a Catholic rather than a Biblical figure. Scot McKnight thinks this sort of thinking is all wrong. While unabashedly Evangelical in outlook, he sees Mary as one of the most important figures in the New Testament. He also thinks the traditional thinking of Mary is highly skewed in both Catholic and Protestant traditions (admitting a level of ignorance on the delicate distinctions between the Catholic and Orthodox views of Mary - and preferrng that issue be handled by experts - he limits himself to the Western tradtiions). In The Real Mary he attempts to give a new view based upon the Scriptures of the New Testament and the cultural atmosphere of the world of Second Temple Judaism. McKnight divides the book into three parts. The first and longest examines the evidence of Holy Scipture concerning Mary. In this section, the most important theme and one that is reinforced often is that the common picture of a passive Mary wiith Catholics seeing her as a blissful soul with an almost stoic acceptance of God's directives and Protestants looking at her as little more than an incubator for the Word made flesh are both entirely erroneous. McKnight points out that Mary was a forceful figure in the New Testament who knew the consequences of being an unwed mother in her world but consented in a supreme act of faith that was not only pious but corageous. This radical trusting of God shows forth in the Magnificat - a prayer that was both powerful and subversive of both both Herod and Rome's authority. This is not the "nice" Mary of Christmas cards but a woman who was strong and dangerous to those in positions of authority. Throiughout her mention in the New Testament, Mary is a shown as a strong Jewish woman who was empowered by her radical faith she had in the God of Israel. She - like the Apostles - did not understand the fulfillment of Jesus' ministry would lead to the cross but, unlike all but John, she endured the unbearable pain of being at with Him there. She was present with Jesus' followers in the dark period after His burial and waited with hope following His ascension. She may have misunderstood some of Jesus' actions in His ministry and experienced total confusion at the point of his passion but the faith in God remained through these crises. In the second part of the book, McKnight tackles the Mary of Church tradition. While taking the Evangelical position and thus disagreeing with the many beliefs Catholics (and often the Orthodox) hold

In the first chapter, Scot McKnight asks "Why a book on Mary?". One of the answers is because most Protestants haven't given much thought to Mary. He's describing me and this book was an excellent introduction to the subject of the Virgin Mary. He covers the biblical texts referring to Mary and exegetically, doesn't really add much to the story. However, once he begins to draw out the implications and tie it into the historical background in which the Gospel story is located, he has some very excellent proposals that are plausible and tie in the Birth narratives to the rest of the Gospels story in the gospels and the epistles. One primary example is his coverage of the Magnificat. He sees it as a very unsettling song and thought pattern that undermines the powers that be (Herod and Caesar). He gives the historical background for why. His suggestion dovetails nicely with other theologians' (N.T. Wright, Jaroslav Pelikan, etc) understanding as to why the Christian proclamation "Jesus is Lord" was a threat to to the Empire's proclamation "Caesar is Lord" and the resulting conflict between Christianity and the Empire. Each chapter has very suggestive proposals as to Mary's impact and influence on the early church. They are all plausible, but he leaves it to the reader to wrestle and decide. His second great contribution is two chapters at the end concerning the Controversial Mary, the Mary seen by Catholics vis a vis Protestants. I am not very familiar with the true Catholic views on Mary. As a life-long Protestant, and for many years, a Fundamentalist, I have been conditioned to reject all things Catholic, especially its views on Mary. However, if McKnight is accurate in his representation of the Catholic position on Mary, then we should have a lot in common with the Catholic church on Mary. He does posit Protestant caution concerning some doctrines and leaves it up to you. He tries to be very fair in his representation of the Catholic position. He also tries to penetrate some individual Catholic overstatements and get to the published doctrine on the matter. His last major contribution is an annotated bibliography on literature, especially Protestant literature, on Mary. He also interacts with much of it as well as Catholic literature. He provides a great introduction to other resources that go beyond this book to continue and deepen our study of Mary. All in all, Mary is a neglected study for most Protestants. If McKnight is right about half of his proposals, and I think this is a very conservative estimate, I have robbed myself of a very vital resource in my understanding of the Gospels and early church history. I plan to correct this ASAP. I highly recommend this book.

Scot McKnight accomplishes two good objectives with his latest book The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus (Paraclete Press, 2006). First, as the subtitle suggests, Scot wants to take the jitters out of evangelicals who are jumpy about honoring Mary the Mother of Jesus. Some kind of anti-Catholic Protestant Reformation residue lingers on many of us and we find it hard to honor Mary because we might be mistaken for "worshiping" her. With a scholar's keen research, a pastor's concerned heart, and a writer's competent, engaging communication style, McKnight presents a down-to-earth, gospels-based Mary. Young Mary is a true, courageous human being surrendering to her part in the unfolding drama of God's story. Scot doesn't present a religious, stained-glass goddess, but a fiesty, gutsy, intelligent, deeply devoted woman who wrestles with the demands, responsibilities and heartaches of being the Mother of God-in-flesh. Second, Scot wants the Catholic readers of the book to assess where they may have gone too far in honoring Mary, not so much in practice as in theological pronouncements. This is done, once again, in plain, understandable language. Scot is fair because he shows that some Protestants have misunderstood some basic tenets of what Catholics believe about Mary. I was surprised by how many Protestant "greats" in church history believed in the perpetual virginity of Mary. On the more controversial theological issues, Scot offers in-depth chapters toward the end of the book. Scot "unpacks" Mary's Magnificat showing the deeply held convictions Mary had regarding God's redemptive work in the world. Scot converses about how much Mary influenced Jesus' own vision and mission of his ministry. The question whether or not Mary had other children is raised and dealt with in an irenic manner. Remember the scene in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ when Jesus falls under the weight of the cross and Mary, his mother, has a flash-back to when Jesus was a little boy and fell while running? Remember how those scenes made Jesus seem more real, more truly human? The Real Mary does the same thing. Both Jesus and Mary are incarnate--flesh and blood human beings in a real mother and son relationship. After reading the book, I felt no urge to "worship" Mary, but I felt deeply challenged by her life of courage and devotion.

Scot McKnight is a top-notch New Testament scholar who can write for non-specialists. The Real Mary shows, once again, why McKnight has a growing following among thinking Christians. This book looks carefully at the biblical picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and draws out implications for today. A must-read for anyone interested in Mary. (And, I might add, a fine Christmas present!)