What Mary Means to Christians: An Ancient Tradition Explained by Peter M. J. Stravinskas (2012)

NEWMAN STUDIES JOURNAL 1 00 serious problems—problems that make it difficult to heed his argument. First, nearly every page of The Liberal Spirit is marred by awkward and unidiomatic prose.While apparently native English speakers have vetted the book, a good deal more editing would have helped it considerably. Second, the author fails in several places to cite the sources from which he is obtaining his material, sometimes lifting as much as a whole sentence, unattributed, from another scholar’s work.Together, these unhappy flaws make it difficult to take the work as seriously as one otherwise might. Dwight A. Lindley III Hillsdale College What Mary Means to Christians: An Ancient Tradition Explained. By Peter M. J. Stravinskas. New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2012. Pages: v + 102. Paperback: ISBN 978–0–8091–4744–1. $9.95. This volume exemplifies the proverb that a book should never be judged by its cover. The title and the cover painting of Mary and the infant Jesus are characteristic of a book of popular Marian devotions, while the subtitle seems to promise an historical explanation of Mary’s role in the Church from patristic times to the present. Although both devotional elements and historical explanations are in fact present, readers will also find scriptural, liturgical, theological, and ecumenical dimensions— enhanced by quotations from John Henry Newman. The book has two parts:the first and longer part on“The Life of Mary”has twentyeight short quasi-biographical sections—beginning with her Immaculate Conception and Birth and concluding with herAssumption and dual role as“Queen of Heaven and Mother of the Church.” Some of the sections are biblically based—Annunciation, Visitation, Magnificat—but a few are largely legendary—Mary’s childhood and the selection of Joseph as her spouse. The section on Mary’s “death” and “burial” points out that Pope Pius XII in dogmatically defining the Assumption of Mary in 1950 sidestepped the much-debated theological issue of whether Mary died by stating that she was assumed into heaven “when the course of her earthly life was finished”; in contrast,Pope John Paul II“considered the physical death of Our Lady to be a suitable conformity to her Son”—but did not issue a formal doctrinal definition to that effect (59). This book’s second and shorter part has eight sections discussing “Mary in Catholic Devotion.” Among the topics considered are the “Seven Sorrows,” apparitions—such as those at Lourdes,Fatima and Guadalupe—plus Marian titles1 and “Marian flowers.”2 The book concludes with three short appendices listing: “the Mysteries of the Rosary,” important Marian passages in the New Testament, and nineteen“Marian Liturgical Celebrations.” Each of the book’s thirty-six sections can be read separately—indeed,it might be 1 The Marian titles of the Litany of Loreto “formed the basis of Cardinal Newman’s meditations for the month of May” (69); see Newman’s Meditations and Devotions, 3–77, available at: http:// www.newmanreader.org/works/meditations/index.html. 2 Under the heading of “Marian Flowers” (83–86) is a discussion of Marian hymns, such as those related to Marian devotions in May, and flowers that have been associated with specific events in Mary’s life; for example,the violet“came to be known as Our Lady’s Modesty,from the belief that it blossomed when Mary responded to Gabriel with her fiat” (84). 1 01 more beneficial to read each section meditatively as an individual reflection rather than reading the book as a series of short chapters. Caveat lector: some sections are more devotional and liturgical, other sections are more biblical and theological, still others are more historical and ecumenical. On the one hand, this mingling of genres reflects the multiple dimensions of current Mariology; on the other hand, readers primarily seeking Marian devotions may find this book overly doctrinal,while readers searching for an ecumenical Mariology may find this book too homiletic, as well as somewhat confusing, if they are not familiar with Catholic terminology and practice. Perhaps it would have been more helpful had each section specifically addressed each of these perspectives—biblical, historical, theological, devotional, liturgical, ecumenical—in systematic order. Each of the book’s three...