So the Assumption is no more an “invention” than the Trinity, whose doctrine and vocabulary (obscure in Scripture) were elaborated slowly over the centuries. Shoemaker and others believe the earliest textual witnesses to be from the third or even second century. In 1998 the evangelical Protestant biblical scholar Richard Bauckham traced the Assumption/Dormition traditions to “the fourth century at the latest, but perhaps considerably earlier.” (Shutterstock)Įven before Shoemaker, the tide had begun to turn. The tapestry “Dormition of Virgin Mary” in the Como Cathedral in Italy, by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1526-1593, Italian. Maximus the Confessor, an important witness to ancient traditions. He also produced in 2012 a new translation of “The Life of the Virgin” (Yale University Press, $32.50), written by St. He followed this up in 2016 with “Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion” (Yale University Press, $38). His 2002 study, “Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption” (Oxford University Press, $73), considered, in 460 pages, all the available literature in Latin, Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Sahidic, Armenian, Georgian, and Ethiopic. The contemporary historian Stephen Shoemaker writes of an “anti-Catholic prejudice” and “bias” in his field, a “prejudice of early Christian studies against attributing much significance to the veneration of Mary.”īut Shoemaker’s work has stirred a reconsideration among scholars. There are other texts related to the end of her days, but Protestant historians for centuries were unwilling to recognize their antiquity. One of the most widely circulated books at the beginning of the second century was the so-called “Gospel of Mary,” which tells the story of her childhood. The earliest Christians celebrated Mary’s life. That quality would be even more applicable in the case of Mary, who conceived her child virginally and remained ever-virgin. Ephrem of Syria sang that Moses and Elijah were able to rise to heaven because of the chastity with which they lived their earthly lives. In the writings of the early Fathers, Moses and Elijah are often associated with the Virgin Mary, probably for this reason: All were assumed into heaven. In the Gospel accounts, both men are alive they are embodied and they can be seen and heard. Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus at his transfiguration. The Book of Sirach elaborates slightly on the story (44:16 see also 49:14), as does the Letter to the Hebrews (11:5). The story appears in an apocryphal book called “The Assumption of Moses” (composed slightly before the time of Christ) and is cited in the New Testament Epistle of Jude (verse 9).Ī third figure to be assumed into heaven, perhaps, is Enoch, who “walked with God: and he was no more for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). Long before Elijah, Moses was, according to tradition, taken up in a similar way. “The Transfiguration of the Lord” in the Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady in Valencia, Spain, by Jacomart, 1410–1461, Spanish. The prophet Elijah, in a chariot of fire, “went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). The Jews honored the memory of at least three other figures who - according to tradition - had been taken bodily to live in heaven. Jesus is the only candidate to fit the description of the male child and the mother of Jesus is Mary, whom John sees in heaven, fully alive, body and soul.īut Mary was not the first to receive this gift from God. she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron" (Revelation 12:1, 5). John beholds “in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. We see the original event in the vision that is the centerpiece of the last book of the Bible. Christians in the West emphasized the beginning of her heavenly life: her Assumption. The East remembered the close of Mary’s earthly life, her “falling asleep” or Dormition. Indeed, Christians have, since the early days of the Church, believed that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was taken into heaven, body and soul.Ĭhristians in the East and West tended to mark the event in different but complementary ways. And long before the Church marked the feast, it celebrated the fact of the Assumption. The Church is on track to celebrate the feast in a few days, as it has since the fourth century. the assumption.”Įight years have passed, however, and his wish has not come true. ” Among the items on his list was “giving up inventions like. In 2015 the Reformed theologian Peter Leithart issued a “wish list” of “ What I Want from Catholics.
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