HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
Van Biema, David (2005) "Hail Mary" TIME, 3/21, 60-68.
Guess who has taken an interest in Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ?
Protestants.
With the confluence of feminism, traditional Christianity, and
conservatism,
Mary has become a formidable figure in Moderate Protestants. That does
not
mean that Protestantism has endorsed full Marians. Rather, her story is
now
being included more often in liturgy and sermons.
The division of Catholics and Protestants did not break over Mary;
rather
the division emerged first over an English king and the rise of
Anglicism.
This was followed by Martin Luther and others who began and continued
the
Reformation. In breaking with the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church,
Mary
became marginalized.
She is now back. Even Christian Unitarians of which some are
Trinitarians
now have a favorable view of Mary.
At any rate, she is back. It seems like a welcome tradition.