Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion

244 Pages·2016·1.86 MB·English

by  Stephen J. Shoemaker

Copyright © 2016 by Stephen J. Shoemaker All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole
or in part, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S, Copyright Law
and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
For information about this and other Yale University Press publications please contact: U.S.
Office: [email protected] yalebooks.com
Europe Office: [email protected] www.yalebooks.co.uk
Typeset in Adobe Caslon Regular by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd Printed in Great Britain by TJ
International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names:
Shoemaker, Stephen J., 1968– author.
Title: Mary in early Christian faith and devotion / Stephen J. Shoemaker.
Description: New Haven : Yale University Press, 2016.
LCCN 2016004005 | ISBN 9780300217216 (c1 : alk. paper)
LCSH: Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint—Devotion to—History. | Church history—Primitive and early church,
ca. 30–600.
Classification: LCC BT645 .S53 2016 | DDC 232.9109—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016004005
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my goddaughter and niece Grace Ann Shoemaker
Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη
CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION
Mapping a New Approach to Early Marian Piety
CHAPTER ONE
A Virgin Unspotted: Devotion to Mary in the First Two Centuries
CHAPTER TWO
Mother of God and Mother of Mysteries: The Third Century
CHAPTER THREE
Mother of the Great Cherub of Light: The Book of Mary’s Repose
CHAPTER FOUR
A Cult Following: The Six Books Dormition Apocryphon
CHAPTER FIVE
The Memory of Mary: The Fourth and Early Fifth Centuries
CHAPTER SIX
The Scepter of Orthodoxy: The Cult of the Virgin and the Council of Ephesus
CONCLUSIONS
Notes
Bibliography
Index
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS BOOK HAS BEEN in the works for a long time, sitting on the back burner
while I completed other projects. It is in many ways the logical successor to
my first book, The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and
Assumption, and it was conceived not long after that volume appeared. I owe
Sarah Jane Boss a large debt of gratitude for inadvertently inspiring this project.
Over ten years ago Sarah approached me about contributing an article on Marian
liturgies in Early Christianity to a Marian resource book that she was editing. On
receiving the initial invitation, I recall thinking, oddly enough, that I don’t really
know much about that. This recognition, however, also brought awareness that
the topic had not really been covered very well in a systematic way by previous
scholarship, and I thought, if I didn’t tackle this, who would? While writing the
article, which would eventually be published as “Marian Liturgies and Devotion
in Early Christianity” in Mary: The Complete Resource, I came to realize that
the early Christian apocrypha were a largely untapped resource that had much to
add to this topic even though they had been largely overlooked to this point. I
decided to write a book on early Christian devotion to Mary before the explosion
of Marian piety that ensued after the Council of Ephesus. For the past decade I
have worked steadily on this topic, and this book draws on a number of
previously published articles, all of which have been indicated in the notes. It
does not simply reproduce these articles, however, but instead provides a fresh
and more accessible synthesis of these studies, along with significant new
material regarding early Christian devotion to Mary.
I would especially like to thank the Institute for Advanced Study and the
National Humanities Center for a membership in the School of Historical
Studies and a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship respectively during the
academic year 2013–14. Support from both of these institutions was invaluable
for the timely completion of this project. Not only did their financial generosity
make it possible for me to write this book, but both centers provided
extraordinary intellectual communities. Conversations with the members and
fellows contributed significantly to this project, and these exchanges sowed the
seeds for many new ideas that I am certain will open up new directions for my
research in the near future. I also wish to thank the superb staff at these
institutions: their extraordinary assistance greatly assisted in the completion of
this project. In particular, I would especially thank Karen Carroll of the National
Humanities Center for her copyediting while I was a fellow there. I would
additionally thank all those who offered comments and suggestions in response
to presentations of various parts of this book at the meetings of the North
American Patristics Society; the Society of Biblical Literature; the American
Academy of Religion; the International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford;
the Byzantine Studies Conference; l’Association pour l’étude de la littérature
apocryphe chrétienne; the Mariological Society of America; the Conference on
the Origins of the Cult of the Virgin at York St. John University (7/06); the
Conference on Christian Apocryphal Texts for the New Millennium:
Achievements, Prospects, and Challenges at the University of Ottawa (10/06);
the Fifth International Symposium of the International Centre for Christian
Studies at the Orthodox Church of Georgia (05/14); and at the University of
Tübingen; Duke University; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and
Virginia Commonwealth University.
Given the long gestation of this project, it is impossible to remember all of
the individuals who have contributed their thoughts and comments along the
way, and I fear that I will inevitably forget to mention some. Nevertheless, I
especially wish to thank for so many helpful exchanges related to the topics in
this book: Pauline Allen, Rina Avner, Jane Baun, David Brakke, Jorunn
Jacobson Buckley, Averil Cameron, Elizabeth Clark, Kate Cooper, Mary
Cunningham, Theodore de Bruyn, Alain Desreumaux, Jan Willem Drijvers, Bart
Ehrman, Deirdre Good, Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Scott Johnson, Jean-Daniel
Kaestli, Ally Kateusz, Derek Krueger, Julie Kelto Lillis, Vasiliki Limberis,
AnneMarie Luijendijk, Chris Maunder, Enrico Norelli, Bernard Outtier, Leena
Mari Peltomaa, Michael Peppard, Pierluigi Piovanelli, Richard Price, Walter
Ray, Brian Reynolds, Miri Rubin, Timothy Sailors, Philip Sellew, Alexander
Toepel, and Lily Vuong. I also thank the two anonymous reviewers for the press
for their helpful comments. Finally, I am most grateful to Malcolm Gerratt at
Yale University Press for his strong interest in this project and for his help and
advice in seeing it through to publication.