The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption (Oxford Early Christian Studies) [Hardcover]

Stephen J. Shoemaker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0199250758 | ISBN-13: 978-0199250752 | Publication Date: March 27, 2003

The ancient Dormition and Assumption traditions are a collection of over 60 different narratives, preserved in 9 ancient languages, that commemorate the end of the Virgin Mary's life. This study aims to make this collection more accessible by analyzing the liturgical, archaeological, and narrative sources of the earliest traditions of Mary's death. Several of the most important narratives appear here in English for the first time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`... un ouvrage superbe et fondamental d'une utilite extreme ... Ce premier volume est une promesse d'un opus a venir de grande valeur.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History

`What is truly striking about this book is its meticulous and thorough research. Specialist in the Dormition materials and Marian devotion will henceforward meed to take into account Shoemaker's claims. Likewise, students and scholars of early Christianity will welcome the translations he provides in the appendices.' Church History

About the Author

Stephen J. Shoemaker is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, University of Oregon

Product Details

• Hardcover: 500 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199250758
• ISBN-13: 978-0199250752
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,253,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marian theology study : a review by Marie Farrell rsm, November 19, 2006

By 

Marie Farrell (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption (Oxford Early Christian Studies) (Hardcover)

This volume is a most worthwhile compendium of traditions - apocryphal, cultic and pre-historical - concerning the apotheosis of the Virgin Mary. It is the fruit of meticulous scholarship that is well served by the inclusion of select translations of ancient Dormition narratives and figures illustrating various traditions and indicating marian shrines celebrating the theosis of the Virgin. The extensive bibliography citing primary and secondary sources makes the work invaluable for doctoral studies in marian theology.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The New Bench Mark (One of Them, Anyhow), December 5, 2008

By 

JordanJasper - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption (Oxford Early Christian Studies) (Paperback)

Shoemaker's book represents a crucial culmination and new bench mark in the study of the ancient Dormition/Assumption traditions for myriad reasons.

For one, Shoemaker quite convincingly exposes and refutes some of the fundamental flaws of very noble prior studies on this issue: Cothenet; Mimouni; Jugie; etc. Shoemaker also brings the convincing (yet less cohesive) works of Wenger and van Esbroeck to fruition by creating a work that effectively delineates and characterizes the diverse origins of the ancient Christian traditions about Mary's fate in one pertinent volume.

As the author himself notes in the preface (and reiterates throughout the book), he felt compelled to write a volume establishing these origins with some reasonable measure of clarity before tackling his chief goal: a work exploring the cultural and social impact of these traditions in late antiquity, particularly for Byzantine Christians. It is imperative that he finish this work.

The book is quite user-friendly to scholarly readers, even those not terribly familiar with the topic; Shoemaker's wise inclusion of several translations of the early narratives helps facilitate this.

Of particular note is his divergence from the contentions of Danielou, Bagatti, Testa, etc. that the earliest dormition trads emerged within some hypothetical Jewish-Christian milieu. Shoemaker has blown that theory out of the water for good, I'd say. His own conclusion--that the Book of Rest trad, for example, emerged in what was probably some 3rd-century Christian backwater-community tinged with both Gnostic and proto-Orthodox brushstrokes, is far more convincing, but could have been more fully elaborated. A comprehensive commentary on the Liber Requiei text itself would have been most helpful to the author's cause. It is asking a lot, but a full commentary should have been included with the translation.

Also helpful is the author's careful examination of the historical growth of veneration of Mary in Palestine in the early 400s, and how the various ancient churches and feasts dedicated to Mary in and around Jerusalem were connected to the very sudden appearance of Dormition narratives/motifs in the late 5th century. In this respect, however, Shoemaker hedges his bets (like Epiphanius in the 4th century, when confronted with the issue of Mary's final fate).

Indeed, Shoemaker gives startling short-shrift to the tomb-church, and to the obviously sudden "appearance" of a Mary's tomb-church in Josaphat--an appearance that can almost be pinpointed by the lectionary dates he provides for other, far more considered Marian churches/feasts, not to mention the whole business with the mercurial bishop, Juvenal. One gets the sense that Shoemaker did not want to put himself on the line, here: The tomb of Mary made a very sudden appearance, seemingly just before the Council of Chalcedon, and was clearly associated with Juvenal to some important, memorable degree. It is just after 450 that the various narrative legends of the dormition--some of which were clearly already in existence among certain Christians long before--begin to find an increasingly eager audience.

Shoemaker spills much ink (again, quite convincingly) to demonstrate that the dormition beliefs did not "appear" as a direct result of anti-Chalcedonian sentiment in the Churches. His biggest achievement in the whole work is the refutation of that now untenable "myth" and the assertion that the dormition-legends actually were embraced mostly by Christian circles eager to heal the breaches caused by Chalcedon. It's a superb discovery and his case is iron-clad. Presumably, this is the sort of contention that will have even more impact in a book dealing specifically with the socio-cultural status of the traditions.

For all that, however, it may have behooved Shoemaker to at least ponder what seems obvious, i.e. if the Council of Chalcedon was not the trigger and/or welcome-mat for the dissemination of these legends, then the jarringly sudden "appearance" of the tomb of Mary near Jerusalem just before 450 (surely a coup in the eyes--or ambitions--of Juvenal) must have been an enormously influential catalyst. Again, Shoemaker does not even touch this obvious idea, and it's a bit glaring, because he practically sets it up.

Otherwise, the work is of the highest order. Impeccable in its research and consideration. Without question, it must reign as the new standard on the subject and a potent scholarly reminder that the dormiton/assumption legends do indeed belong to the strata of truly early Christian tradition. Shoemaker's follow-up to this seminal work is eagerly anticipated.