Customer Reviews

Mary for Evangelicals: Toward an Understanding of the Mother of Our Lord

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The fact that this book was written at all makes it interesting. Dr. Perry, a Protestant, sets out to explain and even defend traditionally Catholic views of Mary. And why? He explains that we are fascinated with Mary because, "we are fascinated with Jesus. She directs the faith away from herself, always to her Son." Indeed, this is the precisely the point Catholic theologians have attempted to make for so long and, perhaps, one reason why Protestants and Catholics have found so little to share in common. Dr. Perry correctly identifies the close linkage between Marian and Christological doctrines.

Dr. Perry is to be commended for his commitment to understand and challenge his own assumptions in order to do so. The result is well-organized record of his studies and where those studies have led. His conclusions may seem not enough for some Catholics but shocking to some Protestants. Those who would argue his conclusions fall far too short may have a poor appreciation for how difficult these questions can be for a Protestant. Those who are shocked that he has concluded too much may need to pursue a similar study themselves to see if what Dr. Perry finds is not true. A good place to start would be Dr. Gamero's Mary and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Thought.

At times Dr. Perry seems to be riding the fence, at one point explaining how scripture must be interpreted always in light of the sacred tradition of the church - a bold admission for a Protestant to make. On the other hand, he keeps returning to the test of scripture alone as the test for orthodoxy - the more traditional Protestant stance. But even with such inconsistencies, Dr. Perry makes some rather startling (from a Protestant perspective) conclusions. And, what is more, those conclusions are backed up with solid exegesis that will likely make many squirm. Rather than give away what those conclusions are, I will refrain from further comment and leave it to your discovery. This book is like a good mystery, building the evidence all along but still keeping the end hidden to the last. At times you will think the conclusions will be in favor of one side then wonder if perhaps the evidence is leading to the other side. The writing style is clean and entertaining so that you will find it difficult to set aside.

In the process of his investigation, Dr. Perry has to lay out some ground rules for tradition, scripture, and doctrinal development. Those alone have serious implications in their admission from a Protestant and that alone gives the book its four stars. For more on these topics you may also want to see the work of another Evangelical Protestant, Dr. Willams, in Tradition, Scripture, and Interpretation: A Sourcebook of the Ancient Church (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church's Future).

Dr. Perry's research recorded in this work will go far to raising the awareness of Protestants to their mother. Perhaps too, it will give Catholics a better understanding of the difficulties their Protestant friends may have with Mariology and, in the process, give them the tools they can use to share those doctrines without being threatening. Pope John Paul II stated on several occasions the importance of Mary in the unity of the Church. Dr. Perry seems to second that opinion. May it be that this is the crack that will begin the collapse of the wall that divides us. It is, at the very least, a step in the right direction to understanding.

I defer to the excellent review of this book by Michael Potemra in the National Review, Decemeber 31, 2006 page 50.