"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd." ~Flannery O'Connor

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

An ecumenical symposium about...the Blessed Virgin

One of the things I love about First Things is that Fr. Neuhaus and his staff show just how it is possible to actually have an ecumenical discussion of a topic such as the Blessed Virgin. This week, they're posting a series of five "preliminary papers" on the topic under the aegis of the "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" project.

On Monday, Edward T. Oakes, SJ led off with a characteristically provocative post about the Immaculate Conception, arguing that that event is the primary instance of salvation sola gratia. On Tuesday, J.I. Packer offered a solid exegesis of Luke on Jesus' early life, with a focus on Mary. Today, T.M. Moore, head of "a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic tradition," complains that "the liturgical formulas of the Celts" go too far in moving from "adoration" to "supplication" of Mary. The irony alone is worth the read. Cornelius Plantinga and Matthew Levering will round off the week.

On Friday I will post on the Oakes piece. My hunch is that the controversy over that one is as predictable as the content of the rest.
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