MARY OF GALILEE, VOL. 1

This trilogy of studies on the Blessed Virgin Mary is a response to new possibilities arising from the scientific investigation of the Scriptures and from a consideration of the role of Mary in the thought of the sub-apostolic writers and apocryphal texts. Since “the study of Sacred Scriptures must be the soul of Mariology” (Letter from the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education [March 25,1988]), Volume One presents texts from the New Testament in the context of each evangelist’s own purpose and theology. The commentary is a synthesis of the excellent work of exegetes dedicated to this area of biblical theology, Catholic and Protestant alike, thus fulfilling the direction and vision given by the Second Vatican Council in its decrees on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) and on the Church (Lumen Gentium). The Bible testifies to a living tradition which venerates the Mother of the Lord and hence offers the believer the basis for an authentic devotion to Mary unencumbered by exaggerations in the direction of either too much or none at all. Mary is a “fact,” a “given” of Divine Revelation and a “maternal presence” always operative in the life of the Church. This work will help all to appreciate her role ever more deeply.

About the Author: Bertrand Buby, SM, a member of the Society of Mary, is on the faculty of the University of Dayton and associated with the International Marian Research institute there. The author of several articles on Mary for Marian Studies, Biblical Theology Bulletin, and Review for Religious, he is the translator of Ignace de la Potterie’s Mary in the Mystery of the Covenant (New York: Alba House, 1992).