I didn’t find Christ in Catholicism . . . I lost the forest (the big picture of Christ) for a lot of unnecessary trees that were not scripturally grounded. Part of this . . . was due to some non-scriptural and even (in some cases) anti-scriptural doctrines that undermine the role and significance of Christ. I would love to come back to a purified Catholicism more in keeping with a biblical witness. The excessive adulation of Mary, which at times seems to me to come close to elevating her to the godhead (like a replacement consort for Yahweh in lieu of Asherah), is one such obstacle.
After I had made five in-depth responses to him, Dr. Gagnon replied (just for the record) in a thread on another Facebook page, on 9-17-24, underneath my links to all five: “like your other one, it is an amateurish piece.” This is his silly and arrogant way of dismissing my critiques in one fell swoop. I had informed him that I had over twenty “officially published books” [22, to be exact] and yet he replied that he didn’t know “whether” they were “self-published or with a vanity press or a reputable press.”
His words will be in blue. I use RSV for biblical citations.
*****
I’m responding to a post on his Facebook page, dated 8-20-24, devoted to massively criticizing alleged idolatrous utterances in the Catholic papal document, Ubi Primum (On the Immaculate Conception), from Blessed Pope Pius IX, issued on 2 February 1849. The post was “with” Jerry Walls: another vocal critic of Catholicism (whom I’ve critiqued many times), who misguidedly pontificates in the combox (8-20-24): “It’s certainly easy to see why lay RCs actually worship Mary and have no qualms at all in doing so.”
Before I start analyzing point-by-point, some preliminary general observations need to be made, in order for readers to properly understand the Catholic worldview, Catholic Mariology, and my own responses. Every worldview has basic premises and presuppositions, and when speaking to others in the same group, it’s not necessary — and would be foolish and tedious — to reiterate in every other sentence (in writing), or every two minutes (if speaking) what those are. So, for example, all educated Protestant discussions presuppose the self-defined “two pillars of the Reformation”: sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone as the rule of faith) and sola fide (faith alone as the fundamental soteriology or theology of salvation and justification). Many other propositions flow from these assumed, ingrained presuppositions. They need not be repeated over and over.
Catholics are no different. We have a highly developed devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whereas Protestantism today has virtually none to speak of; only minimal lip service: mostly at Christmas, where they even habitually set up statues [gasp!] of Mary and St. Joseph, and temporarily forget that — according to their own theology — this is an outrageous practice. When it comes to Mary, Catholics will speak in language — developed over many centuries — that to Protestant ears unfamiliar with it will automatically sound “idolatrous” at worst and extremely “excessive” at best. Because Protestantism essentially ditched the doctrine of the communion of saints, it can’t comprehend any veneration — not worship! — at all towards anyone but God. And so any such devotion sounds horrifying and blasphemous to them.
I’ve defended such “flowery” Marian Catholic language and expressiveness many times. Fortunately, the person perhaps most excoriated in this regard, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, author of The Glories of Mary (which I defended 22 years ago), often does explain in his book, the presuppositions about our Lord Jesus that any informed Catholic always takes for granted when writing or talking (or thinking) about the Blessed Virgin Mary. But Protestants often seem unaware of these initial premises, so they mistakenly assume — in their lack of knowledge of Catholicism — that Marian devotion in its essence is somehow deliberately attempting to denigrate Jesus or set up an idol in competition with Him. Hence, the problem of communication and one group hugely misunderstanding another. The problem isn’t supposed idolatry, but the ignorance of the accuser. I wrote in my paper defending St. Alphonsus:
In order to properly understand the overall framework of the thoughts and ideas and doctrines expressed in this book, we must examine what St. Alphonsus has to say about the relationship of Mary to God the Father and God the Son, Jesus, since this is [Protestants’] primary and most impassioned charge: that she supposedly usurps and overthrows God’s prerogatives and unique position of supreme honor and glory, in Catholic theology, and attains some sort of divine or quasi-divine or semi-divine status (which would, indeed, be blasphemous and grossly heretical). Nothing could be further from the truth, and this is all expressed in the book itself.
Now here is what St. Alphonsus also wrote in this book so hated by Protestant critics of Catholic Mariology. All excerpts are taken from The Glories of Mary, by St. Alphonsus de Liguori — a Doctor of the Catholic Church –, edited by Rev. Eugene Grimm, Two Volumes in One, Fourth Reprint Revised, Brooklyn: Redemptorist Fathers, 1931:
[citing another in agreement] “His divine Son paid and offered the superabundant price of his precious blood in which alone is our salvation, life, and resurrection.” (“To the Reader,” p. 26)
Jesus our Redeemer, with an excess of mercy and love, came to restore this life by his own death on the cross . . . by reconciling us with God he made himself the Father of souls in the law of grace . . . (p. 47)
In us she beholds that which has been purchased at the price of the death of Jesus Christ . . . Mary well knows that her Son came into the world only to save us poor creatures . . . (pp. 60-61)
“Either pity me,” will I say with the devout St. Anselm, “O my Jesus, and forgive me, and do thou pity me, my Mother Mary, by interceding for me” . . . my Jesus, forgive me; My Mother Mary, help me. (p. 79)
We know that Jesus Christ is our only Saviour, and that he alone by his merits has obtained and obtains salvation for us . . . (p. 137)
The price of my salvation is already paid; my Saviour has already shed his blood, which suffices to save an infinity of worlds. This blood has only to be applied even to such a one as I am. And that is thy office, O Blessed Virgin. (pp. 140-141)
No one denies that Jesus Christ is our only mediator of justice, and that he by his merits has obtained our reconciliation with God . . . St. Bernard says, “Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son.” (p. 153)
It is one thing to say that God cannot, and another that he will not, grant graces without the intercession of Mary. We willingly admit that God is the source of every good, and the absolute master of all graces; and that Mary is only a pure creature, who receives whatever she obtains as a pure favor from God . . . We most readily admit that Jesus Christ is the only Mediator of justice . . . and that by his merits he obtains us all graces and salvation; . . . (pp. 156-157)
St. Bonaventure: “As the moon, which stands between the sun and the earth, transmits to this latter whatever it receives from the former, so does Mary pour out upon us who are in this world the heavenly graces that she receives from the divine sun of justice” . . . it is our Lord, as in the head, from which the vital spirits (that is, divine help to obtain eternal salvation) flow into us, who are the members of the mystical body . . . (pp. 159-160)
. . . the mediation of Christ alone is absolutely necessary; . . . (p. 162)
Whoever places his confidence in a creature independently of God, he certainly is cursed by God; for God is the only source and dispenser of every good, and the creature without God is nothing, and can give nothing. But if our Lord has so disposed it, . . . (p. 174)
Jesus now in heaven sits at the right hand of the Father . . . He has supreme dominion over all, and also over Mary . . . (p. 179)
“Be comforted, O unfortunate soul, who hast lost thy God,” says St. Bernard; “thy Lord himself has provided thee with a mediator, and this is his Son Jesus, who can obtain for thee all that thou desirest. He has given thee Jesus for a mediator; and what is there that such a son cannot obtain from the Father?”
. . . If your fear arises from having offended God, know that Jesus has fastened all your sins on the cross with his own lacerated hands, and having satisfied divine justice for them by his death, he has already effaced them from your souls . . . ” . . . What do you fear, O ye of little faith? . . . But if by chance,” adds the saint, “thou fearest to have recourse to Jesus Christ because the majesty of God in him overawes thee — for though he became man, he did not cease to be God — and thou desirest another advocate with this divine mediator, go to Mary, for she will intercede for thee with the Son, who will most certainly hear her; and then he will intercede with the Father, who can deny nothing to such a son.” (pp. 200-201)
Does this sound like the Catholic Church places Mary “above God,” or that she “can manipulate God,” or “can get things for Catholics from God the Father that Jesus can’t”? Hardly. The truth of the matter is plain to see. Protestants believe — based on their own theological and hermeneutical presuppositions (themselves not above all critique) — that the notion of Mediatrix is thoroughly unbiblical, and in fact, untrue. But they can’t prove that the Catholic system teaches it in such a way that God is lowered and Mary raised to a goddess-like status. That simply isn’t true, and even in the very book which is “notorious” in anti-Catholic circles for the most allegedly “extreme” remarks about Mary, we find many statements such as the above.
Now I’ll examine what it is that Dr. Gagnon objects to as allegedly “idolatrous” in Ubi Primum.
To my Catholic friends: I ask you in all seriousness, you don’t find it a tad excessive, bordering on worship, to speak of Mary as:
*The one to whom we pledge a “devotion” so great that “nothing has ever been closer to our heart”
*
None of it is worship or adoration. None of it detracts from God. It’s veneration, which has a biblical basis. Also, there is much flowery language: familiar to just about anyone who has had a sweetheart or spouse. We’ll say “I adore you” or “I’ll do anything for you.” “You are my everything” etc. And so Catholics will say very strong things like that to or about Mary, the highest creature God ever made, and the Mother of God the Son. Martin Luther, in his Commentary on the Magnificat (March 1521) understood devotion to and praise of Mary:
She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child. She herself is unable to find a name for this work, it is too exceeding great; all she can do is break out in the fervent cry, are great things,” impossible to describe or define. Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God. No one can say anything greater of her or to her, though he had as many tongues as there are leaves on the trees, or grass in the fields, or stars in the sky, or sand by the sea. It needs to be pondered in the heart, what it means to be the Mother of God. . . . she was without sin . . . (Luther’s Works, Vol. 21, 326-327)
***
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*The one to whom “glory” should “redound” in “everything” we do
*
Peter states that our “faith . . . may redound to praise and glory and honor” (1 Pet 1:7). There are many passages in the Bible about human beings receiving glory, by God’s design. Jesus said, “The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them” (Jn 17:22). Paul wrote, “we all, . . . beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor 3:18) and “God . . . calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess 2:12) and “he called you . . . so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess 2:14). Peter proclaimed: “the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Pet 4:14) and that God “called us to his own glory” (2 Pet 1:3). So Mary gets a lot of glory? Of course! Any of us can and should, and she was the Mother of God, after all. What better creature to receive lots of glory?
*
*The one to whom we should “always endeavor to do everything that would … promote her honor and encourage devotion to her”
*
The Bible either permits honor of persons or not. Of course it does. So it’s only a matter of degree. Protestants assume that this detracts from the honor of God, but it doesn’t. That doesn’t follow inexorably or logically. It’s just an old tired Protestant “either/or” false dichotomy. If it did, God wouldn’t have permitted us to honor other creatures. “Honor” appears 69 times in the NT in RSV. Many are referring to God, but many times it also refers to people. We’re to honor our parents (Mt 15:4) and prophets (Mk 6:4) and the humble (Lk 14:10).
*
God the Father honors those who follow His Son (Jn 12:26); “every one who does good” receives both “glory and honor” (Rom 2:10), other Christians are to be honored (Rom 12:10), and wives (1 Thess 4:4) and widows (1 Tim 5:3) and elders in the church (1 Tim 5:17) and “all men” (1 Pet 2:17) and the emperor (1 Pet 2:17). We honor Mary because God desires that (“all generations will call me blessed”: Lk 1:48; “Blessed are you among women”: Lk 1:42; “the mother of my Lord”: Lk 1:43). Even the angel Gabriel said “Hail Mary” to her (Lk 1:28).
*
*The one in whom we should have “great trust”
*
If God so ordains it, yes. Paul wrote that “servants of Christ” ought to be “trustworthy” (1 Cor 4:1-2). Paul described himself in the same way (1 Cor 7:25). We trust that Mary can aid us with her singularly powerful intercession, according to the very strong biblical motif of the prayers of the righteous availing much. The Mother of God, whom we believe to be without sin, certainly qualifies as one we can particularly trust.
*
*The one whose “merits” are a “resplendent glory … far exceeding all the choirs of angels”
*
Because she was sinless and immaculate, that’s true, and after all, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? . . . Do you not know that we are to judge angels?” (1 Cor 6:2-3). God “rewards” the faithful who “seek him” (Heb 11:6). Mary did this more than any other creature who ever lived. None of this is idolatry in the slightest. Your God is too small (to use an old book title, from J. B. Phillips). God isn’t threatened by His creatures receiving honor and merit and glory. It’s His will and design.
*
* The one whom God has “elevated to the very steps of his throne” (presumably along with Jesus at God’s right hand)
*
The steps to a throne are not the throne itself. Revelation 4:4 states: “Round the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders” (cf. 5:11; 11:16; 14:3). Revelation 5:6 even says that Jesus was “standing” near the Father’s throne, “among the elders” and 5:11 says that “thousands of thousands” of “angels” are also there (cf. 7:11, 15). Then we see “a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne” (Rev 7:9) and “harpers playing on their harps . . . before the throne” (Rev 14:2-3) and “the dead, great and small, . . . before the throne” (Rev 20:12).
*
Does that make all of them equal to him, too? Was St. John trying to convey idolatry? I don’t think so. But if someone wants to insist that everyone who gets close to God’s throne is equal to God, or that it is idolatry to take any note of them, then the 24 elders and all the rest must be equal to God, in that tunnel vision mentality, since they’re right there with Jesus. That’s absurd; therefore, the whole notion is, by reductio ad absurdum. We have hundreds of thousands of creatures before God’s throne, right in the Bible, but Mary somehow can’t be? It’s ludicrous and most unbiblical.
*
*The one whose “foot has crushed the head of Satan” (I thought that was Jesus’ job)
*
This probably refers to Genesis 3:15, which was mistakenly translated as “she” by a later copyist of the Vulgate, and thus was thought to refer to Mary, the “second Eve” (e.g., by Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory the Great, and others). Dom Bernard Orchard’s Catholic Commentary of 1953 noted that St. Jerome cited the passage in another work with the masculine pronoun, thus showing that the error was from a later copyist, not from him. Moreover, many manuscripts of the Vulgate have ipse rather than ipsa (feminine). Barnes’ Notes on the Bibleconcurs with this judgment:
The Vulgate also, in what was probably the genuine reading, “ipse” (he himself) points to the same meaning. The reading “ipsa” (she herself) is inconsistent with the gender of the Hebrew verb, and with that of the corresponding pronoun in the second clause (his), and is therefore clearly an error of the transcriber.
The Catholic Church doesn’t claim that every pope must be a first-rate exegete or translator of the Bible. Protestants acknowledge certain Bible passages that are of questionable authenticity, too. These things happen. But — that said — one can also say that Mary made this crushing possible by bearing the Messiah and Savior of the world. That was her contribution to the way being made for mankind to be saved. She was a key participant in God’s plan for salvation.
*
*The sole mediator “set up between Christ and His Church” (I thought there was just one mediator between God and humans)
*
The role of Mediatrix is secondary and non-essential. We believe that this was the arrangement that God set up. There is much indication of secondary conduits of grace in the Bible. God clearly uses many human beings as mediators. We pray for each other. Moses interceded and “atoned” for the Jews in the wilderness, and God decided not to destroy them (Ex 32:30). If Moses could successfully intercede on behalf of an entire sinful and disobedient group, and if Abraham’s prayer could spare his nephew Lot (and potentially Sodom and Gomorrah also, if enough righteous men had been found there: Genesis 18:20-32), why is it so remarkable that God would choose to involve Mary in intercession and distribution of graces to an entire sinful and disobedient group (mankind)?
*
If one thing can occur, so can the other (so one might make a biblical argument from analogy). Paul states that he can help “save” people (1 Cor 9:22) and refers to his “stewardship of God’s grace” (Eph 3:2; cf. 2 Cor 4:15). Peter says that we can all do that for each other (1 Pet 4:10). Paul informs Timothy that he can “save” both himself and his “hearers” (1 Tim 4:16; cf. 1 Cor 7:16; James 5:20; 1 Pet 3:1), and teaches that God uses preaching and spouses to save people (1 Cor 1:21; 7:16; cf. 1 Pet 3:1). James says that we can help convert others (Jas 5:19-20).
*
God can do whatever He wants! It is written in the Psalms and prophets that God could raise up a rock or a tree to sing His praises, if stubborn men refuse to do so. God used a donkey (Balaam’s ass) to speak and express His will once. He appeared in a burning bush and in a cloud. He chose to come to earth as a baby! Why should anything He does or chooses to do surprise us, or make us wonder in befuddlement? The ending of Job makes this clear enough. His thoughts are as far above ours as the stars are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9). None of this Catholic belief is in conflict with biblical teaching; though it’s not explicitly taught. It’s in harmony with what we know.
*
*The one who “always has delivered the Christian people from their greatest calamities and … all their enemies, ever rescuing them”
*
*The one who is “the foundation of all our confidence”
*
These go back to the principle of the righteous person’s prayers having great power. If indeed Mary was the most holy person, her prayers would have the most power, based on what James taught, just as Moses, Abraham, Samuel, Daniel, and other holy people bailed out the ancient Israelites over and over again.
*
*The one who, “through her efficacious intercession with God,” delivers “her children” even from “the punishments of God’s anger”
*
Oh, you mean like Moses did?:
Numbers 11:1-2 And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes; and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. [2] Then the people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire abated.
*
Numbers 14:17-20 And now, I pray thee, let the power of the LORD be great as thou hast promised, saying, [18] `The LORD is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.’ [19] Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray thee, according to the greatness of thy steadfast love, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” [20] Then the LORD said, “I have pardoned, according to your word;
If Moses already did it, why is it unthinkable that Mary could do the same?
*
*The one to whom “God has committed the treasury of all good things”
*
God can do that; no problem. Do Protestants wish to argue that God couldn’t possibly do it? He delegates tasks to human beings all the time. Nothing in this (as with everything else here) is contrary to the teachings of Scripture. It’s not proven from Scripture, either, but it’s not contradictory to it, and so can’t be ruled out as a possibility.
*
*The one through whom is “obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation … everything”
*
As the pope explained in the next sentence: “For this is His will, that we obtain everything through [not, by, or from] Mary.” I can think of analogies. God seemed to do virtually everything through Moses when he was around, and through Peter, when he led the early Church, and Paul when he was at the forefront of evangelism to the Gentiles. If God chooses to use Mary to extend His grace and salvation, who are we to object? So critics say it’s not spelled out in the Bible? Neither are sola Scriptura or sola fide (and both are contradicted numerous times). The New Testament canon is not in the Bible anywhere, yet it’s believed. So we don’t buy this line that everything Protestants believe is explicit in the Bible. That has never been true.
*
To which I say: What’s left for Jesus in terms of adoration, devotion, and functions?
*
Everything that was there all along, as St. Alphonsus constantly reiterated: as documented above. Protestants simply can’t see past their relentless false dichotomies. Catholics have much more faith, and reason, and we worship a bigger God, Who can and does use His creatures in extraordinary ways.
*
I thought our greatest devotion should be to Jesus.
*
Of course. That’s why St. Alphonsus wrote about Jesus’ “precious blood in which alone is our salvation, life, and resurrection” and that “Jesus our Redeemer” was the one Who “came into the world only to save us poor creatures” and that “Jesus Christ is our only Saviour, and that he alone by his merits has obtained and obtains salvation for us” and that Jesus’ blood “suffices to save an infinity of worlds” and that “No one denies that Jesus Christ is our only mediator of justice, and that he by his merits has obtained our reconciliation with God” and that “God is the source of every good, and the absolute master of all graces; and that Mary is only a pure creature, who receives whatever she obtains as a pure favor from God” and that “He has supreme dominion over all, and also over Mary.”
*
And this is the book usually considered the most outrageously “idolatrous.” It has a Christology identical to that of Protestantism. Blessed Pope Pius IX was speaking in a way similar to St. Alphonsus. I have defended other commonly trashed Marian devotees and devotions as well:
That he is the object of our great trust. That it is his glory that we should most seek. That he is the foundation of our every confidence. That it is he who has rescued us from all our troubles and punishments. That he was the one who crushed Satan’s head. That he was the sole mediator between God and his church. That in him is found the treasury of all good things. That it is his efficacious intercession at God’s right hand that achieves our deliverance. That it is through him that we have obtained salvation.
*
Indeed: as the quotes I just gave and many more assert.
*
You really don’t find this excessive, a swallowing up of everything that the NT witness attributes to Jesus?
*
Not at all, if it is actually understood. That’s the key. Not a single prerogative of Jesus is removed by veneration of Mary and God’s use of her to distribute His self-originated grace, by His plan. We already know from the Bible that God does many amazing things with human beings, that might seem at first glance to be idolatrous also, or to blur the line between man and God. St. Paul implies that believers even while on the earth can achieve “the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col 1:9) and can obtain “all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, of Christ” (Col 1:10).
*
And they “shall be like” Jesus (1 Jn 3:2) and fully “united to the Lord” and “one spirit with him” (1 Cor 6:17). Saints in heaven will be “filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph 3:19) and “the fulness of Christ” (Eph 4:13) and will be fully “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4) and totally free of and from sin (Rev 19:8; 21:8, 27; 22:14-15).
*
We’re “equal to” angels after death, according to Jesus (Lk 20:36), and “like angels” (Mt 22:30; Mk 12:25). Moreover, there is the whole theology of God indwelling us. We’re described as “God’s temple” (1 Cor 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:22). God “will live in” us (2 Cor 6:16). He’s “in” us (1 Jn 3:24; 4:4). God “abides in” us (1 Jn 3:24; 4:12-13, 15-16). Jesus abides in us (Jn 6:56; 15:4), and He is “in” us (Jn 14:20; 17:23; Rom 8:10; Col 1:27). He dwells in our “hearts” (Eph 3:17). The Holy Spirit is “within” us (Ezek 37:14). He’s “with” us (Jn 14:16), “dwells” “in” or “with” us (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11; 1 Cor 3:16), and is in our “hearts” (2 Cor 1:22; 3:3; Gal 4:6). As Jesus noted, the Law even described human beings as “gods” (Jn 10:33-36).
*
If all that can occur and is explicitly laid out in Holy Scripture, and doesn’t interfere with God’s utter transcendence, then I submit that our Marian doctrines — consistent with all of the realities above — do nothing at all to undermine God, either. It’s only erroneously thought that they do because almost all of the Protestants who protest the loudest don’t make any effort to try to understand these many factors that I have addressed, within the overall context of Catholic theology.
*
And such loud critics could hardly comprehend these things even if (and it’s a huge “if”!) they were willing to do so: having discarded not only virtually all of Mariology, but also the entire communion of saints over 500 years ago now, so that they think very differently from even the first Protestant leaders. Martin Luther, for example, believed in the perpetual virginity of Mary; even her virginity in partu (a physical virgin during Jesus’ birth], used the phrase, “Mother of God” and accepted some form of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption his entire life: so Lutheran scholars inform us. How scandalously “Catholic” of him!
*
I welcome any corrections from my FB Catholic friends if I am misreading these encyclicals . . .
*
Glad to provide that service!
*
I think I may have been a little naive about the possibility of having differing opinions about Mariology from the standpoint of official Catholic teaching.
*
This goes to show that Dr. Gagnon is inadequately acquainted and informed, not only with regard to Catholic Mariology, but also the practice of issuing anathemas. In a recent paper in reply to Reformed Baptist Gavin Ortlund, I made an extended argument showing that Protestants do essentially the same thing. For example, Martin Luther wrote in July 1522:
I now let you know that from now on I shall no longer do you the honor of allowing you – or even an angel from heaven – to judge my teaching or to examine it. . . . I shall not have it judged by any man, not even by any angel. For since I am certain of it, I shall be your judge and even the angels’ judge through this teaching (as St. Paul says [I Cor. 6:3 ]) so that whoever does not accept my teaching may not be saved – for it is God’s and not mine. Therefore, my judgment is also not mine but God’s. (Against the Spiritual Estate of the Pope and the Bishops Falsely So-Called, in Luther’s Works, Vol. 39; citation from pp. 248-249, my italics; see much more along these lines from Luther).
I also observed:
Luther casually assumed that Protestant opponents of his like Zwingli, who denied the Real Presence in the Eucharist, were likely damned as a result. Luther and Calvin and Melanchthon approved of drowning Anabaptists as heretics and seditious persons because they believed in adult baptism. Thus they would have approved of Gavin Ortlund and James White (and myself, earlier in life) being executed. The early Protestants were extremely intolerant of each other, with many mutual anathemas exchanged. I could go on at great length about this, but I think my point of comparison and double standards is sufficiently established. If one wants to go after a specific aspect of Catholicism that also occurs in Protestantism, then the criticism ought to be fair and across the board, not cynically selective and one-sided, as if only Catholics ever do this.
Dr. Gagnon made more observations in the lively combox:
*
This is the kind of adulation that borders on, if not actually already enters into, worship. Worship consists of giving supreme honor to another. All of these statements sure sound like giving supreme honor to Mary, the kind of honor that in the throne room of God in the Book of Revelation is reserved for God and the Lamb of God. Mary is not even mentioned in those throne room scenes, to say nothing of being the object of devotion and praise.
*
The language of complete devotion and glory, the functions, and privileges most certainly encroaches on the realm of Christ. It is a Mary cult, it seems to me. You should go all the way and make her the co-redemptrix and mediatrix of graces, for that is where this all leads.
*
Yes, we do do that. I have defended it many times from the Bible and Church history:
Mary Mediatrix and the Church Fathers (+ Documentation That James White Accepts the Scholarship of the Protestant Church Historians I Cite [J. N. D. Kelly and Philip Schaff] ) [9-7-05]
This goes well beyond your rationalizing it away. The words in this papal encyclical represent a Mary Cult pure and simple. This is not an extemporaneous moment of getting carried away. It should be offensive to anyone who embraces the singular exaltation of Christ in the NT. This was not some kid off the street using this language. It was the Pope in an encyclical preparatory to another encyclical declaring loss of salvation for anyone who did not embrace the dogma of the Immaculate Reception. That so many of my Catholic FB friends do not denounce it is concerning. This is not about “really loving Jesus’ mama.” It is about arrogating to her devotion, honor, glory, privileges, and functions that in the NT witness are reserved exclusively for Jesus.
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Mary is perhaps the greatest of all female disciples in being honored to bear the Son of God and be the mother of the Messiah. But her role beyond that is virtually non-existent in the rest of the NT canon. She certainly does not exercise any of the prerogatives of the Messiah, or intercession, or cultic devotion. It is not vitriol toward Mary but rightly biblically based critique of the misappropriation of Mary as an object of devotion that rivals or surpasses Christ (read the papal encyclical above regarding what is said about Mary); and all the made-up doctrine that has no basis in first-century Christianity and the Scriptures that is then used to exclude others from the Kingdom who don’t share these unbiblical views of Mary.
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There is no way that Jesus or the apostles in the NT would have supported such a Mary cult. They certainly could have promoted it, if they had wished to do so.
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Pretty much all of it is over the top. But at least I found one reasonable Catholic who thinks “some of this is over the top.”
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Photo credit: The Ghent Altarpiece: Virgin Mary (detail; bet. 1426-1429), by Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
Summary: Protestant NT scholar Robert Gagnon made the accusation that Blessed Pope Pius IX engaged in massive idolatry (Mariolatry) in his 1849 decree, Ubi Primum. I defend it.
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