tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7155226280212467063.post1523037700663421090..comments2024-03-05T06:16:30.628-06:00Comments on Mary and Mariology: Fear of Death in Narratives of the Dormition of MaryServant of Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13686441055922333147noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7155226280212467063.post-27080376243730006122012-04-14T18:56:22.249-05:002012-04-14T18:56:22.249-05:00Thank you so much for bringing this point up--yes!...Thank you so much for bringing this point up--yes! I think that Mary's attitude toward death is probably one of the most important elements of these stories, just as important as what they say about what happened to her soul and body after death. It goes along with what I think is happening in the stories and sermons generally about exploring what death means in the context of the resurrection: even Mary, who witnessed the death and resurrection of her Son, still confronts death with (in some stories at least) a fair degree of anxiety. As you suggest, I think also that these stories give us a fair glimpse into the anxieties that late antique Christians had about what would happen to their souls at death. Interestingly, though, Mary's fears have more to do with her passage as such than her destination. She worries about being attacked or seeing the prince of darkness, not whether she is going to heaven.<br /><br />RLFBServant of Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13686441055922333147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7155226280212467063.post-74621345420882864922012-04-12T21:22:55.117-05:002012-04-12T21:22:55.117-05:00CCF: Wow, you anticipated exactly the question I a...CCF: Wow, you anticipated exactly the question I asked in the comments for the previous post (which I just posted)! There must be something to the question. But then after giving some suggestive explanations for the differences, you “leave behind the differences in texts” (as I also would be forced to do, I think). So it must be that there is also something to both your and FL’s focus on the similarities over the discrepancies. Your three “reasons” for the common narrative elements seem perfectly reasonable to me, and convincing. Thus far, in class discussions, the “milder” doctrinal explanations for various narrative elements have been suggested. But the driving points that Professor Fulton Brown seems to want us to get have to do more with central, pivotal theology. I wonder if there are even more “pivotal” theological points of this sort in your three motifs. Nice synthesis of themes in the readings.<br />~TAServant of Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13686441055922333147noreply@blogger.com