Oral Roberts University Digital Showcase College of Science and Engineering Faculty College of Science and Engineering Research and Scholarship 4-2016 Overshadowed by the Spirit: Mary, Mother of Our Lord, Prototype of Spirit-Baptized Humanity Sally J. Shelton Regent University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/cose_pub Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, and the Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Shelton, S. J. (2016). Overshadowed by the spirit: Mary, mother of our lord, prototype of spirit-baptized humanity (Order No. 10111438). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1798489538). This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Science and Engineering at Digital Showcase. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Science and Engineering Faculty Research and Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Digital Showcase. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Overshadowed by the Spirit: Mary, Mother of Our Lord, Prototype of Spirit-Baptized Humanity Submitted to Regent University School of Divinity In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theological Studies Sally Jo Shelton April 2016 School of Divinity Regent University This is to certify that the dissertation prepared by: Sally Jo Shelton entitled OVERSHADOWED BY THE SPIRIT: MARY, MOTHER OF OUR LORD, PROTOTYPE OF SPIRIT-BAPTIZED HUMANITY Has been approved by her committee as satisfactory completion of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved By: Amos Yong, PhD, Committee Chair Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA Dale Coulter, PhD, Committee Member Regent University School of Divinity, Virginia Beach, VA Elizabeth T. Groppe, PhD, Committee Member Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH April 2016 iii Copyright by Sally Jo Shelton 2016 OVERSHADOWED BY THE SPIRIT: MARY, MOTHER OF OUR LORD, PROTOTYPE OF SPIRIT-BAPTIZED HUMANITY ABSTRACT A major issue over which many Evangelicals differ from Roman Catholics is the status of Mary, Jesus’ mother. Evangelicals critique some of the Marian dogmas and practices as excesses that challenge with Christ’s sole mediation and eclipse the Spirit, while Catholics see Protestant neglect of Mary as potentially leading to failure to fully acknowledge Christ’s humanity and divinity. This dissertation attempts to bridge the gap between the Catholic and Evangelical Marys by proposing a Pentecostal Mary. After outlining the underlying pneumatic, ecumenical hermeneutic in the first chapter, in the next three I focus on the Scriptures related to Mary, including Matthean, Lukan, and Johannine literature. In the fifth to seventh chapters I survey Mary in relation to the Holy Spirit from the perspective of (1) selected theologians prior to the High Middle Ages including Ephrem of Syria, Jacob of Serugh, and Ildelfonsus of Toledo, (2) twelfth-century theologians including Hugh of Saint-Victor, Amadeus of Lausanne, and Hildegard of Bingen, and (3) modern theologians including Matthias Scheeben, Sergius Bulgakov, and Heribert Mühlen. The final chapter offers a theological construction of Mary as a prototype of Spirit-filled humanity, what might be called a “Spirit-Mariology” analogous in a limited way v to Spirit-Christology. This proposal has practical implications for life in the Spirit for all traditions, particularly the Spirit-anointing of women to fulfill their calling to motherhood and other ministries. Overshadowed by the Spirit, Mary is a model of Spirit-indwelt humanity analogous to the Spirit-humanity of Christ. “Full of grace” and of the Holy Spirit, Mary is supernaturalized such that, without the eradication of her human nature, she undergoes a transformation, first hidden, ultimately glorious, similar to Christ’s own transfiguration and glorification. Mary’s overshadowing by the Spirit—her sanctification, divinization, theosis—is prototypical of the eschatological fulfillment of all humanity docile to the Spirit of Christ. Transfiguration into God-likeness is a soteriological vision that all Christians can share as together they contemplate the overshadowing of the lowly maiden of Nazareth by the Spirit of the Most High God. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I must first acknowledge my Pentecostal parents, Grant H. Moore and Wilma Marie Moore, to whom I owe an incalculable debt. Their consecration to God as missionaries to the Susu and Baga peoples of Guinea (Conakry), West Africa, was my first example of joyful, faithful, sacrificial service to God. To the end of their lives, their desire was to be totally at God’s disposal. My husband James B. Shelton has been the greatest inspiration of my life. The hours we have spent over the years talking about the things of God have helped me to develop intellectually, and his shining example of faithful prayer, selfless generosity, and devoted service have challenged me spiritually. Our entry into the Catholic Church when our children were teenagers was a major impetus for my pursuit of further theological education and choice of topic for this dissertation. The deep divisions in the church caused in large part by mutual misunderstanding and distrust has been a source of great pain to us. Our constant prayer is that God will use us to help restore mutual love and understanding that the family of God may be of one heart and one mind. This dissertation reflects in large part my journey to better understand what the church teaches about Mary the mother of our Lord and why. I offer it with love to our families and friends as well as to the church and the academy with the prayer that it will encourage all to pursue holiness and truth even as vii Mary did, to understand the Christian life as essentially life in the Spirit, and to experience such a life themselves. There is no greater joy than to say yes to God, as Mary did, and to live our entire lives totally consecrated and yielded to the Spirit of God. I owe special thanks to my dissertation committee chair Amos Yong for his guidance and patience and to the other committee members, Dale Coulter and Elizabeth Groppe, for their helpful questions and insights. I am also deeply indebted to two brothers in the faith, Ralph Del Colle and Brother Jeffrey Gros, both of whom are now deceased, whose ecumenism, spirituality, and scholarship have greatly inspired me. I also owe thanks to my fellow Ph.D. aspirants whose friendship, courage, and determination during this time have been inspiring. Lisa Ward has been a special source of encouragement and friendship to me. Finally, I offer my thanks to my dean William Jernigan and my library colleagues at Oral Roberts University. The inter-library librarians at both Regent University and ORU who so efficiently acquired the materials I requested deserve special mention as well as the student assistants in the ORU library who scanned countless articles and essays for me. Only because of the support of my family, friends, and colleagues was I able to finish what I started. May Jesus Christ be praised! DEDICATION To James B. Shelton, my beloved husband. I could not have done this without you. To our children John and Grace Shelton, Joey Shelton, and Jenny and Raymond Foyer, and to our grandchildren. I consider it a high privilege to be your mother and grandmother. You make me proud. I love you forever and always. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.……………………………………………………………...vi DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………viii Chapter 1. The Problem of Mary: Towards Recovery from Excess and Neglect....1 A. Do “All Generations Call Me Blessed”?: The Mary Gap 1 1. The Catholic Mary 2 2. The Evangelical Mary 9 3. A Pentecostal Mary: A Proposal (with an Excursus on Spirit- Baptism) 20 B. “Mary Treasured All These Things in Her Heart”: Pneumatic Hermeneutic 34 1. Amos Yong’s Word-Spirit-Community Epistemology 34 2. Mary’s Pneumatic Hermeneutic 38 3. Bernard Lonergan’s Horizons and Conversion 43 C. “All These with One Accord”: Towards an Ecumenical Mary 51 1. Motivations 52 2. Impulses 54 3. Methodology 58 Chapter 2. Mary and the Spirit According to Matthew……………………………60 A. Orientation to Matthew 62 B. Genealogy (1:1–17) 64 C. Conception by the Holy Spirit (1:18–25) 75 x D. The Adoration of the Magi (2:1–12) 78 E. The Flight to Egypt and the Massacre of the Innocents (2:13–18) 80 Chapter 3. Mary and the Spirit According to Luke………………………………83 A. The Holy Spirit in the Lukan Corpus 84 B. The Annunciation to Mary (1:36–38) 91 1. Rejoice: Chaire 92 2. “You-Who-Have-Been-Graced”: Kecharitōmenē 93 3. “The Lord Is with You” 99 4. “How Will This Be?” 102 5. “The Holy Spirit Will Come upon You”: Epeleusetai 105 6. “The Power of the Most High Will Overshadow You”: Episkiasei 106 7. “Nothing Will Be Impossible with God” 109 8. “Let It Be”: Fiat 110 C. The Visitation (1:39–45) 112 D. The Magnificat (1:46–56) 116 E. The Birth and the Annunciation to the Shepherds (2:1–20) 122 F. The Presentation (2:21–40) 127 G. The Boy Jesus in the Temple (2:41–52) 129 H. Jesus’ Mother as Hearer and Doer of the Word (8:19–21) 132 I. Pentecost (Acts 1–2) 133 J. Conclusions 136 xi Chapter 4. Mary and the Spirit According to the Johannine Traditions………139 A. The New Creation (1:1–18) 139 B. Mary at Cana (2:1–12) 143 C. Mary at the Cross (19:25–27) 152 D. Mary of the Apocalypse (Rev. 12:1–11) 161 E. Conclusions 167 Chapter 5: Mary and the Spirit in the Fourth to Seventh Centuries…………..…172 A. Mary and the Spirit According to Ephrem of Syria 173 1. History and Hermeneutic 173 2. Theology 175 3. Summary 183 B. Mary and the Spirit According to Jacob of Serugh 184 1.