Abstract
After having heard and responded to lectures and discussions on the feminine movement, the place of womanhood and Mary in the Old and New Testament, her relationship to the roles of wife and mother and consecrated servant of the Lord, and then having considered woman's presence (or shall we say absence?) in the institutions of the Church, and finally having experienced Father Schmemann's masterful exposition of the Orthodox point of view, what more can one hope to say about Mary and womanhood? It would seem that the whole ground has been covered, and yet one of the fundamental questions has been simply alluded to and the answer has perhaps been taken for granted. The very title of the conference "Womanhood and Mary: Archetype of Mankind in the History of Salvation" is based on the presupposition that Mary is in a very special way a model for woman in her participation in the work of the Church to bring all men to salvation. (Parenthetically I might say here that since I consider the work of the Church in saving men to include all the spheres of life in which Christians operate, I have considered it unwise, and even unnecessary because of previous papers, to limit myself to what are considered strictly churchly roles in considering whether Mary can be a model for today's women in the Church.) And yet we must frankly admit that this idea is being challenged in our day as it never has been before.
Recommended Citation
Cole, William J. S.M.
(1975)
"Mary—An Answer to Woman's Role in the Church?,"
University of Dayton Review: Vol. 11:
No.
3, Article 12.
Available at:
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/udr/vol11/iss3/12
