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Deification: The Mariology of the Ordinary Faithful

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Sarah Jane Boss
Sarah Jane Boss*
Affiliation:
Department of Humanitites, University of Roehampton, London, SW15 5PU
*
sarah.boss@roehampton.ac.uk
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Abstract

Popular devotion to the Virgin Mary can often be understood as implying a doctrine of deification, that is, of becoming perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. The Mother of God herself is the primary example of the deified person, and she in turn assists her devotees in their own process of becoming deified. The doctrine of deification articulated by Maximus the Confessor and John Scotus Eriugena provides an account that explains particularly well the theology implicit in much Marian devotion, and this is illustrated by two sets of examples, namely, devotional texts concerning the in partu virginity, and devotional practices at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Keywords

DeificationMariologyDevotionin partu VirginityImmaculate ConceptionWisdomLourdes
Type
Original Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 98 , Issue 1074 , March 2017 , pp. 188 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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References

1 Eadmeri Monachi Cantuariensis Tractatus de Conceptione Sanctae Mariae, ed. Thurston, H. and Slater, P., (Freiburg‐im‐Breisgau: Herder, 1904), 1–2Google Scholar. Trans. Tessa Frank and Sarah Jane Boss.

2 Eadmeri Tractatus, 4.

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14 The following section includes material from Sarah Jane Boss, Mary (London: Continuum, 2004), pp.52‐55.

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17 Eriugenae, Iohannis Scotti Periphyseon (De Divisione Naturae), Book 1 [Latin text with English translation], ed. Sheldon‐Williams, I.P. with Bieler, Ludwig, (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1968), pp.52–57Google Scholar; Maximos the Confessor: On Difficulties in the Church Fathers: The Ambigua, Vol.1, Greek text and English translation by Constas, Nicholas (Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 2014), 7 (26‐27), pp.110‐1Google Scholar15.

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21 Jugie, Theophanes, Sermo, p.94.

22 Jugie, Theophanes, Sermo, p.93.

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