The film, Mary
(2024), is pregnant with intimations of the theological implications of her
unborn and then newly born son, Jesus. That story is of course well-known grace
á the Gospels, and the theology of agape love associated with that
faith narrative is at least available through the writings of Paul and many
later Christian theologians. What we know of Mary is much less, given that her
role in the Gospels is not central even though the heavy title, Mother of God,
has been applied to her without of course implying that she is the source of
God. The film, like the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church has done, endeavors
to “evolve the myth” by adding to Mary’s story even though the additions are
not meant to be taken as seriously as, for example, the Catholic doctrine that
Mary is assumed bodily into heaven. The movie comes closest to the magisterium
in suggesting that Mary’s birth is miraculous; the magisterium holds
that Mary is born without sin, and that Jesus inherited this because of the Incarnation
(i.e. God, rather than Joseph, impregnates Mary). Suffice it to say that the
perception of myth as static is the exception rather than rule; it is natural
for the human mind to work with myths such that they can evolve rather than
take them as given in a final form or extent. This is not to say that we should
focus on the faith narratives as if they were ends in themselves and thus
unalterable; rather, as the film demonstrates, religious transcendence is of
greater value.
The full essay is at "Mary."
