in this video i want to look at the blessed virgin mary in the bible and quran from a slightly more
academic uh perspective on a first reading of the gospels matthew mark luke and john it's tempting
to take these stories at face value here are ancient texts that tell us what mary the mother
of jesus said and did the historical reliability is usually assumed without question and this
way of reading the gospels has been the norm in christian churches for the past two thousand years
these days however such a reading of the gospels is no longer possible as we have seen in previous
videos there are four gospels matthew mark luke and john and each has a different picture of jesus
and his teaching it's illuminating to apply the same methodology to the gospel portraits of the
virgin mary that we have seen employed with such powerful effect concerning the gospel portraits
of jesus so i want to examine how the gospel writers depict mary the mother of jesus and
then i'm going to go on to the quran the earliest surviving gospel that of mark portrays mary along
with jesus brothers in a negative light placing them literally outside the circle of those who
make up his family which is based on faith if you look at mark chapter 3 verses 20 onwards it says
and the crowd came together again so that they could not even eat when his family heard it they
went out to restrain him for people were saying he has gone out of his mind and the scribes came down
from jerusalem said he has beelzebub as a demon and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons
and jesus called them to him and said and spoke to them in parables how come satan cast out satan
if a kingdom is divided against itself that kingdom cannot stand and if a house is divided
against itself that house will not be able to stand and if satan has risen up against
himself and is divided he cannot stand but his end has come but no one can enter a strong man's house
and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man then indeed the house can be
plundered truly i tell you people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter
but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit can never be forgiven but is guilty of an eternal sin
for they have said he has an unclean spirit then his mother and his brothers came and standing
outside they sent sent to him and called him a crowd was sitting around him and they said to
him your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside asking for you and jesus replied who are
my mother and my brothers and looking at those who sat around him he said here are my mother
and my brothers whoever does the will of god is my brother and sister and mother end quote
the scholarly consensus is that mark was the first to be written matthew and luke then used markers
as source as well as a hypothetical saying source known as q q is the first letter of the german
word quell meaning source i think this is the most plausible explanation although a few scholars
still disagree so matthew relies on mark as one of his sources but he clearly thought
mark was inadequate and complete because sometimes matthew paraphrases mark sometimes
he deliberately alters mark and this shows us that for mark so for matthew the facts could be
changed to enhance his message a good example of this change is to note how matthew improves
the negative portrayal of jesus mother and brothers in mark in the latter in mark they
are shown as outsiders who think jesus is mad and they repeatedly fail to understand jesus message
matthew however has a very different positive picture perhaps wanting to show the disciples
as good role models for christians he is happy to change mark's narrative to fit his viewpoint
he omits mark's negative story where mary and the brothers all try to restrain jesus because they
thought he was out of his mind so it is clear that there has been some development in the way
mary is portrayed in the gospels in matthew's gospel mark's negative betrayal is eliminated
luke unlike mark also presents a highly positive portrait of mary and this is the gospel that
catholics often go to for their devotions and understanding when they're praying the rosary
for example it's luke's picture of a narrative of mary that they focus and reflect on in the scene
parallel to marx with the brothers in the house she is now included in the eschatological family
those who hear the word of god and do it just look up luke chapter 8 verse 19 20 and 21
luke like matthew omits the embarrassing and offensive passage in mark chapter 3 verse 20 21
in a groundbreaking ecumenical study a team of roman catholic anglican and protestant scholars
collaborated in producing this agreed statement on mary's called mary in the new testament edited by
some quite famous names if you know new testament studies raymond brown joseph fitzmeyer and others
and this was published uh some years ago but i want to share with you their conclusions so
this is quite unusual it has a roman catholic and protestant and anglican agreed statement on mary
historically these churches have been literally at war with each other but now they can come together
and produce this agreed consensus on the new testament's portrait of mary and they say in
matthew's form of the passage in mark which we've seen is not that different from marx they say
however it is not so much in the passage itself that matthew differs from mark but in the context
the introductory scene in mark chapter 3 verse 2021 in which his own think he is beside himself
out of his mind is completely absent presumably they say the omission was deliberate
and it can be understood if matthew interpreted marx his own to include jesus mother that's page
99 of the book the study concludes with this assessment of the synoptic gospels
depiction of mary in other words how matthew mark and luke portray mary the mother of jesus
we have spoken of a negative portrait of mary in the gospel of mark the principal
text text which leads to that conclusion is mark 3 20-35 in matthew and luke's parallels
to mark they give a rather different picture largely by modification of the mark and text
both evangelists dropped the harsh introduction in mark 3 20-21 luke goes further in softening
the marking picture by eliminating also the question of jesus who are my mother and brothers
and by transferring the beelzebub controversy to another place entirely in luke chapter 11.
thus in the synoptic depiction of mary during jesus ministry we have a development from the
negative estimation of mark to the positive one of luke with matthew representing the middle term
that's page 286 of this book so just to conclude the that kind of academic uh scholarly appraisal
of the subject what are we to make then of the truth about mary now the gospel writers
contradict each other matthew and luke contradict or disagree with mark what has god reliably told
us about the mother of jesus and how are we to find out unfortunately the new testament gospels
are not a reliable source of information at this point for its reasons they say different things
muslims as we move on to the quran now muslims uh hold mary in the highest regard
a chapter in the quran itself is named after her surah maryam or mary the surah
about mary in fact believe it or not the quran refers to mary more often than the bible does
in surah 3 42 it states the angel said to mary mary god has chosen you and made you pure he
has chosen you above all women interesting so the quran absolutely agrees with shall we say luke's
portrait of of a woman who is all generations will call me blessed that's a quote from luke's gospel
the quran agrees with that high estimation of mary but disagrees with mark's uh negative portrait of
mary so how can muslims navigate the way through the gospels what is the truth about mary how does
the chronic revelation see itself in relation to the bible and this is a really interesting point
i think god speaks to his prophet muhammad in the quran saying and unto thee o prophet
we have vouchsafed this divine writ in other words the quran setting forth the truth
confirming the truth or whatever there still remains of earlier revelations and
determining what is true therein judge then between the followers of earlier revelation
in accord with what is true herein sorry which we've got god has bestowed on high
and do not follow their errant views forsaking the truth that has come unto thee that's surah 5 48.
so um that is the quran's view but there's a further verse i just want to read to you which uh
has been a source of misunderstanding but i think also is a fruitful insight into this whole issue
in sir number five the feast verse 116 it says when god says jesus son of mary did you say to
people take me and my mother as two gods alongside god he will say may you be exalted i would never
say what i had no right to say if i had said such a thing you would have known it you know
all that is within me though i do not know what is within you you alone have full knowledge of things
unseen i told them only what you commanded me to worship god my lord and your lord
i think it's very interesting here because uh christians not only follow luke's gospel most
christians follow a more catholic understanding say as we see in the catholic church
and in the orthodox church and they have exalted her with uh great titles as mother of god spouse
of the holy spirit spouse means husband or wife literally the husband or wife of god queen of the
universe that's another popular title in catholic devotions so she has acquired i would argue and
the crown seems to say this a status as a divinity now formal catholic theology will tell you she is
not a divinity i want to be quite clear about that but i think what the quran is doing and i i think
i see the point here is that in practice in the prayer and the liturgies and the language used of
her that prayer is directed to her petitions the helmet hail mary full of grace blessed art thou
among women blesses the fruit of thy womb jesus these are actual prayers addressed to mary as uh
as mother of god and i say she's called the queen of the universe spouse of the holy spirit ex and
many many many other titles so the quran is saying here is rebuking uh implicitly those christians
who take mary and jesus as two gods alongside gods you have god the father the creator of
the universe but you also have an effect mary treated as divinity and her son also is proclaimed
as a divinity and you see this in iconography in orthodox churches and statues you will see
particularly in the there's stunning orthodox icons you'll see mary and jesus very often portray
you and see the father portrayed and they and and those icons are prayed to and kissed and venerated
as well so they are two gods alongside god i think the quran is using rhetorical language to uh
criticize and deconstruct this kind of doxological prayer and liturgy that christians indulge in
so there's not meant to be a a forensic study of christian theology this is as he says to
jesus did you jesus then god says jesus did you say to people take me and my mother as two gods
alongside god well of course not jesus didn't say that he said worship god alone but christians
unfortunately have uh corrupted and changed that teaching and included when i say christians of
course i'm not referring to evangelicals you do not in any way shape or form worship mary
but most christians today and throughout history have been of a more catholic persuasion
and they do invoke her in prayer they do pray to her they uh supplicate to her they invoke her
as the queen of heaven and as the mother of god and i think that's what the quran is criticizing
them for doing so i think that kind of sums up my my view all too briefly there's so much more
i could have said uh rush through a little bit they just want to give you a more academic uh
contribution towards this discussion uh uh from new testament scholars themselves and
i think the fascinating contribution from the quran as to mary's true status as a pure
noble woman but not as a divinity a quasi-divinity or natural divinity until next time