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  

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