Albert Camus

Portrait from New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, 1957
Born	(1913-11-07)7 November 1913 Dréan, El Taref, French Algeria
Died	4 January 1960(1960-01-04) (aged 46) Villeblevin, Yonne, Burgundy, France
Era	20th century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Absurdism
Main interests	Ethics, Humanity, Justice, Love, Politics
Influenced by Plotinus, Augustine of Hippo, Søren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Karl Marx, Franz Kafka, Herman Melville, Friedrich Nietzsche, Simone Weil, Victor Hugo, Pascal Pia, George Orwell, André Gide, Max Stirner, Sigmund Freud, Lev Shestov, Jean-Paul Sartre
Influenced Thomas Merton, Jacques Monod, Jean-Paul Sartre, Orhan Pamuk, Mohsin Hamid, Richard Wright, Charles Bukowski, Paul Auster

Albert Camus (French pronunciation: [albɛʁ kamy] ( listen); 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French author, journalist, and philosopher. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. He wrote in his essay "The Rebel" that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom.

Although often cited as a proponent of existentialism, the philosophy with which Camus was associated during his own lifetime, he rejected this particular label.^[1] In an interview in 1945, Camus rejected any ideological associations: "No, I am not an existentialist. Sartre and I are always surprised to see our names linked..."^[2]

In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.^[3]

Camus was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times".^[4] He was the second-youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, after Rudyard Kipling, and the first African-born writer to receive the award.^[5] He is the shortest-lived of any Nobel literature laureate to date, having died in an automobile accident just over two years after receiving the award.

Early years[link]

Albert Camus was born on 7 November 1913 in Dréan (then known as Mondovi) in French Algeria to a Pied-Noir family.^[6] His mother was of Spanish descent and was half-deaf.^[7] His father Lucien, a poor agricultural worker, died in the Battle of the Marne in 1914 during World War I, while serving as a member of the Zouave infantry regiment. Camus and his mother lived in poor conditions during his childhood in the Belcourt section of Algiers.

In 1923, Camus was accepted into the lycée and eventually he was admitted to the University of Algiers. After he contracted tuberculosis (TB) in 1930, he had to end his football activities (he had been a goalkeeper for the university team) and reduce his studies to part-time. To earn money, he also took odd jobs: as private tutor, car parts clerk and assistant at the Meteorological Institute. He completed his licence de philosophie (BA) in 1935; in May 1936, he successfully presented his thesis on Plotinus, Néo-Platonisme et Pensée Chrétienne (Neo-Platonism and Christian Thought), for his diplôme d'études supérieures (roughly equivalent to an M.A. thesis).

Camus joined the French Communist Party in the spring of 1935, seeing it as a way to "fight inequalities between Europeans and 'natives' in Algeria." He did not suggest he was a Marxist or that he had read Das Kapital, but did write that "[w]e might see communism as a springboard and asceticism that prepares the ground for more spiritual activities."^[8] In 1936, the independence-minded Algerian Communist Party (PCA) was founded. Camus joined the activities of the Algerian People's Party (Le Parti du Peuple Algérien), which got him into trouble with his Communist party comrades. As a result, in 1937 he was denounced as a Trotskyite and expelled from the party. Camus went on to be associated with the French anarchist movement.

The anarchist André Prudhommeaux first introduced him at a meeting in 1948 of the Cercle des Étudiants Anarchistes (Anarchist Student Circle) as a sympathiser familiar with anarchist thought. Camus wrote for anarchist publications such as Le Libertaire, La révolution Proletarienne and Solidaridad Obrera (Workers' Solidarity, the organ of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT (National Confederation of Labor)). Camus stood with the anarchists when they expressed support for the uprising of 1953 in East Germany. He again allied with the anarchists in 1956, first in support of the workers’ uprising in Poznań, Poland, and then later in the year with the Hungarian Revolution.

In 1934, he married Simone Hie, a morphine addict, but the marriage ended as a consequence of infidelities on both sides. In 1935, he founded Théâtre du Travail (Worker's Theatre),^[9] renamed Théâtre de l'Equipe (Team's Theatre) in 1937. It lasted until 1939. From 1937 to 1939 he wrote for a socialist paper, Alger-Républicain. His work included an account of the peasants who lived in Kabylie in poor conditions, which apparently cost him his job. From 1939 to 1940, he briefly wrote for a similar paper, Soir-Republicain. He was rejected by the French army because of his TB.

In 1940, Camus married Francine Faure, a pianist and mathematician. Although he loved her, he had argued passionately against the institution of marriage, dismissing it as unnatural. Even after Francine gave birth to twins, Catherine and Jean, on 5 September 1945, he continued to joke to friends that he was not cut out for marriage. Camus conducted numerous affairs, particularly an irregular and eventually public affair with the Spanish-born actress Maria Casares. In the same year, Camus began to work for Paris-Soir magazine. In the first stage of World War II, the so-called Phoney War, Camus was a pacifist. In Paris during the Wehrmacht occupation, on 15 December 1941, Camus witnessed the execution of Gabriel Péri; it crystallized his revolt against the Germans. He moved to Bordeaux with the rest of the staff of Paris-Soir. In the same year he finished his first books, The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus. He returned briefly to Oran, Algeria in 1942.

Literary career[link]

During the war Camus joined the French Resistance cell Combat, which published an underground newspaper of the same name. This group worked against the Nazis, and in it Camus assumed the nom de guerre Beauchard. Camus became the paper's editor in 1943. He first met Sartre at the dress rehearsal of Sartre's play, The Flies, in June 1943. ^[10] When the Allies liberated Paris in August 1944, Camus witnessed and reported the last of the fighting. Soon after the event on 6 August 1945, he was one of the few French editors to publicly express opposition and disgust to the United States' dropping the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. He resigned from Combat in 1947 when it became a commercial paper. After the war, Camus began frequenting the Café de Flore on the Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris with Sartre and others. He also toured the United States to lecture about French thought. Although he leaned left, politically, his strong criticisms of Communist doctrine did not win him any friends in the Communist parties and eventually alienated Sartre.

In 1949 his TB returned and Camus lived in seclusion for two years. In 1951 he published The Rebel, a philosophical analysis of rebellion and revolution which expressed his rejection of communism. Upsetting many of his colleagues and contemporaries in France, the book brought about the final split with Sartre. The dour reception depressed Camus; he began to translate plays.

Camus's first significant contribution to philosophy was his idea of the absurd. He saw it as the result of our desire for clarity and meaning within a world and condition that offers neither, which he expressed in The Myth of Sisyphus and incorporated into many of his other works, such as The Stranger and The Plague. Despite his split from his "study partner", Sartre, some^[who?] still argue that Camus falls into the existentialist camp. He specifically rejected that label in his essay "Enigma" and elsewhere (see: The Lyrical and Critical Essays of Albert Camus). The current confusion arises in part because many recent applications of existentialism have much in common with many of Camus's practical ideas (see: Resistance, Rebellion, and Death). But, his personal understanding of the world (e.g. "a benign indifference", in The Stranger), and every vision he had for its progress (e.g. vanquishing the "adolescent furies" of history and society, in The Rebel) undoubtedly set him apart.

In the 1950s Camus devoted his efforts to human rights. In 1952 he resigned from his work for UNESCO when the UN accepted Spain as a member under the leadership of General Franco. In 1953 he criticized Soviet methods to crush a workers' strike in East Berlin. In 1956 he protested against similar methods in Poland (protests in Poznań) and the Soviet repression of the Hungarian revolution in October.

The monument to Camus built in the small town of Villeblevin, France where he died in an automobile accident on 4 January 1960

Camus maintained his pacifism and resisted capital punishment anywhere in the world. He wrote an essay against capital punishment in collaboration with Arthur Koestler, the writer, intellectual and founder of the League Against Capital Punishment.

The bronze plaque on the monument to Camus in the town of Villeblevin, France. The plaque reads: "From the General Council of the Yonne Department, in homage to the writer Albert Camus whose remains laid in vigil at the Villeblevin town hall on the night of 4 to 5 January 1960."

When the Algerian War began in 1954, Camus was confronted with a moral dilemma. He identified with the pied-noirs such as his own parents and defended the French government's actions against the revolt. He argued that the Algerian uprising was an integral part of the 'new Arab imperialism' led by Egypt and an 'anti-Western' offensive orchestrated by Russia to 'encircle Europe' and 'isolate the United States'.^[11] Although favouring greater Algerian autonomy or even federation, though not full-scale independence, he believed that the pied-noirs and Arabs could co-exist. During the war he advocated a civil truce that would spare the civilians, which was rejected by both sides, who regarded it as foolish. Behind the scenes, he began to work for imprisoned Algerians who faced the death penalty.

From 1955 to 1956, Camus wrote for L'Express. In 1957 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times", not for his novel The Fall, published the previous year, but for his writings against capital punishment in the essay "Réflexions sur la Guillotine" (Reflections on the Guillotine). When he spoke to students at the University of Stockholm, he defended his apparent inactivity in the Algerian question; he stated that he was worried about what might happen to his mother, who still lived in Algeria. This led to further ostracism by French left-wing intellectuals.

Revolutionary Union Movement and Europe[link]

As he wrote in L'Homme révolté (in the chapter about "The Thought on Baxter"), Camus was a follower of the ancient Greek 'Solar Tradition' (la pensée solaire). In 1947–48 he founded the Revolutionary Union Movement (Groupes de liaison internationale – GLI)^[8] a trade union movement in the context of revolutionary syndicalism (Syndicalisme révolutionnaire). According to Olivier Todd, in his biography, 'Albert Camus, une vie', it was a group opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton. For more, see the book Alfred Rosmer et le mouvement révolutionnaire internationale by Christian Gras.

His colleagues were Nicolas Lazarévitch, Louis Mercier, Roger Lapeyre, Paul Chauvet, Auguste Largentier, Jean de Boë (see the article: "Nicolas Lazarévitch, Itinéraire d'un syndicaliste révolutionnaire" by Sylvain Boulouque in the review Communisme, n° 61, 2000). His main aim was to express the positive side of surrealism and existentialism, rejecting the negativity and the nihilism of André Breton.

From 1943, Albert Camus had correspondence with Altiero Spinelli who founded the European Federalist Movement in Milan—see Ventotene Manifesto and the book "Unire l'Europa, superare gli stati", Altiero Spinelli nel Partito d'Azione del Nord Italia e in Francia dal 1944 al 1945-annexed a letter by Altiero Spinelli to Albert Camus.

In 1944 Camus founded the "French Committee for the European Federation" (Comité Français pour la Féderation Européene – CFFE) declaring that Europe "can only evolve along the path of economic progress, democracy and peace if the nation states become a federation."

From 22–25 March 1945, the first conference of the European Federalist Movement was organised in Paris with the participation of Albert Camus, George Orwell, Emmanuel Mounier, Lewis Mumford, André Philip, Daniel Mayer, François Bondy and Altiero Spinelli (see the book The Biography of Europe by Pan Drakopoulos). This specific branch of the European Federalist Movement disintegrated in 1957 after Winston Churchill's ideas about the European integration rose to dominance.

Death[link]

Camus died on 4 January 1960 at the age of 46 in a car accident near Sens, in Le Grand Fossard in the small town of Villeblevin. In his coat pocket was an unused train ticket. He had planned to travel by train with his wife and children, but at the last minute he accepted his publisher's proposal to travel with him.^[12]

Albert Camus' gravestone

The driver of the Facel Vega car, Michel Gallimard, his publisher and close friend, also died in the accident.^[13] In August 2011, the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera reported a theory that the writer had been the victim of a Soviet plot, but Camus biographer Olivier Todd did not consider it credible.^[14] Camus was buried in the Lourmarin Cemetery, Lourmarin, Vaucluse, France.

He was survived by his wife and twin children, Catherine and Jean, who hold the copyrights to his work.

Two of Camus's works were published posthumously. The first, entitled A Happy Death (1970), featured a character named Patrice Mersault, comparable to The Stranger's Meursault. There is scholarly debate as to the relationship between the two books. The second was an unfinished novel, The First Man (1995), which Camus was writing before he died. The novel was an autobiographical work about his childhood in Algeria.

Summary of absurdism[link]

Many writers have addressed the Absurd, each with his or her own interpretation of what the Absurd is and what comprises its importance. For example, Sartre recognizes the absurdity of individual experience, while Kierkegaard explains that the absurdity of certain religious truths prevent us from reaching God rationally. Camus regretted the continued reference to himself as a "philosopher of the absurd". He showed less interest in the Absurd shortly after publishing Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus). To distinguish his ideas, scholars sometimes refer to the Paradox of the Absurd, when referring to "Camus' Absurd".

His early thoughts appeared in his first collection of essays, L'Envers et l'endroit (The Two Sides Of The Coin) in 1937. Absurd themes were expressed with more sophistication in his second collection of essays, Noces (Nuptials), in 1938. In these essays Camus reflects on the experience of the Absurd. In 1942 he published the story of a man living an absurd life as L'Étranger (The Stranger). In the same year he released Le Mythe de Sisyphe (The Myth of Sisyphus), a literary essay on the Absurd. He also wrote a play about Caligula, a Roman Emperor, pursuing an absurd logic. The play was not performed until 1945.

The turning point in Camus' attitude to the Absurd occurs in a collection of four letters to an anonymous German friend, written between July 1943 and July 1944. The first was published in the Revue Libre in 1943, the second in the Cahiers de Libération in 1944, and the third in the newspaper Libertés, in 1945. The four letters were published as Lettres à un ami allemand (Letters to a German Friend) in 1945, and were included in the collection Resistance, Rebellion, and Death.

Ideas on the Absurd[link]

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In his writings Camus presented the reader with dualisms: happiness and sadness, dark and light, life and death, etc. His aim was to emphasize the fact that happiness is fleeting and that the human condition is one of mortality. He did this not to be morbid, but to reflect a greater appreciation for life and happiness. In Le Mythe, this dualism becomes a paradox: We value our lives and existence so greatly, but at the same time we know we will eventually die, and ultimately our endeavours are meaningless. While we can live with a dualism (I can accept periods of unhappiness, because I know I will also experience happiness to come), we cannot live with the paradox (I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless). In Le Mythe, Camus was interested in how we experience the Absurd and how we live with it. Our life must have meaning for us to value it. If we accept that life has no meaning and therefore no value, should we kill ourselves?

In Le Mythe, Camus suggests that 'creation of meaning', would entail a logical leap or a kind of philosophical suicide in order to find psychological comfort. But Camus wants to know if he can live with what logic and lucidity has uncovered – if one can build a foundation on what one knows and nothing more. Creation of meaning is not a viable alternative but a logical leap and an evasion of the problem. He gives examples of how others would seem to make this kind of leap. The alternative option, namely suicide, would entail another kind of leap, where one attempts to kill absurdity by destroying one of its terms (the human being). Camus points out, however, that there is no more meaning in death than there is in life, and that it simply evades the problem yet again. Camus concludes, that we must instead 'entertain' both death and the absurd, while never agreeing to their terms.

Meursault, the absurdist hero of L'Étranger, has killed a man and is scheduled to be executed. Caligula ends up admitting his absurd logic was wrong and is killed by an assassination he has deliberately brought about. However, while Camus possibly suggests that Caligula's absurd reasoning is wrong, the play's anti-hero does get the last word, as the author similarly exalts Meursault's final moments.

Camus made a significant contribution to a viewpoint of the Absurd, and always rejected nihilism as a valid response.

"If nothing had any meaning, you would be right. But there is something that still has a meaning." Second Letter to a German Friend, December 1943.

Camus' understanding of the Absurd promotes public debate; his various offerings entice us to think about the Absurd and offer our own contribution. Concepts such as cooperation, joint effort and solidarity are of key importance to Camus, though they are most likely sources of 'relative' versus 'absolute' meaning.

Religious beliefs and absurdism[link]

While writing his thesis on Plotinus and Saint Augustine of Hippo, Camus became very strongly influenced by their works, especially that of St. Augustine. In his work, Confessions (consisting of 13 books), Augustine promotes the idea of a connection between God and the rest of the world. Camus identified with the idea that a personal experience could become a reference point for his philosophical and literary writings. Although he considered himself an atheist,^{[citation needed]} Camus later came to tout the idea that the absence of religious belief can simultaneously be accompanied by a longing for "salvation and meaning". This line of thinking presented an ostensible paradox and became a major thread in defining the idea of absurdism in Camus' writings.^[15]

Opposition to totalitarianism[link]

Throughout his life, Camus spoke out against and actively opposed totalitarianism in its many forms.^[16] Early on, Camus was active within the French Resistance to the German occupation of France during World War II, even directing the famous Resistance journal, Combat. On the French collaboration with Nazi occupiers he wrote: "Now the only moral value is courage, which is useful here for judging the puppets and chatterboxes who pretend to speak in the name of the people."^[17] After liberation, Camus remarked, "This country does not need a Talleyrand, but a Saint-Just."^[18] The reality of the bloody postwar tribunals soon changed his mind: Camus publicly reversed himself and became a lifelong opponent of capital punishment.^[18]

Camus' well-known falling out with Sartre is linked to this opposition to totalitarianism. Camus detected a reflexive totalitarianism in the mass politics espoused by Sartre in the name of radical Marxism. This was apparent in his work L'Homme Révolté (The Rebel) which not only was an assault on the Soviet police state, but also questioned the very nature of mass revolutionary politics. Camus continued to speak out against the atrocities of the Soviet Union, a sentiment captured in his 1957 speech, The Blood of the Hungarians, commemorating the anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, an uprising crushed in a bloody assault by the Red Army.

Football[link]

Camus was once asked by his friend Charles Poncet which he preferred, football or the theatre. Camus is said to have replied, "Football, without hesitation."^[19]

Camus played as goalkeeper for Racing Universitaire d'Alger (RUA won both the North African Champions Cup and the North African Cup twice each in the 1930s) junior team from 1928–30.^[20] The sense of team spirit, fraternity, and common purpose appealed to Camus enormously.^[21] In match reports Camus would often attract positive comment for playing with passion and courage. Any aspirations in football disappeared at age 17, upon contracting tuberculosis—then incurable, Camus was bedridden for long and painful periods.

When Camus was asked in the 1950s by an alumni sports magazine for a few words regarding his time with the RUA, his response included the following:

After many years during which I saw many things, what I know most surely about morality and the duty of man I owe to sport and learned it in the RUA.^[19]

Camus was referring to a sort of simplistic morality he wrote about in his early essays, the principle of sticking up for your friends, of valuing bravery and fair-play. Camus' belief was that political and religious authorities try to confuse us with over-complicated moral systems to make things appear more complex than they really are, potentially to serve their own needs.

Works[link]

Novels[link]

• The Stranger (L'Étranger, often translated as The Outsider) (1942)
• The Plague (La Peste) (1947)
• The Fall (La Chute) (1956)
• A Happy Death (La Mort heureuse) (written 1936–1938, published posthumously 1971)
• The First Man (Le premier homme) (incomplete, published posthumously 1995)

Short stories[link]

• Exile and the Kingdom (L'exil et le royaume) (collection) (1957)
  • "The Adulterous Woman" ("La Femme adultère")
  • "The Renegade or a Confused Spirit" ("Le Renégat ou un esprit confus")
  • "The Silent Men" ("Les Muets")
  • "The Guest" ("L'Hôte")
  • "Jonas or the Artist at Work" ("Jonas ou l’artiste au travail")
  • "The Growing Stone" ("La Pierre qui pousse")

Non-fiction books[link]

• Christian Metaphysics and Neoplatonism (1935)
• Betwixt and Between (L'envers et l'endroit, also translated as The Wrong Side and the Right Side) (Collection, 1937)
• Nuptials (Noces) (1938)
• The Myth of Sisyphus (Le Mythe de Sisyphe) (1942)
• The Rebel (L'Homme révolté) (1951)
• Notebooks 1935–1942 (Carnets, mai 1935 — fevrier 1942) (1962)
• Notebooks 1943–1951 (1965)
• Notebooks 1951–1959 (2008) Published as "Carnets Tome III : Mars 1951 – December 1959" (1989)

Plays[link]

• Caligula (performed 1945, written 1938)
• Requiem for a Nun (Requiem pour une nonne, adapted from William Faulkner's novel by the same name) (1956)
• The Misunderstanding (Le Malentendu) (1944)
• The State of Siege (L' Etat de Siege) (1948)
• The Just Assassins (Les Justes) (1949)
• The Possessed (Les Possédés, adapted from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel by the same name) (1959)

Essays[link]

• Create Dangerously (Essay on Realism and Artistic Creation) (1957)
• The Ancient Greek Tragedy (Parnassos lecture in Greece) (1956)
• The Crisis of Man (Lecture at Columbia University) (1946)
• Why Spain? (Essay for the theatrical play L' Etat de Siege) (1948)
• Reflections on the Guillotine (Réflexions sur la guillotine) (Extended essay, 1957)
• Neither Victims Nor Executioners (Combat) (1946)

Collected essays[link]

• Resistance, Rebellion, and Death (1961) – a collection of essays selected by the author.
• Lyrical and Critical Essays (1970)
• Youthful Writings (1976)
• Between Hell and Reason: Essays from the Resistance Newspaper "Combat", 1944–1947 (1991)
• Camus at "Combat": Writing 1944–1947 (2005)
• Albert Camus Contre la Peine de Mort (2011)

References[link]

• Albert Camus: A Biography (1979), by Herbert R. Lottman. University of Michigan

Further reading[link]

• Camus (1959), by Germaine Brée ISBN 1-122-01570-4
• Camus (1966), by Adele King ISBN 0-05-001423-4
• Camus: vida e obra (1970), by Vicente de Paulo Barretto.
• Albert Camus: A Biography (1997), by Herbert R. Lottman (ISBN 3-927258-06-7)
• Albert Camus and the Minister (2000), by Howard E. Mumma (ISBN 1-55725-246-7)
• Albert Camus, The Artist in the Arena (1965), by Emmett Parker (OCLC 342770)
• Albert Camus, A Study of His Work (1957), by Philip Malcolm Waller Thody (OCLC 342101)
• Albert Camus: A Life (2000), by Olivier Todd (ISBN 0-7867-0739-9)
• Albert Camus: Kunst und Moral, by Heiner Wittmann (ISBN 3-631-39525-6)
• Ethics and Creativity in the Political thought of Simone Weil and Albert Camus 2004, by Dr. John Randolph LeBlanc (ISBN 978-0-7734-6567-1)
• The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir (1954) Winner of the 1954 Goncourt Prize; Camus himself states that he is "the hero" of the book in his Notebooks 1951-1959.
• Camus, A Romance (2009), by Elizabeth Hawes (ISBN 978-0802118899)

Since 2009[link]

• (English) Heiner Wittmann : Sartre and Camus in Aesthetics. The Challenge of Freedom. Hrsg. v. Dirk Hoeges. Dialoghi/Dialogues. Literatur und Kultur Italiens und Frankreichs, Band 13, Frankfurt/M 2009 (ISBN 978-3-631-58693-8)
• Jacques Ferrandez, L'Hôte : D'après l'œuvre d'Albert Camus, éditions Gallimard-Jeunesse, Collection Fétiche, 13 novembre 2009, 62 pages, (ISBN 2-07-062870-1)
• José Lenzini, Les derniers jours de la vie d'Albert Camus, Éditions Actes Sud, Collection Romans et nouvelles, octobre 2009, (ISBN 2742786295)
• Dolorès Lyotard, Albert Camus contemporain, Éditions Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, Collection Objet, 218 pages, 5 novembre 2009, (ISBN 2757401114)
• Albert Camus et René Char, La Postérité du soleil, Éditions Gallimard, Collection Blanche, 20 novembre 2009, avec des photographies de Henriette Grindat, 79 pages, (ISBN 2070127788)
• Jeanyves Guérin, Dictionnaire Albert Camus, Éditions Robert Laffont, Collection Bouquins, 19 novembre 2009, 992 pages, (ISBN 2221-10734-8)
• Catherine Camus, Albert Camus, Solitaire et Solidaire, Éditions Michel-Lafon, 2009
• José Lenzini, Camus et l'Algérie, Éditions Édisud, Collection Les Écritures, 11 janvier 2010, 159 pages, (ISBN 2744908517)
• Virgil Tanase, Camus, Éditions Gallimard, Collection Folio Biographies, 21 janvier 2010, 410 pages, (ISBN 2070344320)
• Alain Vircondelet, Albert Camus, fils d’Alger, Éditions Fayard, 2010
• Jean-Luc Moreau, Camus l'intouchable, Polémiques et complicités, Éditions Écriture-Éd. Neige, 2010 (ISBN 978-2909240961)
• Ève Morisi, Albert Camus contre la peine de mort, préface de Robert Badinter, Éditions Gallimard, 6 octobre 2011, 351 pages, (ISBN 2070135543)
• (English) Brent C. Sleasman, Albert Camus's Philosophy of Communication: Making Sense in an Age of Absurdity, 2011 (ISBN 978-1604977912)

Articles and conferences[link]

• Heiner Wittmann, Camus et Sartre : deux littéraires-philosophes, conférence présentée lors d’une Journée d’études à la Maison Henri Heine sur la littérature et la morale, 15 décembre 2005
• Guy Dumur, Les silences d'Albert Camus, Médecine française, 1948
• Francis Jeanson, Albert Camus ou l'âme révoltée, Les Temps modernes, 1952
• Jean Négroni, Albert Camus et le théâtre de l'Équipe, Revue d'histoire du théâtre, 1960
• Pierre Nguyen-Van-Huy, La métaphysique du bonheur chez Albert Camus, Neuchâtel, La Baconnière, 1962
• Bernard Pingaud, La voix de Camus, La Quinzaine littéraire, 1971

Documents and testimonies[link]

• « L’ordre libertaire, la vie philosophique d’Albert Camus », de Michel Onfray, Flammarion, 596 pages, 2012
• Camus et Sartre, Amitié et combat, Aronson Ronald, éditions Alvik, 2005
• Albert Camus et l'Espagne, Édisud, septembre 2005
• Pierre Zima, L'indifférence romanesque : Sartre, Moravia, Camus, éditions L'Harmattan, mars 2005
• Albert Camus et les écritures algériennes. Quelles traces ?,Édisud, 2004
• Arnaud Corbic, Camus - L'absurde, la révolte, l'amour, Les Éditions de l'Atelier, 2003
• Albert Camus et les écritures du XXe siècle, Collectif, Artois Presse Université, 2003 (Colloque de Cergy 2002
• Audisio, Camus, Roblès, frères de Soleil, Collectif, Édisud, 2003
• En commune présence : Albert Camus et René Char, Collectif, édition Folle Avoine, 2003
• Écriture autobiographique et Carnets : Albert Camus, Jean Grenier, Louis Guilloux, Collectif, édition Folle Avoine, 2003
• Denis Salas, Albert Camus, la juste révolte, éditions Michalon, 2002
• Jacqueline Lévi-Valensi, Camus à Combat, Cahiers Albert Camus n°8, Gallimard, 2002
• Emmanuel Roblès, Camus, frère de soleil, éditions Le Seuil, 1995
• Histoire d'un livre : l'Etranger d'Albert Camus, Collectif, éditions Imec, 1991

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Albert Camus

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Albert Camus

• Albert Camus on In Our Time at the BBC. (listen now)
• Many books of Albert Camus available, in French, in Les Classiques des sciences sociales.
• Albert Camus' Week: Excerpts, articles, interviews and videos on the website of the Prague Writers' Festival
• Nobel Prize in Literature (1957) Link
• "Accidental Friends" the story of the Camus-Sartre friendship and very public breakup
• Interview with daughter Catherine – 3AM
• Another interview with daughter Catherine – Spike
• The Logic of Existential Meaning
• Albert Camus Society UK
• Université McGill: le roman selon les romanciers (French) Inventory and analysis of Albert Camus' non-novelistic writings
• Camus 'Bookweb' on literary website The Ledge, with suggestions for further reading.
• Camus Interview with Prof. Jean-Marie Apostolides, from the radio program Entitled Opinions
• Works by Albert Camus on Open Library at the Internet Archive
• (French) Pierre Michel, Albert Camus et Octave MirbeauPDF (640 KB)

Mary
The Madonna in Sorrow, by Sassoferrato, 17th century
Born	Unknown; celebrated 8 September[1]
Residence	Nazareth, Galilee
Nationality	Israelite, Roman Empire[2]
Ethnicity	Jewish
Spouse	Joseph[3]
Children	Jesus of Nazareth
Parents	(According to the Gospel of James, circa 2nd Century AD): Joachim and Anne[4]

Mary (Hebrew: מִרְיָם, Miriam; Aramaic: Maryām; Arabic:مريم, Maryam), variously called Saint Mary, Mother Mary, the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary, Mother of God, and, in Islam, as Maryam, mother of 'Isa, was a Jewish^[5] woman of Nazareth in Galilee who lived in the late 1st century BC and early 1st century AD, and is considered by Christians to be the first proselyte to Christianity. She is identified in the New Testament^{[Mt 1:16,18-25][Lk 1:26-56][2:1-7]} and in the Qur'an as the mother of Jesus through divine intervention. Jesus is viewed as the messiah—the Christ—in both traditions, giving rise to the common name of Jesus Christ.

The canonical gospels of Matthew and Luke describe Mary as a virgin (Greek παρθένος, parthénos).^[6] Traditionally, Christians believe that she conceived her son miraculously by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Muslims believe that she conceived by the command of God. This took place when she was already betrothed to Saint Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony.^[7] She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.^[3] In keeping with Jewish custom, the betrothal would have taken place when she was around 12, and the birth of Jesus about a year later.^[8]

The New Testament begins its account of Mary's life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. Church tradition and early non-biblical writings state that her parents were an elderly couple, Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. The Bible records Mary's role in key events of the life of Jesus from his conception to his Ascension. Apocryphal writings tell of her subsequent death and bodily assumption into heaven.

Christians of the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God (Μήτηρ Θεοῦ) and the Theotokos, literally Bearer of God. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity.^[9][10] Throughout the ages she has been a favorite subject in Christian art, music, and literature.

There is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Catholic Church has a number of Marian dogmas, such as the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Assumption of Mary. Catholics refer to her as Our Lady and venerate her as the Queen of Heaven and Mother of the Church; most Protestants do not share these beliefs.^[11][12] Many Protestants see a minimal role for Mary within Christianity, based on the brevity of biblical references.^[13]

In ancient sources[link]

New Testament[link]

The Annunciation by Eustache Le Sueur, an example of 17th century Marian art. The Angel Gabriel announces to Mary her pregnancy with Jesus and offers her White Lillies

The old Testament account of her humility and obedience to the message of God have made her an exemplar for all ages of Christians. Out of the details supplied in the New Testament by the Gospels about the maid of Galilee, Christian piety and theology have constructed a picture of Mary that fulfills the prediction ascribed to her in the Magnificat (Luke 1:48): "Henceforth all generations will call me blessed."

— "Mary." Web: 29Sep2010 Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

The English name "Mary" comes from the Greek Μαρία, which is a shortened form of Μαριάμ. The New Testament name was based on her original Hebrew name מִרְיָם or Miryam. Both Μαρία and Μαριάμ appear in the New Testament.^[14]

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is referred to by name fewer than twenty times in the New Testament.

Specific references[link]

• Luke's gospel mentions Mary most often, identifying her by name twelve times, all of these in the infancy narrative (1:27,30,34,38,39,41,46,56; 2:5,16,19,34).
• Matthew's gospel mentions her by name five times, four of these (1:16,18,20; 2:11) in the infancy narrative and only once (13:55) outside the infancy narrative.
• Mark's gospel names her only once (6:3) and mentions her as Jesus' mother without naming her in 3:31.
• John's gospel refers to her twice but never mentions her by name. Described as Jesus' mother, she makes two appearances in John's gospel. She is first seen at the wedding at Cana of Galilee^[Jn 2:1-12] which is mentioned only in the fourth gospel. The second reference in John, also exclusively listed this gospel, has the mother of Jesus standing near the cross of her son together with the (also unnamed) "disciple whom Jesus loved."^{[Jn 19:25-26]} John 2:1-12 is the only text in the canonical gospels in which Mary speaks to (and about) the adult Jesus.
• In the Book of Acts, Luke's second writing, Mary and the "brothers of Jesus" are mentioned in the company of the eleven who are gathered in the upper room after the ascension.^[Acts 1:14]
• In the Book of Revelation,^[12:1,5-6] John's apocalypse never explicitly identifies the "woman clothed with the sun" as Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus. However, some interpreters have made that connection.^[15]

Family and early life[link]

The New Testament tells little of Mary's early history. The 2nd century Protoevangelium of James is the first source to name her parents as Joachim and Anne.^[16]

According to Luke, Mary was a cousin of Elizabeth, wife of the priest Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah, who was herself part of the lineage of Aaron and so of the tribe of Levi.^{[Luke 1:5;1:36]} Some of those who consider that the relationship with Elizabeth was on the maternal side, consider that Mary, like Joseph, to whom she was betrothed, was of the House of David and so of the tribe of Judah, and that the genealogy of Jesus presented in Luke 3 from Nathan, third son of David and Bathsheba, is in fact the genealogy of Mary, while the genealogy from Solomon given in Matthew 1 is that of Joseph.^[17][18] (Aaron's wife Elisheba was of the tribe of Judah, so all his descendents are from both Levi and Judah.)^{[Num.1:7 & Ex.6:23]}

The Virgin's first seven steps mosaic from Chora Church, c. 12th century.

Mary resided in "her own house"^[Lk.1:56] in Nazareth in Galilee, possibly with her parents, and during her betrothal – the first stage of a Jewish marriage – the angel Gabriel announced to her that she was to be the mother of the promised Messiah by conceiving him through the Holy Spirit.^[19] After a number of months, when Joseph was told of her conception in a dream by "an angel of the Lord", he was surprised; but the angel told him to be unafraid and take her as his wife, which Joseph did, thereby formally completing the wedding rites.^{[20][Mt 1:18-25]}

Since the angel Gabriel had told Mary (according to Luke 1:19) that Elizabeth, having previously been barren, was then miraculously pregnant, Mary hurried to see Elizabeth, who was living with her husband Zechariah in "Hebron, in the hill country of Judah".^[21] Mary arrived at the house and greeted Elizabeth who called Mary "the mother of my Lord", and Mary spoke the words of praise that later became known as the Magnificat from her first word in the Latin version.^{[Luke 1:46-55]} After about three months, Mary returned to her own house.^{[Lk 1:56-57]}

According to the Gospel of Luke, a decree of the Roman emperor Augustus required that Joseph return to his hometown of Bethlehem to be taxed. While he was there with Mary, she gave birth to Jesus; but because there was no place for them in the inn, she used a manger as a cradle.^{[22]:p.14 [2:1ff]} After eight days, he was circumcised according to Jewish law, and named "JESUS"^[Luke 2:21] in accordance with the instructions that the angel had given to Mary in Luke 1:31, and Joseph was likewise told to call him Jesus in Matthew 1:21.

After Mary continued in the "blood of her purifying" another thirty three days for a total of forty days, she brought her burnt offering and sin offering to the temple, so the priest could make atonement for her sins, being cleansed from her blood.^{[Leviticus 12:1-8]} They also presented Jesus – "As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord" (Luke 2:23 other verses). After the prophecies of Simeon and the prophetess Anna in Luke 2:25-38 concluded, Joseph and Mary took Jesus and "returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth."^[Luke 2:39]

Sometime later, the "wise men" showed up at the "house" where Jesus and his family were staying, and they fled by night and stayed in Egypt for awhile, and returned after Herod died in 4 BC and took up residence in Nazareth.^[Mat.2]

Mary in the life of Jesus[link]

Stabat Mater in the Valle Romita Polyptych by Gentile da Fabriano, c. 1410-1412

Mary is involved in the only event in Jesus' adolescent life that is recorded in the New Testament. At the age of twelve Jesus, having become separated from his parents on their return journey from the Passover celebration in Jerusalem, was found among the teachers in the temple.^{[23]:p.210 [Lk 2:41-52]}

After Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist and his temptations by the devil in the desert, Mary was present when, at her suggestion, Jesus worked his first Cana miracle during a marriage they attended, by turning water into wine.^[Jn 2:1-11] Subsequently there are events when Mary is present along with James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, called Jesus' brothers, and unnamed "sisters". ^{[Mt 1:24-25] [12:46] [13:54-56] [27:56] [Mk 3:31] [6:3] [15:40] [16:1] [Jn 2:12] [7:3-5] [Gal 1:19] [Ac 1:14]} In later centuries when the doctrine of the Perpetual virginity of Mary developed, the early Church reinterpreted the words commonly translated "brother" and "sister" as actually meaning close relatives.

There is also an incident in which Jesus is sometimes interpreted as rejecting his family. "And his mother and his brothers arrived, and standing outside, they sent in a message asking for him^[Mk 3:21] ... And looking at those who sat in a circle around him, Jesus said, 'These are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.'"^{[24][3:31-35]}

Mary is also depicted as being present among the women at the crucifixion during the crucifixion standing near "the disciple whom Jesus loved" along with Mary of Clopas and Mary Magdalene,^{[Jn 19:25-26]} to which list Matthew 27:56 adds "the mother of the sons of Zebedee", presumably the Salome mentioned in Mark 15:40. This representation is called a Stabat Mater.^[25][26] Mary, cradling the dead body of her Son, while not recorded in the Gospel accounts, is a common motif in art, called a "pietà" or "pity".

After the Ascension of Jesus[link]

In Acts 1:26, especially v. 14, Mary is the only one to be mentioned by name other than the eleven apostles, who abode in the upper room, when they returned from mount Olivet. (It is not stated where the later gathering of about one hundred and twenty disciples was located, when they elected Matthias to fill the office of Judas Iscariot who perished.) Some speculate that the "elect lady" mentioned in 2 John 1:1 may be Mary. From this time, she disappears from the biblical accounts, although it is held by Catholics that she is again portrayed as the heavenly woman of Revelation.^[Rev 12:1]

Her death is not recorded in scripture. However, Catholic and Orthodox tradition and doctrine have her assumed (taken bodily) into Heaven. Belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary is universal to Catholicism, in both Eastern and Western Catholic Churches, as well as the Eastern Orthodox Church,^[27][28] Coptic Churches, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglican Churches.^[29]

Later Christian writings and traditions[link]

According to the apocryphal Gospel of James Mary was the daughter of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. Before Mary's conception Anna had been barren. Mary was given to service as a consecrated virgin in the Temple in Jerusalem when she was three years old, much like Hannah took Samuel to the Tabernacle as recorded in the Old Testament.^[4] Some apocryphal accounts state that at the time of her betrothal to Joseph Mary was 12–14 years old, and he was ninety years old, but such accounts are unreliable.^[30]

According to Sacred Tradition, Mary died surrounded by the apostles (in either Jerusalem or Ephesus) between three days and 24 years after Christ's ascension. When the apostles later opened her tomb, they found it to be empty and they concluded that she had been assumed into Heaven.^[28][31] Mary's Tomb, an empty tomb in Jerusalem, is attributed to Mary.^[32] The Roman Catholic Church teaches Mary's assumption, but does not teach that she necessarily died.

Inside a purported and unverified Tomb of Mary, on the foothills of Mount of Olives, Jerusalem

Hyppolitus of Thebes claims that Mary lived for eleven years after the death of her Son, dying in 41 AD.^[33]

The earliest extant biographical writing on Mary is Life of the Virgin attributed to the 7th century saint, Maximus the Confessor which portrays her as a key element of the early Christian Church after the death of Jesus.^{[34][35] [36]}

A legend, which was first mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis in the 4th century AD, purported that Mary may have spent the last years of her life in Ephesus. The Ephesian legend was derived from John's presence in the city, and Jesus’ instructions to John to take care of Mary after his death. Epiphanius, however, was keen to point out that, while the Bible says John was leaving for Asia, it specifically does not say that Mary went with him, and later he states that she is buried in Jerusalem.^[37][38] In the 19th century, a house near Ephesus in Turkey was found, based on the reported visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824), which has since been visited as the House of the Virgin Mary by Catholic pilgrims who consider it the place where Mary lived until her assumption.^{[39][40][41][42]} The Gospel of John states that Mary went to live with the Disciple whom Jesus loved,^[Jn 19:27] identified as John the Evangelist. Irenaeus and Eusebius of Caesarea wrote in their histories that John later went to Ephesus, which may provide the basis for the tradition that Mary also lived in Ephesus with John.^[43][44] The Breviarius of Jerusalem, a short text written in about AD 395,^[45] mentions in that valley the basilica of Holy Mary, which contains her sepulchre. Later, Saints Epiphanius of Salamis, Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seville, Modest, Sophronius of Jerusalem, German of Constantinople, Andrew of Crete, John of Damascus talk about the tomb being in Jerusalem, and bear witness that this tradition was then accepted by all the Churches of East and West.

Christian devotion[link]

2nd to 5th centuries[link]

Christian devotion to Mary goes back to the 2nd century and predates the emergence of a specific Marian liturgical system in the 5th century, following the First Council of Ephesus in 431. The Council itself was held at a church in Ephesus which had been dedicated to Mary about a hundred years before.^[46][47][48] In Egypt the veneration of Mary had started in the 3rd century and the term Theotokos was used by Origen, the Alexandrian Father of the Church.^[49]

The earliest known Marian prayer (the Sub tuum praesidium, or Beneath Thy Protection) is from the 3rd century (perhaps 270), and its text was rediscovered in 1917 on a papyrus in Egypt.^[50][51] Following the Edict of Milan in 313, by the 5th century artistic images of Mary began to appear in public and larger churches were being dedicated to Mary, e.g. S. Maria Maggiore in Rome.^[52][53][54]

Middle Ages[link]

The Middle Ages saw many legends about Mary, and also her parents and even grandparents.^[55]

Since the Reformation[link]

Over the centuries, devotion and veneration to Mary has varied greatly among Christian traditions. For instance, while Protestants show scant attention to Marian prayers or devotions, of all the saints whom the Orthodox venerate, the most honored is Mary, who is considered "more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious than the Seraphim."^[56]

Orthodox theologian Sergei Bulgakov wrote: "Love and veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the soul of Orthodox piety. A faith in Christ which does not include his mother is another faith, another Christianity from that of the Orthodox church."^[57]

Although the Catholics and the Orthodox may honor and venerate Mary, they do not view her as divine, nor do they worship her. Catholics view Mary as subordinate to Christ, but uniquely so, in that she is seen as above all other creatures.^[58] Similarly Theologian Sergei Bulgakov wrote that although the Orthodox view Mary as "superior to all created beings" and "ceaselessly pray for her intercession" she is not considered a "substitute for the One Mediator" who is Christ.^[57] "Let Mary be in honor, but let worship be given to the Lord" he wrote.^[59] Similarly, Catholics do not worship Mary, but venerate her. Catholics use the term hyperdulia for Marian veneration rather than latria that applies to God and dulia for other saints.^[60] The definition of the three level hierarchy of latria, hyperdulia and dulia goes back to the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.^[61]

Devotions to artistic depictions of Mary vary among Christian traditions. There is a long tradition of Roman Catholic Marian art and no image permeates Catholic art as does the image of Madonna and Child.^[62] The icon of the Virgin is without doubt the most venerated icon among the Orthodox.^[63] Both Roman Catholics and the Orthodox venerate images and icons of Mary, given that the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 permitted their veneration by Catholics with the understanding that those who venerate the image are venerating the reality of the person it represents,^[64] and the 842 Synod of Constantinople established the same for the Orthodox.^[65] The Orthodox, however, only pray to and venerate flat, two-dimensional icons and not three-dimensional statues.^[66]

The Anglican position towards Mary is in general more conciliatory than that of Protestants at large and in a book he wrote about praying with the icons of Mary, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: "It is not only that we cannot understand Mary without seeing her as pointing to Christ; we cannot understand Christ without seeing his attention to Mary".^[67][68]

Titles[link]

Eleusa Theotokos with scenes from the life of Mary, 18th century

Titles to honor Mary or ask for her intercession are used by some Christian traditions such as the Eastern Orthodox or Catholics, but not others, e.g. the Protestants. Common titles for Mary include Mother of God (Theotokos), The Blessed Virgin Mary (also abbreviated to "BVM"), Our Lady (Notre Dame, Nuestra Señora, Nossa Senhora, Madonna) and the Queen of Heaven (Regina Caeli).^[69][70]

Specific titles vary among Anglican views of Mary, Ecumenical views of Mary, Lutheran views of Mary, Protestant views on Mary, and Roman Catholic views of Mary, Latter Day Saints' views of Mary, Orthodox views of Mary. In addition to Islamic views on Mary.

Mary is referred to by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Anglican Church, and all Eastern Catholic Churches as Theotokos, a title recognized at the Third Ecumenical Council (held at Ephesus to address the teachings of Nestorius, in 431). Theotokos (and its Latin equivalents, "Deipara" and "Dei genetrix") literally means "Godbearer". The equivalent phrase "Mater Dei", (Mother of God) is more common in Latin and so also in the other languages used in the Western Catholic Church, but this same phrase in Greek (Μήτηρ Θεοῦ), in the abbreviated form of the first and last letter of the two words (ΜΡ ΘΥ), is the indication attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers "did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God".^[71][72][73]

Some titles have a Biblical basis, for instance the title Queen Mother has been given to Mary since she was the mother of Jesus, who was sometimes referred to as the "King of Kings" due to his lineage of King David. The biblical basis for the term Queen can be seen in the Gospel of Luke 1:32 and the Book of Isaiah 9:6, and Queen Mother from 1 Kings 2:19-20 and Jeremiah 13:18-19.^[74] Other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals or occasions for calling on Mary, e.g. Our Lady of Good Counsel, Our Lady of Navigators or Our Lady of Ransom who protects captives.^{[75][76][77][78]}

The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are Theotokos, i.e., Mother of God (Greek Θεοτόκος), Aeiparthenos, i.e. Ever Virgin (Greek ἀειπαρθὲνος), as confirmed in the Fifth Ecumenical Council 553, and Panagia, i.e., All Holy (Greek Παναγία).^[56] A large number of titles for Mary are used by Roman Catholics, and these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions, e.g. the title Our Lady of Sorrows has resulted in masterpieces such as Michelangelo's Pietà.^[79]

Marian feasts[link]

Main article: Marian feast days (includes lists of feast days)

The earliest feasts that relate to Mary grew out of the cycle of feasts that celebrated the Nativity of Jesus. Given that according to the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2:22-40), forty days after the birth of Jesus, along with the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple Mary was purified according to Jewish customs, the Feast of the Purification began to be celebrated by the 5th century, and became the "Feast of Simeon" in Byzantium.^[80]

Village decorations during the Feast of the Assumption in Għaxaq, Malta.

In the 7th and 8th centuries four more Marian feasts were established in the Eastern Church. In the Western Church a feast dedicated to Mary, just before Christmas was celebrated in the Churches of Milan and Ravenna in Italy in the 7th century. The four Roman Marian feasts of Purification, Annunciation, Assumption and Nativity of Mary were gradually and sporadically introduced into England by the 11th century.^[80]

Over time, the number and nature of feasts (and the associated Titles of Mary) and the venerative practices that accompany them have varied a great deal among diverse Christian traditions. Overall, there are significantly more titles, feasts and venerative Marian practices among Roman Catholics than any other Christians traditions.^[79] Some such feasts relate to specific events, e.g. the Feast of Our Lady of Victory was based on the 1571 victory of the Papal States in the Battle of Lepanto.^[81][82]

Differences in feasts may also originate from doctrinal issues – the Feast of the Assumption is such an example. Given that there is no agreement among all Christians on the circumstances of the death, Dormition or Assumption of Mary, the feast of assumption is celebrated among some denominations and not others. ^[70][83] While the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption on August 15, some Eastern Catholics celebrate it as Dormition of the Theotokos, and may do so on August 28, if they follow the Julian calendar. The Eastern Orthodox also celebrate it as the Dormition of the Theotokos, one of their 12 Great Feasts. Protestants do not celebrate this, or any other Marian feasts.^[70]

Christian doctrines[link]

There is significant diversity in the Marian doctrines accepted by various Christian churches. The key Marian doctrines held in Christianity can be briefly outlined as follows:

• Mother of God: holds that Mary, as mother of Jesus is therefore Theotokos (God-bearer), or Mother of God.
• Virgin birth of Jesus: states that Mary miraculously conceived Jesus by action of the Holy Spirit while remaining a virgin.
• Dormition: commemorates Mary's "falling asleep" or natural death shortly before her Assumption.
• Assumption: the doctrine which states that Mary was taken bodily into Heaven either at, or before, her death.
• Immaculate Conception: states that Mary herself was conceived without original sin.
• Perpetual Virginity: holds that Mary remained a virgin all her life, even after the act of giving birth to Jesus.

The acceptance of these Marian doctrines by Christians can be summarized as follows:^{[13][84][85][86][87]}

The title "Mother of God" (Theotokos) for Mary was confirmed by the First Council of Ephesus, held at the Church of Mary in 431. The Council decreed that Mary is the Mother of God because her son Jesus is one person who is both God and man, divine and human.^[71] This doctrine is widely accepted by Christians in general, and the term Mother of God had already been used within the oldest known prayer to Mary, the Sub tuum praesidium which dates to around 250 AD.^[88]

The Virgin birth of Jesus has been a universally held belief among Christians since the 2nd century,^[89] It is included in the two most widely used Christian creeds, which state that Jesus "was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary" (the Nicene Creed in what is now its familiar form)^[90] and the Apostles' Creed. The Gospel of Matthew describes Mary as a virgin who fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. The authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke consider Jesus' conception not the result of intercourse and assert that Mary had "no relations with man" before Jesus' birth.^{[Mt 1:18] [Mt 1:25] [Lk 1:34]} This alludes to the belief that Mary conceived Jesus through the action of God the Holy Spirit, and not through intercourse with Joseph or anyone else.^[91]

The doctrines of the Assumption or Dormition of Mary relate to her death and bodily assumption to Heaven. While the Roman Catholic Church has established the dogma of the Assumption, namely that the Mary directly went to Heaven without a usual physical death, the Eastern Orthodox Church believes in the Dormition, i.e. that she fell asleep, surrounded by the Apostles.^[92][93]

Roman Catholics believe in the Immaculate Conception of Mary, as proclaimed Ex Cathedra by Pope Pius IX in 1854, namely that she was filled with grace from the very moment of her conception in her mother's womb and preserved from the stain of original sin. The Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church has a liturgical feast by that name, kept on 8 December.^[94] The Eastern Orthodox reject the Immaculate Conception principally because their understanding of ancestral sin (the Greek term corresponding to the Latin "original sin") differs from that of the Roman Catholic Church, but also on the basis that without original sin.^[95]

The Perpetual Virginity of Mary, asserts Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made Man. The term Ever-Virgin (Greek ἀειπάρθενος) is applied in this case, stating that Mary remained a virgin for the remainder of her life, making Jesus her biological and only son, whose conception and birth are held to be miraculous.^[91][92][96]

Perspectives on Mary[link]

Blessed Virgin Mary
Annunciation, Philippe de Champaigne, 1644
West: Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, Mother of the Church East: Theotokos
Honored in	Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, Lutheranism
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Major shrine	Santa Maria Maggiore (See Marian shrines)
Feast	See Marian feast days
Attributes	Blue mantle, crown of 12 stars, pregnant woman, roses, woman with child
Patronage	See Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Christian perspectives on Mary[link]

Christian Marian perspectves include a great deal of diversity. While some Christians such as Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox have well established Marian traditions, Protestants at large pay scant attention to Mariological themes. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutherans venerate the Virgin Mary. This veneration especially takes the form of prayer for intercession with her Son, Jesus Christ. Additionally it includes composing poems and songs in Mary's honor, painting icons or carving statues of her, and conferring titles on Mary that reflect her position among the saints.^{[56][68][70][79]}

Anglican view[link]

The multiple churches that form the Anglican Communion and the Continuing Anglican movement have different views on Marian doctrines and venerative practices given that there is no single church with universal authority within the Communion and that the mother church (the Church of England) understands itself to be both "catholic" and "Reformed".^[97] Thus unlike the Protestant churches at large, the Anglican Communion (which includes the Episcopal Church in the United States) includes segments which still retain some veneration of Mary.^[68]

Mary's special position within God's purpose of salvation as "God-bearer" (Theotokos) is recognised in a number of ways by some Anglican Christians.^[98] All the member churches of the Anglican Communion affirm in the historic creeds that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, and celebrates the feast days of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. This feast is called in older prayer books the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 2 February. The Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin on March 25 was from before the time of Bede until the 18th century New Year's Day in England. The Annunciation is called the "Annunciation of our Lady" in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Anglicans also celebrate in the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin on May 31, though in some provinces the traditional date of July 2 is kept. The feast of the St. Mary the Virgin is observed on the traditional day of the Assumption, August 15. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin is kept on September 8.^[68]

The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is kept in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, on December 8. In certain Anglo-Catholic parishes this feast is called the Immaculate Conception. Again, the Assumption of Mary is believed in by most Anglo-Catholics, but is considered a pious opinion by moderate Anglicans. Protestant minded Anglicans reject the celebration of these feasts.^[68]

Prayers and venerative practices vary a great deal. For instance, as of the 19th century, following the Oxford Movement, Anglo-Catholics frequently pray the Rosary, the Angelus, Regina Caeli, and other litanies and anthems of Our Lady that are reminiscent of Catholic practices.^[99] On the other hand, Low-church Anglicans rarely invoke the Blessed Virgin except in certain hymns, such as the second stanza of Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones.^[98][100]

The Anglican Society of Mary was formed in 1931 and maintains chapters in many countries. The purpose of the society is to foster devotion to Mary among Anglicans.^[68][101] The high-church Anglicans espouse doctrines that are closer to Roman Catholics, and retain veneration for Mary, e.g. official Anglican pilgrimages to Our Lady of Lourdes have taken place since 1963, and pilgrimages to Our Lady of Walsingham have gone on for hundreds of years.^[102]

Historically, there has been enough common ground between Roman Catholics and Anglicans on Marian issues that in 2005 a joint statement called Mary: grace and hope in Christ was produced through ecumenical meetings of Anglicans and Roman Catholic theologians. This document, informally known as the "Seattle Statement", is not formally endorsed by either the Catholic Church or the Anglican Communion, but is viewed by its authors as the beginning of a joint understanding of Mary.^[68][103]

Catholic view[link]

Madonna of humility by Domenico di Bartolo, 1433; one of the most innovative Marian images from the early Renaissance.^[104]

In the Catholic Church, Mary is accorded the title "Blessed," (from Latin beatus, blessed, via Greek μακάριος, makarios and Latin facere, make) in recognition of her ascension to Heaven and her capacity to intercede on behalf of those who pray to her. Catholic teachings make clear that Mary is not considered divine and prayers to her are not answered by her, they are answered by God.^[105] The five Catholic dogmas regarding Mary are: Mother of God, Virgin birth of Jesus, Perpetual virginity of Mary, Immaculate Conception (of Mary) and Assumption of Mary.^{[92][106][107]}

The Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus has a more central role in Roman Catholic teachings and beliefs than in any other major Christian group. Not only do Roman Catholics have more theological doctrines and teachings that relate to Mary, but they have more festivals, prayers, devotional, and venerative practices than any other group.^[79] The Catholic Catechism states: "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship."^[108]

For centuries, Roman Catholics have performed acts of consecration and entrustment to Mary at personal, societal and regional levels. These acts may be directed to the Virgin herself, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to the Immaculata. In Catholic teachings, consecration to Mary does not diminish or substitute the love of God, but enhances it, for all consecration is ultimately made to God.^[109][110]

Following the growth of Marian devotions in the 16th century, Catholic saints wrote books such as Glories of Mary and True Devotion to Mary that emphasized Marian veneration and taught that "the path to Jesus is through Mary".^[111] Marian devotions are at times linked to Christocentric devotions, e.g. the Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.^[112]

Key Marian devotions include: Seven Sorrows of Mary, Rosary and scapular, Miraculous Medal and Reparations to Mary.^[113][114] The months of May and October are traditionally "Marian months" for Roman Catholics, e.g. the daily Rosary is encouraged in October and in May Marian devotions take place in many regions.^{[115][116][117]} Popes have issued a number of Marian encyclicals and Apostolic Letters to encourage devotions to and the veneration of the Virgin Mary.

Catholics place high emphasis on Mary's roles as protector and intercessor and the Catholic Catechism refers to Mary as the "Mother of God to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs".^{[118][119][120][121][122]} Key Marian prayers include: Hail Mary, Alma Redemptoris Mater, Sub Tuum Praesidum, Ave Maris Stella, Regina Coeli, Ave Regina Coelorum and the Magnificat.^[123]

The chapel based on the claimed House of Mary in Ephesus

Mary's participation in the processes of salvation and redemption has also been emphasized in the Catholic tradition, but they are not doctrines.^{[124][125][126][127]} Pope John Paul II's 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater began with the sentence: "The Mother of the Redeemer has a precise place in the plan of salvation."^[128]

In the 20th century both popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have emphasized the Marian focus of the Church. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) wrote:

It is necessary to go back to Mary if we want to return to that "truth about Jesus Christ," "truth about the Church" and "truth about man".^[129]

when he suggested a redirection of the whole Church towards the program of Pope John Paul II in order to ensure an authentic approach to Christology via a return to the "whole truth about Mary".^[129]

Orthodox view[link]

Our Lady of Vladimir, one of the holiest medieval representations of the Theotokos

Orthodox Christianity includes a large number of traditions regarding the Ever Virgin Mary, the Theotokos.^[130] The Orthodox believe that she was and remained a virgin before and after Christ's birth.^[56] The Theotokia (i.e. hymns to the Theotokos) are an essential part of the Divine Services in the Eastern Church and their positioning within the liturgical sequence effectively places the Theotokos in the most prominent place after Christ.^[131] Within the Orthodox tradition, the order of the saints begins with: The Theotokos, Angels, Prophets, Apostles, Fathers, Martyres, etc. giving the Virgin Mary precedence over the angels. She is also proclaimed as the "Lady of the Angels".^[131]

The views of the Church Fathers still play an important role in the shaping of Orthodox Marian perspective. However, the Orthodox views on Mary are mostly doxological, rather than academic: they are expressed in hymns, praise, liturgical poetry and the veneration of icons. One of the most loved Orthodox Akathists (i.e. standing hymns) is devoted to Mary and it is often simply called the Akathist Hymn.^[132] Five of the twelve Great Feasts in Orthodoxy are dedicated to Mary.^[56] The Sunday of Orthodoxy directly links the Virgin Mary's identity as Mother of God with icon veneration.^[133] A number of Orthodox feasts are connected with the miraculous icons of the Theotokos.^[131]

The Orthodox view Mary as "superior to all created beings", although not divine.^[57] The Orthodox venerate Mary as conceived immaculate and assumed into heaven, but they do not accept the Roman Catholic dogmas on these doctrines.^[134] The Orthodox celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos, rather than Assumption.^[56]

The Protoevangelium of James, an extra-canonical book, has been the source of many Orthodox beliefs on Mary. The account of Mary's life presented includes her consecration as a virgin at the temple at age three. The High Priest Zachariah blessed Mary and informed her that God had magnified her name among many generations. Zachariah placed Mary on the third step of the altar, whereby God gave her grace. While in the temple, Mary was miraculously fed by an angel, until she was twelve years old. At that point an angel told Zachariah to betroth Mary to a widower in Israel, who would be indicated. This story provides the theme of many hymns for the Feast of Presentation of Mary, and icons of the feast depict the story.^[31] The Orthodox believe that Mary was instrumental in the growth of Christianity during the life of Jesus, and after his Crucifixion, and Orthodox Theologian Sergei Bulgakov wrote: "The Virgin Mary is the center, invisible, but real, of the Apostolic Church"

Theologians from the Orthodox tradition have made prominent contributions to the development of Marian thought and devotion. John Damascene (c 650─c 750) was one of the greatest Orthodox theologians. Among other Marian writings, he proclaimed the essential nature of Mary's heavenly Assumption or Dormition and her mediative role.

It was necessary that the body of the one who preserved her virginity intact in giving birth should also be kept incorrupt after death. It was necessary that she, who carried the Creator in her womb when he was a baby, should dwell among the tabernacles of heaven.^[135]

From her we have harvested the grape of life; from her we have cultivated the seed of immortality. For our sake she became Mediatrix of all blessings; in her God became man, and man became God.^[136]

More recently, Sergei Bulgakov expressed the Orthodox sentiments towards Mary as follows:^[57]

Mary is not merely the instrument, but the direct positive condition of the Incarnation, its human aspect. Christ could not have been incarnate by some mechanical process, violating human nature. It was necessary for that nature itself to say for itself, by the mouth of the most pure human being: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to Thy word."

Protestant view[link]

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Protestants in general reject the veneration and invocation of the Saints.^[13]:1174 Protestants typically hold that Mary was the mother of Jesus, but was an ordinary woman devoted to God. Therefore, there is virtually no Marian veneration, Marian feasts, Marian pilgrimages, Marian art, Marian music or Marian spirituality in today's Protestant communities. Within these views, Roman Catholic beliefs and practices are at times rejected, e.g., theologian Karl Barth wrote that "the heresy of the Catholic Church is its Mariology".^[137]

Some early Protestants venerated and honored Mary. Martin Luther wrote that: "Mary is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely without sin. God's grace fills her with everything good and makes her devoid of all evil".^[138] However, as of 1532 Luther stopped celebrating the feast of the Assumption of Mary and also discontinued his support of the Immaculate Conception.^[139]

In the text of the Magnificat (recorded in Luke 1:46-55), Mary proclaims "My soul rejoices in God my Savior". The personal need of a savior is seen by Protestants as expressing that Mary never thought herself "sinnless".^{[citation needed]}

John Calvin said, "It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor.^[140] However, Calvin firmly rejected the notion that anyone but Christ can intercede for man.^[141]

Although Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli honored Mary as the Mother of God in the 16th century, they did so less than Martin Luther.^[142] Thus the idea of respect and high honor for Mary was not rejected by the first Protestants; but, they came to criticize the Roman Catholics for venerating Mary. Following the Council of Trent in the 16th century, as Marian veneration became associated with Catholics, Protestant interest in Mary decreased. During the Age of the Enlightenment and residual interest in Mary within Protestant churches almost disappeared, although Anglicans and Lutherans continued to honor her.^[13]

Protestants acknowledge that Mary is "blessed among women"^[Luke 1:42] but they do not agree that Mary is to be venerated. She is considered to be an outstanding example of a life dedicated to God.^[143]

In the 20th century, Protestants reacted in opposition to the Catholic dogma of the Assumption of Mary. The conservative tone of the Second Vatican Council began to mend the ecumenical differences, and Protestants began to show interest in Marian themes. In 1997 and 1998 ecumenical dialogs between Catholics and Protestants took place, but to date the majority of Protestants pay scant attention to Marian issues and often view them as a challenge to the authority of Scripture.^[13]

Lutheran view[link]

Stained glass of Jesus leaving his mother in a Lutheran Church, South Carolina.

Despite Martin Luther's harsh polemics against his Roman Catholic opponents over issues concerning Mary and the saints, theologians appear to agree that Luther adhered to the Marian decrees of the ecumenical councils and dogmas of the church. He held fast to the belief that Mary was a perpetual virgin and the Theotokos or Mother of God.^[144][145] Special attention is given to the assertion that Luther, some three-hundred years before the dogmatization of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX in 1854, was a firm adherent of that view. Others maintain that Luther in later years changed his position on the Immaculate Conception, which, at that time was undefined in the Church, maintaining however the sinlessness of Mary throughout her life.^[146][147] For Luther, early in his life, the Assumption of Mary was an understood fact, although he later stated that the Bible did not say anything about it and stopped celebrating its feast. Important to him was the belief that Mary and the saints do live on after death.^{[148][149][150]} "Throughout his career as a priest-professor-reformer, Luther preached, taught, and argued about the veneration of Mary with a verbosity that ranged from childlike piety to sophisticated polemics. His views are intimately linked to his Christocentric theology and its consequences for liturgy and piety."^[151] Luther, while revering Mary, came to criticize the "Papists" for blurring the line, between high admiration of the grace of God wherever it is seen in a human being, and religious service given to another creature. He considered the Roman Catholic practice of celebrating saints' days and making intercessory requests addressed especially to Mary and other departed saints to be idolatry.^[152][153] His final thoughts on Marian devotion and veneration are preserved in a sermon preached at Wittenberg only a month before his death:

Therefore, when we preach faith, that we should worship nothing but God alone, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we say in the Creed: 'I believe in God the Father almighty and in Jesus Christ,' then we are remaining in the temple at Jerusalem. Again,'This is my beloved Son; listen to him.' 'You will find him in a manger'. He alone does it. But reason says the opposite:

"What, us? Are we to worship only Christ? Indeed, shouldn’t we also honor the holy mother of Christ? She is the woman who bruised the head of the serpent. Hear us, Mary, for thy Son so honors thee that he can refuse thee nothing. Here Bernard went too far in his Homilies on the Gospel: Missus est Angelus.^[154] God has commanded that we should honor the parents; therefore I will call upon Mary. She will intercede for me with the Son, and the Son with the Father, who will listen to the Son. So you have the picture of God as angry and Christ as judge; Mary shows to Christ her breast and Christ shows his wounds to the wrathful Father. That’s the kind of thing this comely bride, the wisdom of reason cooks up: Mary is the mother of Christ, surely Christ will listen to her; Christ is a stern judge, therefore I will call upon St. George and St. Christopher. No, we have been by God’s command baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, just as the Jews were circumcised.^[155][156]

Certain Lutheran churches such as the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church however, continue to venerate Mary and the saints in the same manner that Roman Catholics do, and hold all Marian dogmas as part of their faith.^[157]

Methodist view[link]

The Black Madonna of Częstochowa, Poland.

The United Methodist Church, as well as other Methodist churches, have no official writings or teachings on the Virgin Mary except what is mentioned in Scripture and the ecumenical Creeds, mainly that Christ was conceived in her womb through the Holy Spirit and that she gave birth to Christ as a virgin. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement within the Church of England, which later led to the Methodist Church, believed that the Virgin Mary was a perpetual virgin, meaning she never had sex.^[158][159] Many Methodists reject this concept, but some Methodists believe it. The church does hold that Mary was a virgin before, during, and immediately after the birth of Christ.^[160][161]

John Wesley stated in a letter to a Roman Catholic friend that:

"The Blessed Virgin Mary, who, as well after as when she brought him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin."^[159]

Article II of the Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church states that:

The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided; whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for actual sins of men.^[162]

From this, the Virgin Mary is believed to be the Theotokos, or Mother of God, in the Methodist Church, although the term is usually only used by those of High Church and Evangelical Catholic tradition.

Article II of The Confession of Faith from The Book of Discipline states:

“We believe in Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man, in whom the divine and human natures are perfectly and inseparably united. He is the eternal Word made flesh, the only begotten Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. As ministering servant he lived, suffered and died on the cross. He was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to be with the Father, from whence he shall return. He is eternal Savior and Mediator, who intercedes for us, and by him all persons are to be judged.”

From this statement, Methodists reject the Catholic ideas of Mary as a Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of the Faith. The Methodist Churches disagree with veneration of saints, of Mary, and of relics; believing that reverence and praise are for God alone. However, studying the life of Mary and the biographies of saints is deemed appropriate, as they are seen as heroes and examples of good Christians.^[163] The Methodist churches reject the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary, stating that Christ was the only person to live a sinless life and to ascend body and soul into Heaven.^[164]

Latter Day Saints[link]

In the first edition of the Book of Mormon (1830), Mary was referred to as "the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh," a reading that was changed to "the mother of the Son of God" in all subsequent editions (1837–).

Nontrinitarian view[link]

Nontrinitarians, such as Unitarians, Christadelphians and Jehovah's Witnesses^[165] consider Mary as the mother of Jesus Christ. Because they do not consider Jesus as God, they do not consider Mary as the Mother of God or the Theotokos. Since Nontrinitarian churches are typically also mortalist, the issue of praying to Mary, whom they would consider "asleep," awaiting resurrection, does not arise.^[166] Swedenborg says God as he is in himself could not directly approach evil spirits to redeem those spirits without destroying them (Exodus 33:20, John 1:18), so God impregnated Mary, who gave Jesus Christ access to the evil heredity of the human race, which he could approach, redeem and save. ^[167]

Islamic perspective[link]

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is mentioned as Maryam, more in the Qur'an than in the entire New Testament.^[168][169] She enjoys a singularly distinguished and honored position among women in the Qur'an. A Sura (chapter) in the Qur'an is titled "Maryam" (Mary), which is the only Sura in the Qur'an named after a woman, in which the story of Mary (Maryam) and Jesus (Isa) is recounted according to the Islamic view of Jesus.^[170]

Maryam (Mary) with her son Isa (Jesus), Persian miniature.

She is mentioned in the Qur'an with the honorific title of "our lady" (syyidatuna) as the daughter of Imran and Hannah.^[171]

She is the only woman directly named in the Qur'an; declared (uniquely along with Jesus) to be a Sign of God to mankind;^{[Quran 23:50]} as one who "guarded her chastity";^{[Quran 66:12]} an obedient one;^{[Quran 66:12]} chosen of her mother and dedicated to God whilst still in the womb; ^{[Quran 3:36]} uniquely (amongst women) Accepted into service by God;^{[Quran 3:37]} cared for by (one of the prophets as per Islam) Zakariya (Zacharias);^{[Quran 3:37]} that in her childhood she resided in the Temple and uniquely had access to Al-Mihrab (understood to be the Holy of Holies), and was provided with heavenly 'provisions' by God.^{[Quran 3:37][171]}

Mary is also called a Chosen One;^{[Quran 3:42]} a Purified One;^{[Quran 3:42]} a Truthful one;^{[Quran 5:75]} her child conceived through "a Word from God";^{[Quran 3:45]} and "exalted above all women of The Worlds/Universes (the material and heavenly worlds)". ^{[Quran 3:42]}

The Qur'an relates detailed narrative accounts of Maryam (Mary) in two places Sura 3^{[Quran 3:35]} and Sura 19.^{[Quran 19:16]} These state beliefs in both the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Virgin birth of Jesus.^{[172][173] [174]} The account given in Sura 19 ^{[Quran 19:1]} of the Qur'an is nearly identical with that in the Gospel according to Luke, and both of these (Luke, Sura 19) begin with an account of the visitation of an angel upon Zakariya (Zecharias) and Good News of the birth of Yahya (John), followed by the account of the annunciation. It mentions how Mary was informed by an angel that she would become the mother of Jesus through the actions of God alone.^[175]

In the Islamic tradition, Mary and Jesus were the only children who could not be touched by Satan at the moment of their birth, for God imposed a veil between them and Satan.^[176] According to author Shabbir Akhtar, the Islamic perspective on Mary's Immaculate Conception is compatible with the Catholic doctrine of the same topic.^[177][178]

The Qur'an says that Jesus was the result of a virgin birth. The most detailed account of the annunciation and birth of Jesus is provided in Sura 3 and 19 of The Qur'an wherein it is written that God sent an angel to announce that she could shortly expect to bear a son, despite being a virgin.^[179]

Other views[link]

Pagan Rome[link]

From the early stages of Christianity, belief in the virginity of Mary and the virgin conception of Jesus, as stated in the gospels, holy and supernatural, was used by detractors, both political and religious, as a topic for discussions, debates and writings, specifically aimed to challenge the divinity of Jesus and thus Christians and Christianity alike.^[180] In the 2nd century, as part of the earliest anti-Christian polemics, Celsus suggested that Jesus was the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier named Panthera.^[181] The views of Celsus drew responses from Origen, the Church Father in Alexandria, Egypt who considered it a fabricated story.^[182] How far Celsus sourced his view from Jewish sources remains a subject of discussion.^[183]

In Judaism[link]

The issue of the parentage of Jesus in the Talmud affects also the view of his mother. However the Talmud does not mention Mary by name and is considerate rather than only polemic.^[184][185] The story about Panthera is also found the Toledot Yeshu, the literary origins of which can not be traced with any certainty and given that it is unlikely to go before the 4th century, it is far too late to include authentic remembrances of Jesus.^[186] The Blackwell Companion to Jesus states that the Toledot Yeshu has no historical facts as such, and was perhaps created as a tool for warding off conversions to Christianity.^[187] The name Panthera may be a distortion of the term parthenos (virgin) and Raymond E. Brown considers the story of Panthera a fanciful explanation of the birth of Jesus which includes very little historical evidence.^[188]

4th-century Arabia[link]

According to the 4th century heresiologist Epiphanius of Salamis the Virgin Mary was worshipped as a Mother goddess in the heretical Christian sect Collyridianism, which was found throughout Arabia sometime during the 300s AD. Collyridianism was made up mostly of women and even had women priests. They were known to make bread offerings to the Virgin Mary, along with other practices. The group was condemned as heretical by the Roman Catholic Church and was preached against by Epiphanius of Salamis, who wrote about the group in his writings titled Panarion.^[189]

Study of the historical Jesus[link]

To date, scholars continue to debate the accounts of the birth of Jesus from several perspectives, including textual analysis, historical records and post-apostolic witnesses.^[190] Bart D. Ehrman has suggested that the historical method can never comment on the likelihood of supernatural occurrences.^[191]

The statement in Matthew 1:25 that "Joseph did not know Mary until she has given birth to a son" has been debated among scholars, some suggesting that she did not remain perpetually virgin. ^[192] Other scholars contend that the Greek word hoes (i.e. until) denotes a state up to a point, but does not mean that the state ended after that point, and that Matthew 1:25 does not confirm or deny the virginity of Mary after the birth of Jesus.^{[193][194][195]}

Other biblical verses have also been debated, e.g. that the reference in Romans 1:3 of Jesus coming "of the seed of David according to the flesh" may be hypothesized as St. Joseph being the father of Jesus.^[196] However, most scholars reject this interpretation in the context of virgin birth given that Paul used the Greek word genomenos (i.e. becoming) rather than the word gennetos and the reference to "seed of David" is likely to Mary's lineage.^{[197][198][199]}

Cinematic portrayals[link]

Mary has been portrayed in various films, including:

• Das Mirakel (as a statue which comes to life)
• Saint Mary (Iranian film)
• Mary Mother of Christ
• Mary, Mother of Jesus
• Jesus of Nazareth
• Color of the Cross
• Ben-Hur (1959 film)
• The Last Temptation of Christ (film)
• The Greatest Story Ever Told
• The Living Christ Series
• The Nativity Story
• The Miracle (a remake of Das Mirakel, as a statue which comes to life)
• The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima
• The Song of Bernadette
• The Passion of the Christ
• The Passion (TV serial)^[200][201]
• King of Kings (1961 film)

Image gallery[link]

See also: Life of the Virgin

For a larger gallery, please see: Marian image gallery

• 

  The oldest-known image of Mary depicts her nursing the Infant Jesus. Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome (2nd century)

• 

  Theotokos Panachranta, from the 11th century Gertrude Psalter

• 

  Visitation, from the St Vaast Altarpiece by Jacques Daret, 1434–1435

• 

  Adoration of the Magi, Rubens, 1634

• 

  Black Madonna and Child, Axum, Ethiopia

• 

  Madonna of humility by Fra Angelico, c. 1430.

• 

  Flight into Egypt by Giotto c. 1304

• 

  Lamentation by Pietro Lorenzetti, Assisi Basilica, 1310–1329

• 

  Assumption statue, 1808 Ghaxaq, Malta

• 

  Inside of the Tomb of Mary, on the foothills of Mount of Olives, Jerusalem

Music[link]

	Book: Mary and Mariology
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• J.S.Bach: Ave Maria Prelude (1722)
• Franz Schubert: Ave Maria (1835)
• Charles Gounod: Ave Maria (1859)
• Monteverdi 1610

See also[link]

A series of articles on
mother of Jesus
Chronology Presentation of Mary Annunciation · Visitation · Virgin Birth · Nativity · Presentation of Jesus · Flight into Egypt · Finding in the Temple · Cana · Crucifixion · Resurrection · Pentecost
Marian Perspectives Roman Catholic Eastern Orthodox • Anglican • Lutheran • Protestant • Muslim •
Catholic Mariology Mariology • History of Mariology • Papal teachings • Mariology of the saints
Dogmas and Doctrines Mother of God • Assumption • Immaculate Conception • Perpetual Virginity
Mary in Culture Titles • Feasts • Art • Music This box: view talk edit

• Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary
• Anglican Marian theology
• Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission
• Black Madonna
• Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)
• Dormition of the Theotokos
• Panagia
• Christian mythology
• Fleur de lys
• History of Roman Catholic Mariology
• Our Lady of Sorrows
• Hortus conclusus
• Immaculate Heart of Mary
• Islamic views on Mary
• Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
• Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Titles of Mary
• Marian apparition
• Madonna (art)
• Marian columns
• Marian devotions
• Mary, Protector of Faith (Russo)
• May crowning
• Protestant views on Mary
• Shrines to the Virgin Mary
• Society of Mary (Marianists)
• Virgin Birth of Jesus
• Virgin Mary in Islam

References[link]