36 Comments

What a great Saturday morning read. As I've been trying to move into a more liturgical celebration and away from the usual trappings/celebrations that abound this time of year, this was a great addition to the rest of my readings so far. Thank you for the article and the beautiful images. Articles like this remind me of a friend who would treat me with the benefits of his wisdom and insights over steaming cups of coffee. Steaming cups of coffee left to grow cold as my attention was so caught up in the information he was sharing. Thank you!

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You’re beyond welcome. Thanks for reading! It’s fun just getting to share stuff like this!

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Joel. I am so glad to have found your Substack. I am in a spiritual direction program and this landed in so many beautiful places- books, art, religious devotion and dare I say women's empowerment.

From a Former business accelerator client who is grateful for your insightful reviews.

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Mary! Thanks for commenting! I’m glad you found this newsletter also.

And I think you definitely can say women’s empowerment. I think that’s an underappreciated aspect of stories like this.

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Mary, would you mind sharing which program you are in? That is something I am interested in pursuing.

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I am pursuing a certification from Richmont University with an online cohort. The professor was highly recommended by a personal acquaintance.

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Fascinating! I went on an art hunt for pictures of Saint Anne and the "trinity" of the grandmother, mother, and baby with a book and found some lovely things. As a grandma who is a bookworm and seeing the way my grandchildren now love to read, this was so heartwarming.

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Wonderful. It seems to me that an underrated aspect of internet rabbit holes is the art trails down which a person can tumble.

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From the active life to the contemplative, or from Martha to Mary...

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Yes, great comparison.

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Inspiring article! Yet stating the obvious: did books as pictured exist BC?

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No, they didn’t. Just like the clothing and furnishings in the images, the format of the book is anachronistic. The codex—bounded pages, not a scroll—became popular among Christians shortly after Mary’s generation, and became the dominant book form over the next several centuries. But unless she were reading a personal notebook, Mary most likely would have been reading from a scroll (had she read at all, historically speaking).

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I'm Christian and I've been interested in doing a deep dive into the 2,000 years of church history for the past year (ambitious, I know), so this post captured my attention from beginning to end. It's FASCINATING that the medieval and Renaissance church started portraying Mary as literate when most of the population at the time, especially women, were not. One research paper on this subject I found puts the literacy rate at under 20% (https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1290524.pdf). I'm not sure how familiar you are with this topic, but one way the Catholic church exerted control over its congregation was by claiming only Church leaders, such as bishops, priests, cardinals, etc. could officially interpret the Bible and instruct the laity on matters of worship. Disagreement regarding concentration of power is one of the big reasons for the split between Protestants and Catholics in the 16th century. All that said, it seems peculiar that the Catholic church would propagate depictions of a literate Mary, especially considering she's a woman. Perhaps her status as the Mother of God and prominence among the Saints meant they felt comfortable emphasizing her intellectual freedom? I wonder if you have thoughts on this. Thanks!

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Well, the role of the Bible in churches was considerably different before the printing press. The Catholic Church didn’t so much as lord it over the laity as both existed in a world where there were precious few books and responsibility for teaching vested with the community leaders—the local bishop and priests.

Since the majority of laity couldn’t read and there were very few books beyond those owned by the clergy, most engagement with the Bible happened in the context of the worship service. At the liturgy portions of the Bible would be used in various songs, chants, and readings. Most of the interpretation happening was done in the context of the homily—applying one or another of the readings. (Most of commentaries on the scripture from church fathers such as Augustine or Chrysostom are actually transcriptions of their homilies.)

It’s a whole different world before the printing press. You can read a bit more about that here: https://www.millersbookreview.com/p/books-before-print-paper-pixel

As far as the role of women, I think we’re sometimes too quick to assume intentional repression or marginalization. Instead of seeing these depictions of Mary as peculiar given her gender and our assumptions about it, the depictions should challenge our assumptions about how medieval Christians actually considered the role of women. Hildegard of Bingen was, for instance, highly regarded by the male hierarchy. https://www.millersbookreview.com/p/maria-skobtsova-leavitt-hildegard-bingen

We get into trouble when we judged the Middle Ages with modern assumptions about book technology and gender roles. It’s just radically different than our world and priorities. At the same time, it’s also important to see the continuity between that world and ours. The reality is that the depictions of Mary as a reader and the eventual uptick in literacy helped drive the sorts of cultural developments that eventually helped produce the printing press and our modern assumptions about literacy.

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Super insightful! I'm looking forward to reading those other articles.

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Hope they’re helpful!

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Really enjoyed your piece, especially since I spent a few weeks in Italy with a doctoral theology class studying Christian art. We noticed the vast number of Annunciation scenes and how they almost included a book or scrolls with Mary. The question of why she would have been considered literate always went back to her Magnificat: the deep theology in that song, mimicking Hannah from 1 Samuel, told people that Mary was well acquainted with her Scripture, hence “literate.” Did you see any references to Mary’s Song in your research?

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What a wonderful time in Italy that must have been. I don’t recall any specific mentions of the Magnificat, but Miles has a more thorough book out now about the Annunciation and it might well go into it. https://www.amazon.com/Virgin-Marys-Book-Annunciation/dp/1843845342

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I love articles like this that trace the lineage of ideas, thank you for this trip down history lane Joel.

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Thanks for reading! It was a delight to discover for myself!

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Fascinating! Poetic license.

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Yes, exactly.

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This a very interesting and insightful article. Thank you for sharing!

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Thanks! And you’re welcome! Thanks for reading!

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As always, food forcthought and interesting angle. , I am now about to do historical research on this. :) How very interesting. Cant say i believe Mary was a reader, or could read( yet to research) no doubt she knew her torah as itvwas read aloud. but the medieval thought on this is fascinating( thank you for including the images) .

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Yes, there’s a difference between the hagiographic imagination and historical. I also doubt the historical Mary was a reader as such.

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Wow! As someone who spent 12 years in Christian schools and who minored in religious studies in college, I thought I knew all there was to know about Mary, the mother of Jesus. Thanks, Joel, for another fascinating morning read!

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Thanks for reading Paul! Yes, this was news to me as well. Pretty fun to discover.

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What a perfect Advent read for us bookworms! I'd never thought about this as a theme and I love it! Thank you!

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You’re welcome a thousand times over. Thanks for reading!

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Thank you for this timely Advent reflection. Mary enveloped the Word, in heart and body, and the images of her reading are both beautiful and inspiring.

"By the end of the century, no one—priests, monks, or laity—remembered the Theotokos had ever spun thread. She fingered texts, not textiles." I find that interesting, and yet the "story threads" of the Old Testament are in her heart and come to fruition through her fiat. Maybe texts and textiles are not so far apart!

"May Mary, Seat of Wisdom, be a sure haven for all who devote their lives to the search for wisdom. May their journey into wisdom, sure and final goal of all true knowing, be freed of every hindrance by the intercession of the one who, in giving birth to the Truth and treasuring it in her heart, has shared it forever with all the world. Amen."

St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio 108 (9/14/98)

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That’s wonderful. And your insistence on keeping text and textile close is on point. They share the same root word: https://www.etymonline.com/word/*teks-#etymonline_v_52573

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Beautiful post. Thank you.

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Thanks for reading!

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Loved this. Thanks for writing it, and Merry Christmas!

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