Skip to main content

Mary, The Perpetual Virgin And The Mother of God?

Everyone knows that Mary was the mother of Jesus, the same knowledge we knew that her pregnancy happened when she was a virgin, when the archangel Gabriel appeared to her in Nazareth to announce that she would miraculously conceive through the Holy Spirit and give birth to Jesus.

However, did Mary remain a virgin her whole life? When Catholics are praying to Mary, are they just honouring her, or worshipping her? Is this unbiblical? Who is Mary?

At the foot at the cross, what Jesus said about Mary before He died on the cross? Was the word “Behold your son… Behold your mother” just a word of adoption or was there something to understand much deeply in relation to our spirituality?

Apart from this, if Mary had other children with Joseph after she gave birth to Jesus, why Jesus asked John --His beloved disciple-- to take care of her? Where were His brothers if He really had biological brothers who were born to Mary?

This book reveals a lot of things that will stimulate our thought --or I can say—provoke our thought and revolutionize our understanding in this biblical study of Mary.

Brant Pitre, a theologian and Research Professor of Scripture and Theology at the Augustine Institute wrote this book to take the readers step by step from the Garden of Eden, the Gospel until the Book of Revelation. 

Dr. Pitre explained Mary by using the Old Testament and ancient Judaism to show how the Bible itself teaches that Mary is the new Eve, the new Ark of the Covenant, the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven and Earth.

Despite the book contains a subject that considered heavy, sacred, and –without exaggeration-- “controversial”, Dr. Pitre wrote it with easy-to-read style, clear, and inspiring.

This book is a rare combination of historical-critical mastery and theological erudition which we need to read not only to know more about Mary, but the important role of her in the Christianity faith.

***

Serpong, 15 Jun 2026

Titus J.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Perhentian Ahok di KM 19.4

Ketika angka quick count hasil perolehan suara Pilkada Jakarta 19 April yang lalu menunjukkan 42 persen untuk Ahok-Djarot dan 58 persen untuk Anies-Sandi, banyak yang terkesima, sedih, dan tak sedikit yang menangis. Herannya, yang menangis bukan hanya orang Jakarta, tetapi juga mereka yang tinggal di luar Jakarta, bahkan luar negeri. Media sosial riuh-rendah dengan komentar, seolah tak percaya dengan angka yang terpampang di televisi dan berseliweran melalui WhatsApp group. Di saat itulah tiba-tiba kita merasakan ada sesuatu yang hilang - sesuatu yang pernah kita miliki, yang pernah mewarnai denyut kehidupan kita walau hanya lewat surat kabar dan media sosial, dan sesuatu yang selalu kita rasakan kehadirannya walaupun jarak memisahkan. Kita – bukan cuma orang Jakarta tetapi siapapun yang selama empat tahunan ini menyemai harapan dan optimisme, tiba-tiba secara bersamaan membisikkan tanya, “Bagaimana rupa Jakarta nanti tanpa Ahok?” Tanggal 19 April itu seperti satu titik di ...

Forgive Me for Not to Obey Your Fatwa

It’s still fresh in my mind, where Megawati’s PDI (Indonesia Democracy Party) harshly knocked-out by Suharto’s power in 1996. I was still 3 months since I set my feet on Jakarta from my hometown. Everybody knew Megawati was a serious menace of Suharto’s Golkar at that time, and 1996 was only a year ahead of the election. Like previous elections, Golkar always wanted vote majority in order to keep Suharto in reign. Time could not be stopped and Megawati popularity has made the Suharto’s circle depressed. They seemed so fearful the Soekarno’s spirit was coming back. With a very dirt scenario, Suharto’s regime created drama by conspiring with several PDI executives to organize a congress in Medan. The congress, as predicted clearly by everyone, finally appointed Soerjadi as PDI chairman, Fatimah Ahmad as deputy chairman and Butu Hutapea as the secretary general (Soerjadi is Megawati’s predecessor). It means, Megawati who had been selected by National Meeting in Surabaya in 1993, was kick...

The Lawmakers Are Too Proud to be God

My brain suddenly becomes so blunt to understand how some members of Commission VII of the House of Representatives (DPR) use their "looked smart" brain to think smartly. In the hearing between the lawmakers and Pertamina management on February 10, 2009, one of the lawmakers, Effendi Simbolon, humiliated Karen Agustiawan, the CEO of Pertamina by saying she was un-competent to lead the big organization as Pertamina – the prestigious State Owned Company in oil & gas and geothermal energy sector. They even harshly bullied her by putting label on her as Satpam (private security guard) if Karen could not stay away from serving the interest of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and VP Jusuf Kalla. It’s clear to people that some of the “supposed to be respected” lawmakers do not deserve to receive any respects. That is why they cannot respect others, too. They have been acting as judge, even God, when they summon government officials or businessmen to their nest. They grill eve...