BLACK MARIOLOGY

A Thesis
submitted to the Faculty of
The School of Continuing Studies
and of
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of
Master of Arts
in Liberal Studies

By

Adam Scott Green, B.A.

Georgetown University
Washington, DC
March 1, 2014
 UMI Number: 1556273

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 BLACK MARIOLOGY

Adam Green, B.A.

Thesis Mentor: Theresa Sanders, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

In “Black Mariology,” we are dealing with the nature

of being and religious symbolic culture through the lens of
theological anthropology. The Black Madonna fuses sacred
and secular realms of reality. The Black Madonna challenges
religious orthodoxy. The Black Madonna is an ontological
structure which represents embodied theology. Black
Mariology is the study of Black Virgin mythology and Virgin
Birth legends. In this Religious Studies thesis, I explore
aspects of Black Marian Mystery. I review historical
teachings about Mary, define ontological blackness, and
provide literary critique through the lens of academic
theology. Black Mariology is useful to interpret
ontological blackness although ontological blackness may or
may not be useful to interpret race.
The figures included in this thesis illustrate the
Black Madonna, unless otherwise noted, were located online
on the ARTstor database.

ii
 DEDICATION

To new beginnings. . .

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful for family, friends, professors, Bishop

Samuel L. Green, Sr., Rev. Michael Bell, Dr. Teresa

Sanders, and Mrs. Anne Ridder for their patience with me

while I learn how to write.

iv
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER ONE: LITERARY CRITIQUE 22

CHAPTER TWO: HISTORICAL TEACHINGS ABOUT MARY 36

CHAPTER THREE: ONTOLOGICAL BLACKNESS 47

CHAPTER FOUR: DEFINING THE DISCIPLINE 57

APPENDIX: PROTOCOL 76

BIBLIOGRAPHY 83

v
 INTRODUCTION

I researched the Black Madonna and found pictures on

the Internet and read books. I visited a Black Madonna

Shrine in Washington, DC. The object represents a woman

(presumably Virgin Mary) with a child (presumably her son).

I kneeled.

The Black Madonna

Jean Hani reflects about the pagan roots of Marian

expression in his book, The Black Virgin, which was

originally written in French religious culture. Black

Virgins are considered Marian Mystery for scholar Jean

Hani. Hani’s historical critique is convincing:

The object of the mystery is not, however, the

irrational but the supra-rational; it is not, as is
popularly thought, ‘what one does not understand,’
but, according to the definition of St. Augustine,
‘what aided by Divine Grace, one has never finished
understanding,’ given that it opens the spirit to
ineffable and inexhaustible realities.”1

In this thesis, I will give insight into a few

representations of the woman depicted in images of the

Black Madonna.

1 Jean Hani, The Black Virgin (San Rafael, CA: Sophia Perennis,

2007), 4.

1
Figure 1. Woman Seated on the Ground Suckling a Child, ca.
1900 BCE, Egyptian, ARTstor, Web.

2
Figure 2. “Gaia, Head and Bust of Ge/ The Earth Goddess,”
ca. 1st century, Blaiana (present day Egypt), ARTstor, Web.

3
Figure 3. Isis Enthroned Suckling the Child Horus
[Thronende Isis mith Horusknaben], ca. 3rd century, Place
unknown, ARTstor, Web.

4
Figure 4. Samuel Miguel, “Sanctuary of Isis,” (Sanctuary
originally built in the 4th century BC; rebuilt from the
foundations at the end of the 2nd century AD; functioned
until the 4th century AD, when it was damaged by earthquakes
and repeated floods), 14 June 2009, Greek, Roman, ARTstor,
Web.

5
Figure 5. Black Madonna of Czestochowa with Ruby to be
restored, Oil on wood with gems, 1434, Poland, ARTstor,
Web.

6
Figure 6. Black Madonna [Zwarte madonna], 1650-1699, Place
Unknown, ARTstor, Web.

7
Figure 7: S. Maria Einsidlensis, Splendida sicut fulgur
[the “Black Madonna” of Einsiedeln; Saint Mary standing
holding Christ child, wearing crown supported by figures of
God and the adult Christ; within a scalloped niche], ca.
1700, German, ARTstor, Web.

8
Figure 8. Virgin de Guadalupe, ca. 18th Century, oil on
canvas, Spain, ARTstor, Web.

9
Figure 9. Godfrey Okiki, African Mother and Child, 1963,
Place unknown, ARTstor, Web.

10
Figure 10. Santa Barraza, Black Madonna & Child, ca. 20th
Century, Place unknown, ARTstor, Web.

11
Woman

Historical reflections about a virgin- mother may be

suspicious because of female anatomy (Figures 1-3).

Philosopher Jean Hani writes: “Rather than being a

regression into paganism, Mariology is a progression toward

a clearer and better understanding of the feminine aspect

of the divine and the role of the female in the history of

salvation.”2 Hani states:

Liturgical texts, in fact, convey profound intuitions

of the faith and open the spirit to regions of
knowledge not accessible to theological speculation.
We are not thinking only of texts from the Holy
Scriptures, chosen by the Church for the various
Marian feasts, the value of which is too evident to
need insisting upon. We also have in mind creations of
a ‘literary’ order, in the highest sense, such as
hymns and prayers, etc. composed by highly spiritual
persons, which, the Church has authenticated by
introducing them into the cult, thereby conferring
value on them as instruments of knowledge for the
faithful; all of which is expressed by the well-known
adage lex orandi lex credendi, ‘the rule of prayer is
the rule of faith.’3

Church traditions may also assign liturgical values to

carved statuettes of darkly colored black goddess mothers

within their community. Religious categories and phrases

are often cited to interpret Black Madonna sites. Jean Hani

2 Ibid., 5.

3 Ibid., 36.

12
demonstrates religious images and cultural criticism to

interpret the mystery.

Oral and written histories have preserved Black Virgin

mythologies over time. Our Lady of Einseidln (see Figure

7), also noted as a mysterious Black Madonna statue in a

European shrine, is said to have historical significance.

According to a Catholic Studies Online website:

The shrine's origins begin in the 9th century, when

the monk St. Meinrad arrived to build a hermitage in
the wilderness that would later become Einsiedeln. He
took with him a miracle-working statue of the Virgin
Mary given to him by the Abbess Hildegarde of Zürich.
On January 21, 861, two thieves murdered Meinrad for
the treasure in the hermitage. According to legend,
the killers were caught after two ravens followed them
into town and drew attention to them with loud
squawking.4

4 “The Shrine of Our Lady of Einsiedln holds Mysterious Statue,”

Catholic Online. August 12, 2011. Web.

13
Figure 11. Our Lady of Einseidln, ca. 9th century,
Switzerland, Catholic Online,
SOURCE:http://www.catholic.org/travel/greece/story.php?id=4
2382.

Black Madonna legends, theology, and art forms are

often narrated through religious themes. The Black Madonna

has been linked to Greco-Roman mother-goddesses, the Aztec

goddess Guadalupe, or the Egyptian goddess, Isis for

example. Popular American Black Madonna shrines are located

at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate

14
Conception in Washington, DC (of the Roman Catholic Church)5

and The Shrine of the Black Madonna (of the Pan African

Orthodox Christian Church).6 Many people travel to visit

Black Virgins. Religious pilgrimages are like religious

rituals for Hani. Hani writes: “This is because pilgrimage

is very closely related to initiation; its symbolism, which

is that of travelling in general, is always with reference

to archetypal pilgrimage, pilgrimage that is, to a ‘Holy

Land,’ the latter itself being the ‘Center of the World,’

the ‘place’ where one communicates with God On High.”7 (See

Figure 4, Figure 7). Popular Black Madonna statues with

medieval origin may be visited including Our Lady of the

Hermits, Einsiedeln, Switzerland; Our Lady of Guadalupe,

Mexico City; Our Lady of Jasna Gora, Czestochowa, Poland;

and Our Lady of Montserrat, near Barcelona, Spain.

History

In his research paper, The Internet and the Madonna,

Paolo Apolito takes on the deception of items researched on

5 “400 Michigan St. NE Washington, DC” is an address to the

location where the Black Madonna is found.

6 “946 Ralph D. Abernathy Blvd. SW Atlanta, GA” is an address to

the location where the Black Madonna is found.

7 Hani, The Black Virgin, 14.

15
the internet and the authoritativeness of the Magisterium.8

Religious items on the internet are not always subject to

regulatory sanctions. Web-based research about the Black

Madonna could come in conflict with the teaching authority

of the Christian church, rather it is truth or bogus. Many

folk religions embrace “Black Virgin” legends to make

knowledge about how Black Virgin statues were found,

experienced, or created. Virgin blackness has been

interpreted poetically and religiously although personal

biases limit religious interpretations about travel

experiences. How do world religions complicate the meaning

of the object to be visited?

Systematically the Black Madonna is a religious image

that can be studied academically. Jean Hani argues the

Black Virgins have a primitive aspect:

We get no further finally, when we seek to

characterize the Black Virgin in terms of her
influence on the fertility of the earth, animals. The
humans or miracles such as the liberation of besieged
towns, the deliverance of prisoners, the rescue of the
shipwrecked and the raising of the dead, for those are
the same deeds with which the Virgin is credited
whenever she is venerated under the form of a ‘white’
statue. In fact we, are finally led to conclude that

8 Paolo Apolito, The Internet and the Madonna Abstract (Chicago,

IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2005).

16
 the only trait truly characteristic of the Black
Virgin is. . .her blackness!9
Jean Hani is an historian and philosopher. Hani describes

the typical geological setup for Black Virgin statues with

medieval origin in his book: “It is typically elevated

(sometimes no more than a simple mound), with a grotto and

a spring or well.”10 (Figure 4). Humans in quest for God may

identify with visual Black Virgin art because the Black

Madonna communicate something about the creativity of God.

Religious symbols in art are usually understood

subjectively, and Black Virgin artifacts have long been

considered sacred.

A Marian Mystery

I offers Marian discourse as a resource for social

justice theology and the interpretation of Black Virgin

art. Assumptions about God, who God is, and what God does

or doesn’t do are subjective. Some religious literature

(Judeo-Christian Bible, Koran, Bhagavad Gita) depict human

history. Jesus: Miriam’s Child, Sophia’s Prophet, a book

written by social justice theologian is historical and

theological. Elizabeth Fiorenza reflects on Marian

9 Hani, The Black Virgin, 114.

10 Ibid., 7.

17
narratives in the “politics of Christological discourse.”

Fiorenza argues that Christological discourse presents a

general understanding of oppression experienced by many in

our world.

Fiorenza writes:

A politics of discourse seeks to investigate the links

between feminist Christological discourses. Bible
history, and theology are important not only for
religious communities. Rather, as “master narratives”
of Western cultures, they are always implicated in and
collude with the production and maintenance of systems
of knowledge that either foster exploitation and
oppression or contribute to a praxis and vision of
liberation. As critical interpretive practices,
feminist theology, and biblical interpretation must
assess the implications of their own imagination by
hegemonic knowledge and discursive frameworks that
make “sense” of the world and produce what counts as
“reality” or “common sense.11

Generally speaking social justice discourse is limited to a

personal point of view. Theologians writing in the

liberation theology tradition most commonly cite the Judeo-

Christian Bible as a hermeneutic lens.

Marian legends are expressed in a way to reveal

something about collective human experiences. The Virgin

Mary is considered a historical creature. The Black Madonna

is an artifact. In contrast, discourse about Mary

11 Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Jesus: Miriam’s child,

Sophia’s prophet (New York, NY: The Continuum Publishing Company,

1994), 5.

18
contributes to theological understandings of liberation

from evil through Christ. Through her vocation as virgin

mother, Mary signifies God’s covenant relationship to

humanity expressed through righteousness and fidelity to

relationships in the birth of her son who would be

considered the messiah. The Lord had spoken to Israel’s

prophets in both the Old and the New Testaments: “Out of

Egypt I called my son.”12

Cult

Thus, a counter-argument would counter dogmatic

theology. What are the challenges and possible solutions to

fostering a greater sense of collective understanding the

Black Madonna? Within this thesis, “connectionalism” may be

solved through an ethical lens. In The Cult of the Virgin,

Ean Begg writes:

If Rennes le Chateau (temple) provides striking

testimony to the presence of the tradition still
linking the Merovingian blood-line to Mary Magdalene.
What of Vezelay (qv), the great centre of her cult in
the Middle Ages? It was there, on Easter Sunday 1146,
in front of King Louis VII, his troubadour queen,
Eleanor, and some 100, 000 nobles, knights, and
commoners, that St. Bernard preached the Second
Crusade. The great Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene was
begun in 1096, the year of the First Crusade, when

12 Hosea 11:1, Matthew 2:15

19
 Godefroy de Bouillon set forth to claim the Kingdom of
Jerusalem that was his by divine right.13

Connectionalism is challenged by local governments,

commerce, and Christian unity. Global missions, by

expansion, exploded under distinct leaders, elected and

consecrated bishops who provide chief servant hood

leadership within the church. International missions are

important to preserve personal integrity. The Black

Madonna, however, is not limited to Christological

analyses. In relation to Christian mystery, the Magisterium

preserves the Christological essence of the Black Madonna.

The cult of the Virgin refers to how folk in various

world religions devote their time, energy, and spiritual

resources to the veneration of the Black Madonna. In his

article “Mary and the People: The Cult of Mary and Popular

Belief,” theologian John R. Sinners, Jr. describes personal

experiences of religious devotion through the lens of his

religious culture. Sinners writes: “The members of learned

culture address the existence and purpose of God through

the methods of theology. The members of popular culture, on

the other hand, address these same questions through the

13 Stephen Begg, The Cult of The Virgin (London: Routledge &

Kegan Paul Ltd., 1985), 103.

20
practice of popular religion.”14 The main point of Sinners’

thesis is to show how Mary is revealed in popular religious

culture.

Sinners’ term “popular religion” is defined by ways

Marian spirituality is expressed. The author is interested

in how Marian images are perceived by religious folk.

Intentionally, Sinners dates the origins of Marian devotion

to the Council of Ephesus 436, when “the dogmatic

definition of Mary as Theotokos (Greek term, the bearer of

Jesus both in his humanity and divinity) was declared."15

Mary was not a sex goddess, as one pious person might

revere a mother who was said to have a baby without ever

having baby-making sex according to dogmatic theology.

14 John Sinners, Mary Woman of Nazareth Biblical & Theological

Perspectives ed. Doris Donnely (Malwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1989), 161.

15 Ibid., 164.

21
 CHAPTER ONE

LITERARY CRITIQUE

Many writers discuss understandings about the human

condition. In the analyses of three novels, Their Eyes Were

Watching God, The Secret Life of the Bees, and PUSH, the

human condition is explored. I suggest the following

literary analyses will reveal ways the Black Madonna may be

projected, interpreted, or embodied to understand the human

condition through the novelists’ ideas. While the

protagonist’s conduct in Their Eyes Were Watching God is

sensual and mature, the protagonist in The Secret Life of

the Bees develops an understanding of her embodied self

through the veneration of the Black Madonna. The main

character in PUSH is suffering in various ways.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston was an anthropologist, feminist,

and folklorist. In her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God,

Hurston constructs the fictitious life of Janie Crawford

and the origins of Eatonville, Florida. Janie’s path to

self-revelation is inherent in Hurston’s writings about

desire and reality and this novel is relevant. Essayist

Audre Lorde suggests ‘erotic’ identity be understood in

extreme expressions of human sensuality. In her essay,

22
“Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” Audre Lorde’s

definition of erotic is as follows:

The very word erotic comes from the Greek word eros,
the personification of love in all its aspects-born of
Chaos and personifying creative power and harmony.
When I speak of the erotic, then, I speak of it as an
assertion of the life force of women, of that creative
energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we
are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our
dancing, our loving, our work, our lives.1
Another author, David Harvey, author of From Space to Place

and Back Again, theorizes that senses can be stimulated

within the contours of the “erotic.” Harvey writes:

“Representations of places have material consequences in so

far as fantasies, desires, fears and longings are expressed

in actual behaviour.”2 Zora Neale Hurston illustrates

universal human fantasies, desires, and fears. Janie’s

relationships and erotic identity illustrate the power to

intuit understandings about our embodied selves.

Hurston writes about Janie: “But mostly she lived

between her hat and her heels with her emotional

disturbances like shade patterns in the woods-come and gone

1 Audre Lorde, “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” Sister

Outsider (Atlanta, GA: Crossing Feminist Texts, 2001).

2 David Harvey, “From Space to Place and Back Again,” eds. John

Bird, Barry Curtis, Tim Putnam, and Lisa Tickner, Mapping The Futures
(Hoboken: Routledge Press, 1993), 22.

23
with the sun.”3 First, “when Janie is Mrs. Killicks,” Janie

has a conversation with her Nanny about her troubled

marriage to Mr. Killicks. Janie is very young in this

rising action of the novel. Janie bemoans that she does not

know how to love. Comforting Janie, Nanny suggests: “Dis

love! “Dats just whut got us uh pullin’ and uh haulin’ and

sweatin’ and doin’ from cant see in de mornin’ till can’t

see at night.”4 Janie courts three lovers on her journey in

the novel. It often takes time to develop meaningful

relationships. This conversation foreshadows Janie’s

eroticism. Janie’s identity as First Lady (mayor’s wife)

depicts economic stratification. Her front porch and her

work as keeper of the general store depict social

structure. Janie’s relationship with Mr. Killicks was

convenient. Janie was an unhappy spouse. The marriage was

beneficial for Janie at that time because Mr. Killicks

provided financial security for young Janie.

Ms. Janie was relieved when Mr. Joe Starks developed

interests in her. Joe was headed down to Eatonville to use

his money and influence to propel the town forward. Janie

3 Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (New

York, NY: Perennial-Harper, 1990), 23.

4 Ibid., 25.

24
soon became the mayor’s wife, living in the big house, with

honor and distinction because she was married to Mr.

Starks, the wealthiest and most powerful man in the town.

After Joe dies, Janie meets peasant Tea Cake and

overwhelmingly enjoys their spontaneous, romantic envoys

all across the state of Florida. The big house of

Eatonville (where Janie lived) was an identity- marker. She

met Tea Cake at the age of 40.

Carla Kaplan argues that Their Eyes Were Watching God

is a story about “one woman searching for an orgasm” in her

peer-reviewed book review.5 Janie is an eroticized creature

longing for self-revelation. Hurston begins this novel with

Janie returning to her birthplace after she accidentally

murders her lover, Tea Cake. Janie sits with her friend

Phoebe to tell her story. Kaplan suggests, “It is only in

telling her story to Pheobe that Janie is finally able to

satisfy "that oldest human longing—self-revelation.”6 Story

telling satisfies Janie’s erotic request.

Staying true to her art of folklore, Hurston writes

like the people in Eatonville would speak to each other at

5 Carla Kaplan, “The erotics of talk: That oldest human longing in

Their Eyes Were Watching God,” American Literature 67, no.1 (1995): 30.

6 Ibid.

25
that time. Hurston’s use of colloquial language helps to

reveal the local color of its place. Hurston acknowledges

innate impulses to enjoy orgasms and conversations within

this novel. The Black Madonna is not mentioned in her

conservation, and an application of the Black Virgin would

be extreme. Perhaps the Black Madonna may be venerated

through eroticism. The love relationships displayed in

Hurston’s novel are a study of sensuality. In his essay

entitled “The Virtues of Sensuality,” Cattoi writes:

Yes the body may still be a locus of pleasure-

especially in the Indo-Tibetan traditions of Tantra-
and yes, awareness of mortality is part and parcel of
traditions of Tantra- and yes, awareness of mortality
is part and parcel of spiritual practice- especially
in the writings of the Christian mystics. Yet, going
beyond this dichotomy, the body becomes the repository
of a panoply of senses for which the divine is no
longer epistemologically inaccessible, but rather is
the very goal of each cognitive act.7

Cattoi’s reflections about the human body and God reflect

sensuality in the same way that Hurston reveals Janie’s

embodied theology. Cattoi reflects on the “creativity of

God” in this religious affirmation of human sexuality:

“Against the background of the distinction between the

phenomenal realm (open to experience) and the noumenal

7 Thomas Cattoi, Perceiving the Divine Through the Human

Body (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 234.

26
realm (open merely to intuition), notions such as the

immortality of the soul, the existence of pure spirits, or

divine omniscience come under the purview of the latter,

and may only be accessed by practical reason.”8 The Black

Madonna and Janie’s love relationships may be considered

polar opposites in the vein that human beings express their

sensualities.

The Secret Life of the Bees

The “Black Madonna” is a symbol in Sue Monk Kidd's

novel The Secret Life of The Bees.9 Sue Monk Kidd is an

Asian American writer. The Secret Life of the Bees depicts

a Southern family members negotiating their identities.

The Black Madonna figures into this book, through

expressions of Feminist Theology and existentialism. Kidd’s

characters experience religious identity in various ways.

For the main character Lily Owens, she explores the natural

world and spirituality with the help of empowering episodes

in the Boatwright home. In the beginning, Lily suffers

emotional and psychological problems. “Our Lady of Chains”

(A Black Madonna statue in the Boatwright home refers to

8 Ibid.

9 Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of the Bees (United States:

Penguin Books, 2002).

27
the sacred power associated with depictions of Virgin Mary)

is a mediator for Lily’s spiritual development within the

novel.

Existentialism

Although philosophy is a rational intellectual

exercise, most theologians would agree the study of God is

a balance between faith and reason. Kidd blurs theological

contradictions (death and life, friend and foe, sacred and

profane) throughout the novel, allowing the reader to

discover theological issues in fiction. Lily embodies her

spirituality through veneration of the Black Madonna when

she relates her self to “Our Lady of Chains.” In one

seminal book introducing existential theology as a means to

illustrate the development or religious and spiritual

identity, G.M.A. Jansen, O.P., writes: “The body is itself

the person, itself subject, an existence, a reality that is

spiritual and material at the same time.”10 Kidd’s metaphor

for the Black Madonna helps Lily find self-reliance.

Alienation is withdrawal or separation from others,

one’s self, or God. A theological analysis of alienation

may be reflected in the following analysis of Hegelian

10 G.M.A. Jensen, An Existential Approach to Theology

(Milwaukee, WI: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1966), 21.

28
theology: "Religious consciousness is determined by

recognizing what I have called one's finite self-

relatedness and by at the same time finding one's identity

to be determined by one's being in a self-transcending

relation to something that presents itself, in the domain

of finite life, in terms of its contrast with finite

life."11 For instance, death is symbolized in the Christian

Gospel; Jesus resurrects. Lily’s mother is dead throughout

Kidd’s entire novel. T-Ray claims Lily shot Deborah (Lily’s

Mother). Hegelian philosopher Gavin Rae suggests “Hegel

distinguishes between alienation as estrangement and

alienation as externalization and the two senses of the

term are intimately related.”12 With an old silhouette of

“Black Madonna,” which was on the back of a honey product

handed down by her dead mother, Lily leads the life of a

runaway refugee with her Black nanny friend Rosaleen in

order to reconnect with images of her mother.

The novel concludes with T-Ray finding Lily at the

Boatwright home, demanding her to return back to their

11 Martin J. De Nys, Hegel and Theology (London: T&T Clark

International, 2009), 43.

12Gavin Rae, “Hegel, Alienation and the Phenomenological

Development of Consciousness,” International Journal of Philosophical
Studies 20, no. 2 (2012): 28.

29
abusive family structure. Instead of returning to a

regretful past with her dad, Lily remains a resident with

the Boatwright family. Lily’s decision implies alienation

from T-Ray’s wickedness, her journey to self-discovery, is

an ongoing project. Lily’s withdrawal from T-Ray compels

new life. Separation and withdrawal from home is the

impetus for Lily’s religious character development. At the

Boatwright home, Lily learns about Mother Mary in addition

to simpler narratives about her dead mother, Deborah

Fontanel, whom also once lived with the Boatwrights.

Lily’s resistance to her abusive father is beneficial

because many experiences within the Boatwright home are

enriching and life-giving. Once Lily imagines, “Back in my

room on the peach farm, when the bees had first come out at

night, I had imagined they were sent as a special plague

for T-Ray. God saying, Let my daughter go, and maybe that’s

exactly what they had been, a plague that blessed me.”13

Lily cultivates her religious consciousness in the

welcoming home of August, May, and June Boatwright. August,

executive beekeeper, and high priestess participant with

the “Daughters of Mary,” is a pastoral presence for Lily,

13 Kidd, The Secret Life of the Bees, 151.

30
teaching her about “Our Lady.” During an intimate

conversation with Lily about her spirituality, August says:

“Our Lady is not some magical being out there somewhere

like a fairy godmother. She’s not the statue in the parlor.

She’s something inside of you. Do you understand what I’m

telling you?”14 Kidd’s theological allusions illumine

religious character development. Lily is learning: “Our

Lady is inside me. I repeated, not sure I did.”15

Proof for Lily’s reconciled spiritual identity runs

through her final reflections of “Our Lady”:

Each day I visit black Mary, who looks at me with her

wise face, older than old and ugly in a beautiful way.
It seems the crevices run deeper into her body each
time I see her, that her wooden skin ages before my
eyes. I never get tired of looking at her thick arm
jutting out, her fist like a bulb about to explode.
She is a muscle of love, this Mary. I feel her in
unexpected moments, her Assumption into heaven
happening in plates inside me. She will suddenly rise,
and when she does, she does not go up, up into the
sky, but further and further inside me.16

The presence of “Our Lady of Chains” statue in the

Boatwright home is second to the “Our Lady” divine being

Lily locates inside herself. The Black Madonna is an active

character. Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of The

14 Ibid., 67.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid., 302.

31
Bees celebrates reconciliation with God through symbolic

references to Virgin Mary, “Daughters of Mary,” “Our Lady

of Chains.”

Readers may take away an understanding of existential

theology through the way Kidd writes main character Lily’s

stream of consciousness: “After August and I went into the

hatbox, I drew into myself and stayed there for a while.

August and Zack tended to the bees and the honey, but I

spent most of my time down by the river, alone. I just

wanted to keep to myself.”17 In her literary critique,

“Conflict and Closure: Bees and Honey as Metaphors for

Healing in The Secret Life of The Bees,” Dr. Judith Hebb

writes: “These lessons from the bees give us insight into

our personal conflicts and the hope for spiritual healing

through love and community.”18 Lily’s religious

consciousness and spiritual identity develops over time.

PUSH

The novel PUSH written by Sapphire depicts a Black

girl speaking about her suffering. Meet Claireece Precious

17 Ibid., 277.

Judith Hebb, “Conflict and Closure: Bees and Honey as

18

Metaphors for Healing in The Secret Life of The Bees,” Conflict

in Southern Writing, Ben P. Robertson, ed. (Troy, AL: Association
for Textual Study and Production, Troy University, 2006), 262.

32
Jones. Sapphire introduces us to Ms. Jones at the following

stage of her life story:

I was left back when I was twelve because I had a baby

for my fahver. That was in 1983. I was out of school
for a year. This gonna be my second baby. My daughter
got Down Sinder. She’s retarded. I had got left back
in the second grade too, when I was seven, ‘cuse I
couldn’t read (and I still peed on myself). I should
be in the eleventh grade, getting ready to fo into the
twelf’ grade so I can gone ‘n graduate. But I’m not.19

Cultural conflict in the Anglo educationist paradigm

exacerbates Ms. Jones’ suffering. Her New York classroom is

chaotic with disruptive behavior from students who can

neither connect with their teacher or peers, nor project a

classroom experience conducive to learning.

Ms. Jones struggles deciphering audial and visual

representations of numbers and words in American English.

She wails: “Every day I tell myself something gonna happen,

some shit like on TV. I’m gonna break through, or somebody

gonna break through to me-I’m gonna learn, catch up, be

normal, change my seat to the front of the class.”20 Her

academic struggles are authentic: “I wish I could tell him

(teacher) about all the pages being the same but I can’t.”21

19 Sapphire, PUSH (New York, NY: Vintage Books of Random House

Inc., 1996), 3.

20 Ibid., 5.

21 Ibid., 6.

33
To further knock down her self-esteem, the boys at school

call her “laffing ugly.” After a while, Ms. Jones’ life

story becomes about a woman releasing her power within to

survive when she is transferred to an alternative school

because of school policies. After suffering the abuse of

her parents, she learns of her father’s death from

complications of AIDS and her own HIV-positive status. With

the support of a group home and individualized counseling,

Ms. Jones perseveres despite her personal trauma.

PUSH is fiction, but Sapphire uses this art form to

inform society, just as much as Ms. Claireece Jones is

informed by societal conditions. Psychoanalyst-philosopher

Carl Jung describes two modes of creating artistic

expression in his book Modern Man in Search of a Soul, as

“psychological and visionary.” “The psychological mode

deals with the materials drawn from the realm of human

consciousness- for instance with the lessons of life, with

emotional shocks, the experience of passion and the crises

of human destiny in general—all of which go to make up the

conscious life of man and his feeling life in particular.”22

The visionary mode is primal, it comes innately, and

22 Carl Jung, Modern Man In Search of a Soul (New York, NY:

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1933), 162.

34
represents “true symbolic expression.” Sapphire delves into

human pathology by creating a narrative that engages modern

social problems. The pulse of her art demands compassion

and understanding for persons enduring suffering. How does

the Black Madonna impact the human experience? In the next

chapter, I will survey popular teachings about the Black

Madonna, will suggest the Black Madonna represents God’s

active presence within the human condition.

35
 CHAPTER TWO

HISTORICAL TEACHINGS ABOUT MARY

Mariology is a theological study that is useful to

interpret Black Madonna art. There is no universally agreed

upon account of the life and testimony of the woman

depicted in Black Madonna art. The following historical

review of teachings about Mary will survey Marian discourse

primarily through the teachings of Christianity. Many

references to Mary are made possible through medieval

theology.

In her book, In Search of Mary, Sally Cunneen argues

symbolic understandings of Mary may be subject to the

teaching authority of religious organizations. Historians

find the infancy narratives of Jesus unreliable and

generally incoherent with the nature of human reproduction.

Cunneen writes: “What we know from Scriptures is because

Mary’s son existed, so did she.”1 Historical references to

Mary do not conform to theological teachings passed down

through generations under the guidance of the Magisterium.

The Koran includes more references to Mary than any other

sacred text.

1 Sally Cunneen, In Search of Mary (New York: Ballantine

Books, 1996), 27-31.

36
 Cunneen writes: “The popular Mariology in Italian

Harlem was quite different from official versions, but

consistent with a long European tradition: the women in the

community believed that Mary had suffered the pangs of

childbirth, that she had menstruated, and that she worried

constantly about her child.”2 Roman Catholics, Latin

American Catholics, or Catholics from Jewish and Irish

nationalities may disagree about Marian dogma. Marian

beliefs through the scope of Protestantism may or may not

coincide with dogmatic Marian theology as well.

Theotokos

Theotokos is a Greek term. Theotokos is doctrine that

declares Mary as “god-bearer.” Theo-tokos represents the

notion God (“theo”) is embodied through the Virgin (Matthew

1: 18). Mary accepted an invitation by the Holy Spirit to

carry out the maternal parentage of Christ as she bore the

Incarnation in her womb.

Other theologies interpret Mary’s divinity. Mary

Christine Athans has written about historical teachings

about an immaculate mother. Athans’ book, In Quest of the

Jewish Mary, reflects on the Mother of Jesus in History,

2 Ibid., 265.

37
Theology and Spirituality. Athans engages the reader on her

premise Mary was a Jewish woman. In addition, Athans

considers “Isis, known as the Mother of the God, was

considered a mediator, one with healing power, who nurtured

and healed others.” Also, The Greek goddess Artemis/Diana,

whose temple at Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the

ancient world was acclaimed as the ultimate virgin

goddess.”3 In Mexico, the goddess mother, Guadalupe, is

celebrated in a similar tradition. Athans suggests:

“Despite variations on the story, it seems clear that it

was a startled Spanish bishop of Mexico, Juan de Zumarraga,

who first viewed the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe of Juan

Diego’s cloak: Mary depicted as an Aztec maiden.”4 Although

the Gospels provide some information about Mary, other

information may be useful to develop meaning about the

divinity of the Black Madonna.

Immaculate Conception

Dogmatic theology includes theological pronouncements

that help to decipher meaning about the material world. The

Immaculate Conception dogma introduces Mary’s immunity from

3 Mary Athans, In Quest of the Jewish Mary (Maryknoll, NY:

Orbis Books, 2013), 22.

4 Ibid., 37.

38
sin. The Immaculate Conception dogma taught by the Roman

Catholic Church reports that since her conception (by her

mother St. Anne), Mary has been free from the taint of evil

to which, according to Christian belief, all humanity has

been subject since the fall of people from grace.

Christian tradition reads the Genesis story of Adam and Eve

as a description of precisely this fall. Mary has been free

from the taint of evil subject to all of humanity since the

fall of people from grace due to sin in the Genesis

narratives. Theologians derive much of their critique about

Mary’s role in the history of the Church through Divine

revelation.

Since Mary would be responsible for the birth of a man

who would embody the very destruction of evil, the burden

of God’s grace must have kept her immune to evil, even in

the womb of her mother. Not to be confused with the

doctrine of virginal conception, as references to Mary’s

birth of a son, the Black Virgin is considered the

Immaculate Conception even before the birth of a messiah.

The Immaculate Conception helps to suggest God could

only use a woman to birth Christ who was exempt from the

theological doctrine of original sin. According to the

Immaculate Conception dogma, The Virgin Mary would have

39
been spiritually and physically faultless since her

creation. Again Athans reflects on the Perfect Mary ideal

model for goddess femininity, which many religion students

are taught to worship, yet never ultimately emulate: “It

was hard to think of Mary chewing gum, or going to a beer

party in shorts, or riding in the back of a convertible

under a full moon on a balmy summer evening.”5 Athans

writes: “Legends and myths need not be totally rejected;

they may enlighten us about the inner life of a person or

the deeper meaning of an event.”6 While Mary is

overwhelmingly depicted with magical quality and unmatched

innocence, it is important to note that religious stories

are meant to be believed.

Virgin Birth of Jesus

Did her hymen stay intact? One of the primary

religious teachings about Mary is her experience of

virginal conception. Cunneen argues: “Nothing in Scripture

supports the idea that Mary remained physically intact

while giving birth, or that she had no sexual relations

with her husband after Jesus was born, though both of these

5 Athans, In Search of the Jewish Mary, 5.

6 Ibid., 7.

40
claims became important in later Marian theology and

devotion.”7 Traditional Christians may accept the dogma of

virginal conception on creedal authority alone. Cunneen

writes: “Throughout the whole history of Christianity,

believers have taken bits of Matthew and added them to Luke

to make one Nativity story. Never mind that the pieces

cannot be reconciled; they have entered the human

imagination together.”8 Individuals respond to Marian

narratives differently. Ironically, some scholars even

dispute the meaning of the term-virgin in Antiquity.

The term virgin may not have been descriptive of one’s

sexual status at all during that time. Athans writes: “In

the world of Middle-Platonic philosophical discourse of

that era, the spiritual element of life was deemed

superior, and that which was material, especially the

sexual, was considered inferior.”9 Howard Thurman reflected

on Virgin Birth during his years at Rochester Theological

Seminary.

Excerpts of his reflection on Virgin Birth are

included in The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, Vol.

7 Ibid., 35.

8 Ibid., 43.

9 Athans, In Search of the Jewish Mary, 18.

41
1. Howard Thurman may be best known for his numerous

writings and books including Strength to Love, Of Head and

Heart, and Jesus and The Disinherited. Howard Thurman was a

public theologian and creative genius. Thurman argues that

literal understandings of virginal conception should be

understood in their primitive cultural contexts. He would

classify Virgin Birth as mythological. In summary of his

ideas about Marian legends, Thurman suggests: “Born in

error, it has been perpetuated by adjusting itself to a

universal human craving normally to glorify its hews but to

express its gratitude to those rare spirits who have in one

way or another striven to be saviors of their race.”10

Marian legends about virgin birth may share a primitive

element, a misunderstanding of the necessity for coital

relations between woman and man to reproduce human beings.

Perpetual Virginity

The idea of Mary’s perpetual virginity holds that Mary

conceived Jesus virginally and remained a virgin her entire

life. The doctrine is supported by some interpretations of

scripture.11 Gospel writers Matthew and Mark name persons as

10 Howard Thurman, The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman

(Columbia SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2009), 35.

11 Rev. 12.

42
brothers and sisters of Jesus. Interpreters of these texts

suggest persons are not siblings of Jesus in order to

suggest Mary’s Perpetual Virginity.12 Scripture is

irreducible to the degree that logic fills in the gaps of

unwritten mysteries of Mary. Another book, The

Protoevangelium of James, includes more information to

interpret about the ‘canon of scripture’ and information

marginally accepted by the Magisterium. The Protoevangelium

of James is not included in Catholic nor Protestant bibles.

Assumption

The Assumption of Mary is another dogma not every

Christian believes.13 The Assumption of Mary holds that

Mary’s “earthly body” ascended into heaven. In Islam, Mary

of Nazareth is buried in Jerusalem. Assumptions are useful

to explore themes in liturgical theology. In her article

“Reconstructing a Theology of Mary,” Elizabeth Johnson

describes the Virgin in light of ways Christianity produces

praxis-oriented theology.

Johnson writes:

12 Mt. 13:55-56 and Mark 6:3.

13 The doctrine of the Assumption of Mary was formally adopted by

the Catholic Church.

43
 She can be remembered in part: as a young woman who
coped well with an extraordinary situation (the
annunciation), having the good sense to question a
heavenly messenger before making any decision and the
wits to realize the implications of his answer; as a
betrothed woman who at considerable personal risk
courageously gave free and responsible consent to the
call of God—and did so on her own initiative, without
consulting male authority figures; as a traveling
woman who left home in haste to seek the companionship
of her “kinswoman” Elizabeth who was also amazingly
filled with a new life; as a pregnant woman inspired
by the Spirit of God to burst into prophecy about the
greatness of God who liberated the poor; as an
oppressed woman following the orders of an occupying
military power which necessitated her giving birth far
from home and without adequate provision; as a refugee
woman fleeing with her family from the murderous
intent of a jealous ruler; as a married woman
collaborating with her husband in raising their
precocious child and speaking for both in the temple
when their child seemed to get out of line; as a
celebrative woman arranging for more wine at a wedding
feast; as a mature woman who was not defined simply by
child bearing but more profoundly by the way in which,
as a disciple, she heard the word of God and acted
upon it; as a courageous woman who bore the grief doth
the violent, destructive death of her son, not letting
it destroy her; as a prayerful woman, again away from
home as part of the community of disciples of women
and men waiting for the gift of the Spirits of the
risen Christ.14

What is the result of Mary’s end of life? Marian

narratives often have an aesthetic purpose in encouraging

religious belief. We can make all kinds of value judgments

about Marian legend. Religion can be persuasive.

14 Elizabeth Johnson, Mary Woman of Nazareth Biblical &

Theological Perspectives ed. Doris Donnely (Malwah, NJ: Paulist
Press, 1989), 85.

44
 Writer Marilyne Robinson has a personal interest in

ancient traditions, literature, and religion. Robinson

writes: “I was taught, more or less, that we moderns had

discovered other religions with narratives resembling our

own, and that this discovery had brought all religion down

to the level of anthropology”15 Religious and cultural

reflections inform historical teachings about Mary.

Conclusion

Marian legends are discerned through folk beliefs.

Also, shrines, cathedrals, temples, and feast days help to

orient people who advocate Marian spirituality. Religious

customs may be social, especially when important

relationships are constructed around religious traditions.

Personal traditions taken from interpretations of

apocalyptic literature are significant because they dictate

how and why a personal ideation may limit historical

reflections. Mary Athans writes: “A blond, blue-eyed Mary

was represented standing on the world with a crown of stars

on her head crushing a snake (Satan) with her heel.”16

Early theologians and pagan philosophers reflected on

15 Marilyne Robinson, When I was a Child I Read Books (Europe:

Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2012), 11.

16 Athans, In Quest of the Jewish Mary, 4.

45
Marian legends and the validity of religion. Couldn’t a

Black Madonna have a colored eye? Black Mariology should

incorporate extensive research by anthropologists,

theologians, and historians. My research will continue in

the next chapter through the lens of Black theology.

46
 CHAPTER THREE

ONTOLOGICAL BLACKNESS

Black Mariology accepts a struggle assigning

archetypal imagery to the symbolic world. For theologian

Victor Anderson in his book, Beyond Ontological Blackness:

“Ontological blackness is a covering term that connotes

categorical, essentialist, and representational languages

depicting black life and experience.”1 Following the

persuasion of “theological anthropology,” we all have a

dark side. The Black Madonna has nothing to do with race.

Marc Cortez author of Theological Anthropology writes:

“Thus I have argued that what is most important in this

discussion, is that we make sure our understanding of human

ontology, whatever it might be, is capable of sustaining

the core affirmations that we need to make about the human

person is order to have a theologically adequate

understanding of humanity.”2

How do images of the Black Madonna depict reality?

What ‘Self’ is embodied in Blackness and/or veneration of

the Black Madonna?

1 Victor Anderson, Beyond Ontological Blackness (New York, NY: The

Continuum Publishing Company, 1995), 11.

2 Marc Cortez, Theological Anthropology: A Guide for the Perplexed

(New York, NY: T&T Clark International, 2010), 97.

47
 Jungian Psychoanalyst and pastoral counselor Fred

Gustafson argues that ancient images of “Black Madonna”

connote spiritual and psychological meaning in his book,

The Black Madonna of Einsedeln. Edward Edinger also

explores Carl Jung’s religious symbolism in his book, Ego

and Archetype. One basic assumption in Jung’s religious

psychology is that individuality is constructed at least a

part from collective identity: “The Self is the ordering

and unifying center of the total psyche (conscious and

unconscious), just as the ego is the center of the

conscious personality.”3 Most human beings tend to think of

themselves in terms of ‘I,’ and not ‘we,’ nor statuesque

objects. The ego (I) is illustrative of individual

expressions of humanity, individual beings. Edinger

suggests: “Since the Self is the center and totality of

being, the ego totally identified with the Self experiences

itself as a deity.”4 Throughout Europe mysterious Black

Virgins appear to be worshipped and credited for access to

spiritual power. Black Mary may illustrate contact with the

3 Edward Edinger, Ego and Archetype (Boston, MA: Shambala

Publications, 1972), 3.

4 Ibid., 7.

48
dark side of spiritual reality (unconsciousness and the

unknown).

Traditional Western philosophers believed blackness

was an obscure state of being; thus their reasoning

justified Black inferiority. We don’t know what blackness

is definitively. Physicists argue blackness is an

abstraction of light. Medieval poets may have interpreted

blackness as a symbol for fertility. Blackness is often a

theme caricatured through racism. At the same time, Black

virgin, Virgin Birth mythology, ecology, and other mythical

themes deify The Black Madonna. Ontological blackness is a

subject people can relate to when discovering the spiritual

nature of the natural world.

Black Theology

Black theology is a hermeneutic construct for the

Gospel placing God-talk and Black-talk side by side in

order to disrupt social evil. Professor Anderson engages

prophetic pragmatism with utopian vision other Black

theologians like Michael Dyson and Howard Thurman would

predict as “cultural fulfillment.” Anderson writes:

“Prophetic pragmatists judge the value of religious beliefs

and practices fundamentally by their moral effectiveness in

supporting Western democratic humanism and effecting

49
existential hope against those conditions that threaten

cultural fulfillment.“5 Clash of cultures signals nuances

within humanity. Rigid categorical caste systems were

established because of social identities. Anderson is a

theologian and cultural critic. Anderson writes:

“Categorical racism appropriates a specific logic in which

every individual member of a species shares essential

traits that identify the member within the species."6 Race

categories anticipate political dissent.

Professor Anderson sees a problem with Blackness

objectified through Whiteness and desires to reinterpret

Blackness outside of its racialized politics. Anderson

writes:

The ambiguities, contradictions, and conflictive

racialized identities of African Americans are often
regarded as the impetus for the emergent cultural
genius of African Americans as they perpetually
confront categorical racism. Confrontation implies a
facing off. However the irony occurs in the facing
off. When the two souls face each other as lure and
loathing, within the same racialized body, then black
self-consciousness is the mirror of whiteness.7

Anderson argues that categorical racism consequently gave

rise to a “racial apologetic” in Black theology. Anderson

5 Ibid., 44.

6 Ibid., 51.

7 Anderson, Beyond Ontological Blackness, 82.

50
rejects categorical blackness as a function of ideological

whiteness because categorical blackness limits cultural

criticism. Black life, individual and collective Black

identity, is often considered an aesthetic totality when

interpreted categorically. How God is involved in

liberation gospel, civil liberties, and empowered

spiritualties prompts popular research in Black theology.

Anderson’s postmodern shift in Black theology is a

call for the deconstruction of relevant questions: Is God

black? What does God’s blackness express? God, who is

Black, and interested in the liberation of the oppressed,

is an existential theme promoted by Father of Black

theology The Reverend Dr. James Cone, in his most recent

book, The Cross and The Lynching Tree. Professor Cone began

the discussion of Black liberation theology in the 20th

century based on Christ centric narratives and the Hebrew

Bible. There may be cultural representations of “Blackness”

defined outside of categorical racism. Through

repositioning human values colored by the exploitation of

grotesque conditions within the modern social milieu,

social praxis in Black theology acknowledges the nature of

both the oppressed and their oppressors within a race-based

society.

51
 Professor of African American Religion and Theology at

Yale Divinity School Emilie Townes writes: “By looking at

the particular lives of Black folk, or more specifically,

particular manifestations of Black lives in the United

States through the stereotyping of Black femaleness, I

suggest that there is a window into understanding the

dynamic of systemic, structural evil in our societies.”8 The

author is interested in getting into the interior worlds of

those who endure evil in order to discover what truths may

be there. Townes argues that cultural conditioning and

systemic oppression demonstrate structural evil within

society. In her social critique, Townes writes: “The

fantastic imagination traffics in people’s lives that are

caricatured or pillages so that the imagination that

creates the fantastic can control the world in its own

image. This Imagination conjures up worlds and their social

structures that are not based on supernatural events and

phantasms, but on the ordinariness of evil.”9 For instance,

stereotypes of Black masculinity reflect the construction

of enslaved Africans in chattel slavery and the racist

8 Emilie Townes, Womanist Ethic and the Cultural Production

of Evil (New York, NY: Palgrave McMillan, 2006), 17.

9 Ibid., 21.

52
discourse that developed from it. Black men are often

stereotyped in hyper masculine terms, such as the “violent

buck” or “angry Black man.”

Negative stereotypes and profiling of Black identities

retain symbols of evil and oppression. Professor Roger A.

Sneed questions the values of Black liberation theology,

Womanist theology and other non-gay cultural critics in

Representations of Homosexuality. Sneed is concerned that

oppressive representations of homosexuality fail to embody

the possibilities of radical inclusion and suggests an

ethics of openness: “What this ethics seeks is a re-

presentation of the Golden Rule that Jesus Christ makes as

a maxim for his followers as the beginnings of a

reinterpretation of black experiences.”10 The Golden Rule of

love celebrates humanity and requires an ethical judgment

about how to treat other persons. Black gay theologian

Horace E. Griffin’s offers a response to the oppression of

Black gays and lesbians within the Black church in Their

Own Receive Them Not is a primer for pastoral caregivers.11

Griffin argues: “In the inheritance of the black church as

10 Roger Sneed, Representations of Homosexuality (New York, NY:

Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 192.

11 The Black church is an umbrella term and generally includes

Christian denominations that are led by African Americans.

53
the center of black people’s lives, black pastors as heirs

and keepers of this sacred canopy can lead others in

dismantling its sin of homophobia and heterosexual

supremacy.”12 Black liberation theology provides a means to

disrupt oppression and the discipline is currently evolving

in a means to liberate all.

Liberation

In his book, Dark Symbols and Obscure Signs, Riggins

B. Earl, Jr., is interested in the dark psychical

underpinnings of belief. The primary source for the

liberation motif in Earl’s theology is Black slave

narratives. Earl examines “God, Self, & Community in the

Slave Mind.” Admittedly Earl writes: “The basic assumption

in this study is that neither whites nor blacks had a

monopoly on the truth.”13 Dark Symbols and Obscure Signs

explores the nature of illumined Blackness as a defense

mechanism to social evil. In this book, illumination is

considered: “The birth of embodied soul consciousness, as

reflected in the slave community’s interpretation of the

conversion moment, was expressed as both a radical exterior

12 Horace Griffin, Their Own Receive Them Not (New York, NY:

Pilgrim Press, 2006), 223.

13 Riggins R. Earl, Jr. Dark Symbols, Obscure Signs, (New

York, NY: Orbis Books, 1993), 2.

54
and interior transformation of the self.”14 Black slaves

negotiated spirituality in order to transcend the hope of

bondage. Earl argues that White slave masters “had to

relate to the slave’s body as though it had no relational

value to his or her soul.”15 Many enslaved Africans imagined

their freedom. Language used to express illumined

Blackness is similar to terms in Judeo-Christian

apocalyptic literature. Illumined Black slaves reflected on

their spiritual life through narratives, oral traditions,

writings, and other folk songs about spiritual conversion.

Earl contests both individual and collective experiences

preserved the existential character of the Black slave

narratives.

Analysis

A dualism in anthropology and metaphysics is mediated

through the natural law Virgin Mary violates through her

modest pregnancy. While postmodern theology is critiqued

because of references to God as a cosmic life force, Marian

theology is also critiqued because of the dualism in

anthropology and metaphysics. Now, the virgin birth may be

14 Ibid., 58.

15 Ibid., 6.

55
assumed to be miraculous. How does one construct Marian

theology in order to incorporate illustrations of illumined

blackness? Professor Ingraffia writes: “Theology continues

to be that against which postmodernism defines its freedom:

the freedom to create one’s own values set against

submission to an absolute truth, the autonomy of human

beings set against obedience to a transcendent God, and the

free play of interpretation set against belief in any

final, authoritative meaning.”16 The Black Madonna statues

are considered powerful forms of religious art because of

their structure, meaning, and the role they play in making

theological reflections. In the next chapter, I will offer

a primer for further research regarding Black Mariology.

16 Brian Ingraffia, Postmodern Theory and Biblical Theology

(Europe: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 6.

56
 CHAPTER FOUR

DEFINING THE DISCIPLINE

I have discussed some ways The Black Madonna is

meaningful through an interdisciplinary thesis. Further

research is suggested. The study of the Black Madonna

should be methodological. Religious Studies is an

interdisciplinary field of theological reflection that does

not pit religions against each other, instead it

investigates how or why religion is an important feature to

human culture. According to Fiona Bowie in an introduction

to The Anthropology of Religion, there may be symbolic

understandings of religious research. Bowie writes:

In studying human society we are looking at both

ourselves and others, and the dialectical relationship
between self and other, the individual and the group,
lies at the heart of anthropology. “Who is this
other?” And what can the other tell us about
ourselves, our culture, our society?” The other may be
interpreted through the lens of phenomenological
religious and spiritual experiences. The author in
this introductory text to the anthropology of religion
asks, “Is religion universal, or will it soon
disappear under the weight of technology and reason?”
Symbols express meaning. “An anthropological approach
to a religion involves seeing how symbols, myths,
rituals, ethics, and experiences of “the sacred”
operate within, and are produced by, society.1

1 Fiona Bowie, The Anthropology of Religion (New York, NY: Wiley-

Blackwell Publishers: 2000), 39.

57
Topics in Religious Studies may range from Philosophy,

Literature, Sciences (social sciences, cosmology, or

natural/life sciences), and History.

Furthermore, Bowie states: “Any cosmological statement

of ritual practice is of interest not because it might or

might not be true, but for what it reveals of a coherent

body of thought that constitutes a culture and its social

structure.”2 Perhaps studying the Black Madonna may be

interpreted as heresy because of idolatry and witchcraft

associated with cultish superpowers and demoniacs that may

be conjured from the shadow of God. At the same time,

accusations that Marian worship is evil may be considered

rude.

A philosopher may illustrate the mood of contemporary

religious studies. Immanuel Kant states: “The concept of

God, then is one belonging originally not to physics, that

is, to speculative reason, but to morals, and the same can

be said of other concepts of reason which we treated above

as postulates of reason in its practical use.”3 Contrarily,

author of If not God, then What: Neuroscience Aesthetics

2 Ibid., 5.

3 Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason (Europe:

Cambridge University Press, 2010). Kindle Edition.

58
and the Origins of the Transcendent, neuroscientist Joshua

Fost states a scientific worldview about religion. Fost

theorizes that the same search for God in science in

religion is a function of the human brain. . .“You now

believe that the God you once saw as a personal and

transcendent figure is actually a special state of brain

excitation.”4 Fost suggests aesthetic and religious

experiences are motivated by neural activity in the frontal

cortex of the human brain and nothing else. Ontology refers

to knowledge about the nature of existing things.

Problem

The Black Madonna may be problematic in Religious

Studies because the veneration of the Black Madonna may be

associated with idolatry or paganism. The Black Madonna may

be in conflict with Christianity because superpowers

associated with the Virgin Mary may be associated with

evils in paganism. Beliefs in hell are a point of interest

for reflection about religious constructs. What we can know

for sure about what it means to be a human being is that

evil is present in the present human condition. Some

4 Joshua Fost, If not God, then What? (Portland, OR: Clearhead

Studies, Inc., 2007), 114. Kindle Edition.

59
religious scholars believe people who fall from grace are

damned to hell.

Vampires, demons, and satanic forces, nor the

geological bounds of hell are considered the problem of

evil. Beliefs in hell evoke imagery about devils, a lake of

fire, torture, and misery. Religious constructs for

afterlife are symbolic and useful for faith formation. The

aim of human development is a fully integrated self,

capable of imaging and perceiving their surroundings. Self-

identification and self- identification with objects over

the life course are subject to change. Cognitive

development suggests progression. For instance, children

have some structural knowledge of objects parallel to their

structure of ideas in language acquisition. During infancy,

a multi-faceted self emerges imaging and perceiving the

world. Throughout the course of development, information

and language is conveyed; thus, knowledge about reality

alters. The fully integrated self is able to negotiate free

will and judgment in order to develop individual

understandings of totality. For example in the biblical

book of Job, evil is a tension in the text. The Book of Job

represents more than a contemporary testimony of innocent

human suffering. Job experiences horrendous suffering,

60
deaths of his beloved, bad health, and financial loss. In

the end, Job discovers a reward for his righteousness to

God. Biblical relations between God and humanity, or

humanity and cosmos reflect an ongoing pursuit towards

justice within the Judeo-Christian Bible. The problem of

evil questions our existential fears.

Could God and hell and heaven all coexist within the

bounds of faith and reason? If hell were a function of

creation, how could the nature of God remain independent

from it? The concept of hell may be useful to deter bad

behavior. The fact that humans die is also a mystery of

Creation. Bad things often happen to good people. We could

all be wrong about religion.

This thesis is constructed through the lens of a

famous Christian thinker, St. Augustine of Hippo. S. Austin

and his place in the History of Christian Thought is an old

book written in 1886 by William Cunningham about the

Christian philosopher.5 A more recent book by historian

Peter Brown is more conclusive about the North African

bishop and writer. Peter Brown writes: “A Christian bishop

5 Cunningham suggests ‘Augustine’ is the longer Genevan form for

the name of the Christian philosopher. ‘Augustine’ is consistent with
contemporary biographies.

61
will regard Christianity and Roman civilization as

coterminous, as if any Christian virtue could exist among

the barbarians!”6 St. Augustine’s writings are timely.

St. Augustine theorized wickedness is drawn parallel

with Christian humanity. Social sin is a result of

humankind’s predisposition to evil. Social sin essentially

ravages the relationship between humanity and God, God and

cosmos, because sin results in separation from God.

Economics, globalization, terrorism, criminal justice,

militarism, health care, human rights, and the environment

are all useful areas in which social sin can happen.

Political Scientist Peter J. Henriot defines the parameters

of social sin as the following: “(1) Structures that

oppress human beings, violate human dignity, stifle

freedom, and impose gross inequality; (2) situations that

promote and facilitate individual acts of selfishness; (3)

the complicity of persons who do not take responsibility

for the evil being done.”7 Economic systems, lifestyle, and

the perpetuation of poverty and oppression illustrate a

complexity of social issues in the Hebrew Bible. Social sin

6 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A Biography (London: University

of California Press, 2000), 14.

7 Peter J. Henriot, "The Concept of Social Sin," Catholic

Mind: 71 (Oct. 1973); 38-53.

62
has many variations. Augustine’s philosophy is useful;

although it may be limited.

Augustine’s body of work continues to teach scholars

in the philosophy of religion. Cunningham states:

And so he sets before us a philosophy of History, -

the continuous evolution of the Divine Purpose in
human society: he contrasts the earthly polities which
change and pass with the eternal City of God which is
being manifested in the world: he shows how these two
are intermingled, interacting now, but how different
they are in real nature: one is of the earth, centered
on earthly things, while the other, because it has its
chief regard fixed on that which is Eternal, give us
the best rule for the things of time.8

Saint Augustine’s observations of the material world

compelled thought and religious conversion. Cunningham

writes: “Philosophy had discussed the being of God, and the

nature of good and evil, of human freedom, and of human

society before the Christian revelation came.”9 During the

4th Century, St. Augustine was Bishop of Hippo, a colony in

North Africa and he developed his religious understandings

in the faith of the Catholic Church. Augustine’s historical

purview is useful to interpret the expressions of Black

Madonna statues, which are ancient religious artifacts.

8 Ibid., 114.

9 William Cunningham, S. Austin and his place in the History of

Christian Thought (Europe: Cambridge University Press, 1886), 6.

63
 St. Augustine’s scholarship curates one seeking

mystery. Michael Humphries’ defense of religious history

acknowledges personal mythology. Humphries writes: “The

kingdom of God is a myth, it defines and protects a given

community over against another.”10 Myths reflect spiritual

orientation and provide the grounding information for a

religious worldview. Christian origins and the Language of

the Kingdom of God, is based on historical-critical

reflection. Ecclesia (theology of the Church) traces back

to the ancestors of faith recorded in the Hebrew Bible when

God contracted a covenant relationship with Israel

(children of God). In Pauline theology, the Church is a

community of saints. The term Church is useful to express

some parameters of the Kingdom of God in theological

scholarship. Humphries writes:

Late in the nineteenth century, following Immanuel

Kant’s rendering of the Christian religion as the
“universal religion of reason” and the kingdom of God
as the “(divine) ethical state on earth” (that is, any
social space governed by the “moral imperative”),
Idealism’s interpretation of Christian doctrine
appeared unassailable especially when centralizing

10 Michael Humphries, Christian Origins and the Language of

the Kingdom of God (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University
Press, 1999), 63.

64
 Kant’s ethical-religious reading of the kingdom in
theological discourse.11

Latter interpretations of Kingdom of God theology become

social gospel movements. It is not clear what genre of

literature myths belong.

Personal mythology may be limited to culture or

religious convictions. St. Augustine’s books and writings

contribute to Christian mythology. St. Augustine’s Doctrine

of Original Sin provides a useful response to accusations

of the Black Madonna’s contribution to evil. According to

this doctrine, humans suffer as a result of our

predisposition to evil ever since creation narratives in

Genesis.12 Augustine’s Doctrine of Original Sin suggests

that because of Adam and Eve’s unitary moral death human

beings suffer evil. There is no way to prove or deny God’s

specific reason for Adam and Eve’s punishment.

While kenosis may be properly understood as knowing

God’s identity, the symbolic world is limited to discovery

and interpretation. Biblical and historical contradictions

within the Genesis narratives regarding authorship and

11 Ibid., 45, Quoted references to Immanuel Kant. Die Religion

innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen Vernunft, 3d ed., Der Philosophischen

Bibliothek (Germany: Felix Meiner, 1903), 141.

12 Gen. 1- 3.

65
accuracy may limit interpretation of Augustine’s Doctrine

of Original Sin through the lens of mythology and

interpretive folklore. Eden’s representation of God’s power

in The Old Testament is a way to address the symbolism of

evil in classical theologian Paul Ricoeur’s thinking.

Ricoeur writes: “What is experienced as defilement, as sin,

as guilt, requires the mediation of a specific language,

the language of symbols.”13 Symbols function as semantic

expressions, giving rise to knowledge of Ultimate Reality.

Ricoeur states:

Behind speculation, and beneath gnosis and anti-

gnostic constructions, we find myths. Myth will here
be taken to mean what the history of religions mow
finds in it: not a false explanation by means of
images and fable, but a traditional narration which
relates to events that happened at the beginning of
time and which has the purpose of providing grounds
for the ritual actions of men of today and, in a
general manner, establishing all the forms of action
and thought by which man understands himself in his
world.14
God demonstrates an emotional attachment to humanity’s

success in the story of Noah and the Flood. As a

consequence of countless violations to righteousness, God

flooded the earth. Only Noah, Noah’s family, his ark, and

13 Paul Ricoeur, The Symbolism of Evil (New York, NY:

Harper& Row, 1967), 161.

14 Ibid., 5.

66
its contents survived. God promised never to flood the

earth again, and yet according to the religious legend

human beings would always be held accountable for their

sin. Sins that violate another’s human dignity or the earth

are considered social sin.

The Adamic myth in particular is a linchpin for the

origins of mankind’s inclination towards evildoing. In

Pagels’ book, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, Elaine Pagels

offers a critique of Augustine’s Doctrine of Original Sin.

Pagels outlines some flaws as (1) problematic use of

patriarchy and (2) philosophy based on retributive

suffering, and argues for alternative responses to the

origins of human suffering. Pagels presumes that “people

would rather feel guilty than helpless” in appealing to the

Doctrine of Original Sin.15 Pagels writes: “Both the cause

and the meaning of suffering, as [Augustine] sees it, lie

in the sphere of moral choice, not nature.”16 Thus, the

Doctrine of Original Sin may only cure a sense of self-

blame for individuals who experience human suffering. The

Doctrine of Original Sin claims all suffering is due to the

15 Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (New York, NY: Random
House, 1998), 146.

16 Ibid., 147.

67
moral judgment of Adam and Eve. Augustine’s explanation of

evil may be reprehensible to account for the sufferings of

innocent victims to violent crimes.

Philosopher Alvin Plantinga offers a reasoned response

to the problem of evil. Plantinga’s “Free Will Defense”

exonerates the role of God in causing human suffering

through the lens of deductive reasoning. First, he argues a

logical proof for God. Even as omnipotent as God could be,

God could not create a world with morally free beings who

would never participate in some moral evil. When innocent

individuals experience suffering, their sufferings are

contemporary. God’s gift of free will exonerates his role

from evil and holds the volition of those who participate

in moral evil accountable. Because of human autonomy and

our morally significant free will, God cannot be held

responsible for human beings’ moral judgment. Natural

disasters are not accounted for in Plantinga’s theodicy.

Iranaean theorist John Hick’s approach is based on the

theological framework of St. Iraneus. Hick rejects

Plantinga’s Free Will Difference, the idea of “the fall”

and “disharmony of nature.”17

17 John Hick, Evil and the God of Love, Rev. ed. (New York,

NY: Harper & Row, 1978), 392.

68
 Irenaean theodicy defines “the vale of soul making” to

address evils in the world, to show how evil may be useful.

Hick’s philosophy of religion concludes that we live in a

“person-making world.” Humans evolve from moral animals

into a more spiritual and personal plane through Hick’s

idea of “universal salvation.” Hick’s explanations for our

epistemic distance from God and God’s interest in

“universal salvation” during the afterlife for all beings

are antithetical to Christian orthodoxy. Hick writes: “We

have thus far, then, the hypothesis that one is created at

an epistemic distance from God in order to come freely to

know and love the Maker; and that one is at the same time

created as a morally immature and imperfect being in order

to attain through freedom the most valuable quality of

goodness.”18

A theodicy is a defense of God. In his book, The Evils

of Theodicy, Terrence W. Tilley states: “Theodicy is truly

an impractical practice.”19 Tilley argues that theodicy

silences sufferers, and thus it is an impractical discourse

for persons enduring human suffering. Tilley’s analysis

18 Ibid., 397.

19 Terrence Tilley, Evils of Theodicy (Europe: Wiph and Stokck

Pubbs, 2000), 251.

69
presumes theodicy is an Enlightenment strategy. He

recommends that the “power of God” be reconciled and

declarative statements about the nature of God in the human

condition change. Some theologians suggest God allows human

suffering to test our faiths or to gratuitously encourage

“greater good.” Others argue God does not cause human

suffering at all, instead humans suffer because of the

probability and chance evils will happen in a freedom-based

moral society. Free will and what humans do with it is

another conversation.

Conclusion

I could have chosen to dissect religious cultures that

experience their community under the cult of Black Virgin

mythologies. I contend we all search for understandings

about our embodied selves through the material world.

Environmentalist Dr. Clifford Cain states:

Rather than contemplating the Infinite in the endless

mirrors of the world of Creation that reflect the
Divine attributes and Qualities, man turns to the
material world for his infinite thirst, never
satisfied with what he has on the material plane,
directing an unending source of energy to the natural
world with the result that it transforms the order of
nature into the chaos and ugliness we observe so
painfully today in so many parts of the globe and
which bear the mark of modem man’s activities.20

20 Clifford Cain, An Ecological Theology (Lewiston, NY:

Lexington Books, 2012), 85.

70
Linda Birnbaum’s book Black Madonnas: Feminism, religion,

and politics in Italy illustrates how the cult of Black

Virgins helps to empower people. Birnbaum exposes Italian

Marian spiritualties, as a social structure that connects a

people with their basic social needs. The liberal studies

program will benefit from the protocol established in the

appendix for a snippet of the author’s ethical obligations.

Augustinian mythology suggests religious symbols have been

useful to interpret sacred culture for a very long time.

The Black Madonna is a useful construct from Antiquity that

we can examine to suggest God (God’s power) is present

during human suffering. Augustinian mythology informs

understanding Black Mariology.

Biblical References

A Biblical dictionary states: “Socially enacted

historical realities that were expected to bring about

functional changes in patterns of behaviors or covenant as

formal or symbolic dogmatic concepts were supposed to be

the objects of tradition and belief.”21 The Biblical concept

of covenant is defined: “The instrument constituting the

21 David Noel Freeman, ed., Anchor Bible Dictionary (Europe:

Doubleday, 1992), 1180.

71
role (or kingdom) of God. Covenant describes a deliberate

relationship between God and Israel (the people of GOD).”22

The Biblical concept of covenant primarily functions as a

promissory note, laying out binding responsibilities for

the vassal of a sovereign being. Further the Anchor Bible

Dictionary states: “The divine charter theology and

literary motif are classified as covenant” in the biblical

tradition simply because in these three traditions of

promises (to David, Abraham, and Noah), it is Yahweh who

swears to perform certain acts for the benefit of the

recipient and his descendants in perpetuity.”23

The Biblical concept of covenant seeks to provide a

structure for Israel’s political and social life.

Conceptually, covenant should not be marginalized if it is

the symbolic undertone for contemporary social gospel. Two

major forms of Covenant in the Old Testament are The Sinai

Covenant and The Davidic Covenant. God’s pacts with David,

Abraham, and Noah are historical narratives within The Old

Testament.

The legal structure of The Sinai Covenant is

introduced by the following phrase: “I am the God who

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid., 1189.

72
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery (and

therefore serve me and not others).”24 The Davidic Covenant

is an important point of progression in understanding the

role of God in the meditations mentioned in The Sinai

Covenant. The Sinai Covenant describes the origins of

social structures in Israel and formally introduces a moral

code for God’s people. Also known as the Ten Words (Ten

Commandments), The Sinai Covenant establishes a set of

prohibitions and sacral obligations for God’s people to

follow. The Sinai Covenant constitutes an institution of

religious reality in the context of “Israel.”

The Davidic Covenant illustrates the belief of a

coming messiah. The Anchor Bible Dictionary states:

“Prophetic “messianism” envisioned God eventually

reestablishing [God’s] his rule over his people, but

through an ideal Davidite who governs not by any well-known

“material” means of politics but through “spiritual means

and by the force of moral example.”25 The Davidic Covenant

constitutes God’s Kingdom into Perpetuity on earth. Another

important function of the Davidic Covenant is its

24 Exodus 20:1

25 Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1191.

73
Christological allusions for what is to come and for what

will be Jeremiah’s prophecy of a “New Covenant” following

the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem as a result of their

sin.

Why is this important?

Interpreting God through the material world is a

primary approach in anthropological religion. Black

Mariology suggests God’s activity in the material world.

Social associations and symbols change over time, but Black

Madonna artifacts clue us to a history of religion. Bowie

states: “It is the human ability to use the body as a

symbol. As a cipher with which to think and to impose

meaning on the world which gives the left-right polarity

its signification.”26 Through the senses, we perceive the

Black Madonna. Archaeologists who study artifacts may find

merit within religious myths to interpret a history of

religion. Mariology is useful to interpret the Black

Madonna.

There are contradicting religious myths embedded in

different world religious perspectives of Black Madonna.

Belief or disbelief in the existence of God requires us to

think about why human agents exist and what it means to be

26 Ibid., 43.

74
a human being. Ancient sacred texts may have inspired

religious beliefs. In the school of Rene Descartes, his

moral philosophy, “I think, therefore I am,” elucidates the

moral pulse of my research. Moral agents sense meaning

through reality in order to make informed decisions about

their religiosity. Atheists and people of faith share an

assumption that humans discover and interpret religious

meaning.

75
 APPENDIX:

PROTOCOL

1. Personal Religious Life and Habits:

a. What are your views of the character and source of

the Christian life? The Body and Narrative of Jesus

Christ provide insight to the character and source

of the Christian life. The character is bold,

truthful, and reverent. By the blood of The Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ our sins are washed away, by the

Word, we are made to be righteous according to the

gifts of The Holy Spirit and sanctification. Our

ethical standard was justified at Calvary, yet

principled by ancient oracles in the Law of Moses.

b. How may we know that we are partakers of this life?

Belief and confession. A personal, fruitful

relationship with The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

will cause a person to crucify their flesh daily.

c. What are the evidences of a divine call to the

ministry? Behavior in personal and shared gifts of

The Holy Spirit. A pastoral witness will evangelize,

educate, and bring Christian service to others

through various missions.

76
d. What do you consider to be the main duties of the

ministerial office and the necessary qualifications

for the discharge of them? God, The Lord Jesus

Christ, and the leadership of The Church shall

govern the body. The minister will provide prayerful

congregational care and benevolent militancy in the

service of The Church of our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ.

e. By what means may these qualifications be

cultivated? The community will provide checks and

balances to cultivate qualifications, education,

physical health, and morality to cultivate the

qualifications for ministerial office.

f. Give your views of the nature and importance of

Pastoral Visitation, and state the amount of

attention you give to it. The Holy Spirit visits

frequently and necessarily. A Pastoral Visitation is

ethically best a patron-client relationship

disciplined by sexual morality. The importance of

Pastoral Visitation is to bring hope and share

compassion. When dealing with a difficult client,

evidence of the Pastor’s giftedness by The Holy

Spirit and a timely exit is suggested. Client

77
 confidentiality shall be maintained unless

information is shared that will bring harm to

oneself or another. The pastor may provide spiritual

care and not medical care during crises and trauma.

g. Inform us of your general habits of study? Diet,

preparation, and routine.

2. Examination of the Bible

a. In what sense do you consider the Bible to be the

Word of God, and by what arguments do you sustain

your views? The Bible is the living Word of God

that can be understood with study and careful

examination. The Canon of Scriptures deserve a

critical eye; it is to be sustained with others.

b. Explain what is meant by the phrase “Canon of

Scripture.” Is the Lord of our early church

fathers the same Lord mentioned in The Old and

The New Testaments? ‘Canon of Scripture’ refers

to the authenticity and credibility of historical

Biblical literature.

c. Distinguish between the genuineness and

authenticity and credibility of a book. Check the

date the book was accessed to select the title,

78
 the author, the publisher, and the place of

publishing.

d. Give a synopsis of the argument establishing the

genuineness of the books contained in the

received Canon of the New Testament. In the Early

Church, authorship of New Testament books were

critiqued. The debate was concerned about

preserving the classic narrative of The Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ, its historicity, and the

affirmation of Jewish prophecy.

e. In what sense do Protestants affirm and Romanists

deny that the scriptures form a complete and

infallible rule of faith and practice. Some may

believe in the gnostic understanding of truth.

f. State when the authorized version of the Bible

appeared and how it was produced. The Bible was

written in Hebrew and Greek. When I was growing

up my Bible teacher taught us that “the words in

red” were spoken by Jesus. Early versions of the

Hebrew Bible appeared primitively.

g. Name the great Annual Festivals of the Jews, and

also state what they were designed to commemorate

and how they were observed. The Great Annual

79
 Festivals of the Jews were Holy Days, to be

observed with solemnity. Jewish Holidays: Yom

Kippur: The Day of Atonement, the Passover

(Passover commemorates justice in the liberation

of Israel) and Shabbat Sabbath (a holiday for

reverence and adoration and worship) are festival

days for the people.

h. Name the principal prophets, the periods in which

they prophesied and the particular burdens of

their prophecy. Principal Prophets: (Pre- Destiny

Period): Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, and Jeremiah;

(Post-Destiny): John the Baptist, Jesus, Mary,

and the twelve disciples. The prophets were

burdened by their experiences in the community.

Prophets speak out against social injustices.

i. Give from the life of our Lord some illustrations

of His regard for Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus

of Nazareth regarded the Torah with faith.

j. What predictions relate to Christ, especially to

the time of His coming? Christ will return.

Office? Lord. Death? Christ lives.

k. Of what periods of the life of our Lord have we

historical records? And over how long a period

80
 did His ministry extend? Thirty-three years, our

Lord lived before Romans killed The Lord.

l. Describe the principal events and localities of

His ministry. Jesus was a native of Nazareth (a

village in Galilee). Jesus changes water to wine

at Cana. Jesus cleans lepers in Jerusalem. Jesus

heals at Bethany, Capernaum, and Gennesaret.

Jesus catches fish near the sea. Jesus operates

inside and outside of the temple.

m. State the leading facts recorded in the Acts of

the Apostles. When the Holy Ghost came, the

people received powered, after the life of Jesus

Christ was restored in the community, and the

Lord Jesus Christ ascended, in the company of

Early Saints.

n. What is a miracle? Enacted reality. A miracle is

a representation of God’s activity within the

human condition and the world.

81
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