Mary

What happens when a Catholic priest and an evangelical pastor sit down to talk honestly about Mary?

For centuries, Mary has been honored, debated, misunderstood, and sometimes avoided. Catholics and Protestants alike recognize her as the mother of Jesus, yet they often approach her with very different questions, traditions, and assumptions.

In Mary: A Conversation Across Traditions, Father Michael Pacella III, PhD, and Dr. John W. Stanko explore those differences without trying to erase them. Stanko considers Mary primarily through Scripture and an evangelical understanding of faith, purpose, and discipleship, while Pacella draws from Scripture, Church history, the Church Fathers, and Catholic and Orthodox tradition to explain why Mary has occupied such an important place in historic Christianity.

Along the way, the two discover considerable common ground. They also model something increasingly rare: Christians listening to one another, asking honest questions, maintaining their convictions, and learning from someone whose tradition differs from their own.

This is not a debate with a winner and loser. It is an invitation to reconsider Mary, better understand fellow Christians, and ultimately look again to the One to whom Mary consistently pointed-Jesus Christ.

Perhaps Mary's own words provide the best invitation:
"Do whatever he tells you." - John 2:5