In this lecture, we examine how methodological assumptions about Scripture—rather than explicit theological disagreement—have shaped Protestant views of the Virgin Mary. Specifically, we analyze how reading the New Testament in its printed order rather than its historical order of composition creates a misleading impression of Marian doctrine as an early, fading element of Christianity rather than a mature and authoritative teaching of the Church.

The talk begins by identifying commonly held assumptions in Protestant biblical interpretation: that the Gospels represent primitive narrative theology, that the Epistles represent later doctrinal maturity, and that frequency of mention indicates theological importance. These assumptions appear reasonable when Scripture is read from beginning to end as a bound volume—but they collapse once the actual chronology of the New Testament is taken seriously.

Drawing on historical evidence accepted by Protestant scholarship itself, this presentation demonstrates that the Epistles and Acts were written before the Gospels, and that the Gospels therefore represent the Church’s mature, reflective, and authoritative testimony to Christ. When read chronologically, the apparent “silence” about Mary in Acts and the Epistles no longer suggests marginality, but rather presupposition.

Special attention is given to the Gospel of St. John, the final Gospel written, which deliberately places Mary at two decisive moments in salvation history:

• at Cana, where her intercession inaugurates Christ’s public ministry
• at the Cross, where her motherhood is extended to the beloved disciple and, by extension, to the Church

Rather than correcting or minimizing Marian doctrine, John confirms and deepens it in Scripture’s most theologically developed witness.

This talk concludes by arguing that the Protestant reading order of Scripture produces an illusion of doctrinal regression that disappears once Scripture is read as it was written—over time, within the living Church. Far from being an optional or emotional early devotion, Marian doctrine emerges as an integral consequence of the Incarnation itself.

Topics covered include:

• Scripture reading order vs. historical chronology
• Gospels as authoritative conclusions, not primitive beginnings
• Why silence in the Epistles does not imply doctrinal unimportance
• The decisive Marian theology of the Gospel of John
• Mary as essential to a concrete, historical understanding of the Incarnation

This presentation is intended for Catholics, Protestants, and anyone interested in serious biblical theology, Church history, and the proper interpretation of Sacred Scripture.

Mr. William C. Michael, O.P. Headmaster Classical Liberal Arts Academy https://classicalliberalarts.com

Mr. William C. Michael, O.P. Headmaster Classical Liberal Arts Academy https://classicalliberalarts.com

Schism in Christianity is usually explained in terms of personalities, politics, scandals, or discipline. But those explanations never seem to reach the root of the problem. In this talk, I argue that the deepest cause of schism in the Church is not moral or historical, but philosophical. Beneath many modern disagreements—between Protestants and Catholics, and even among Catholics themselves—lies a hidden metaphysical assumption about where the Christian faith exists. Is the faith an abstract ideal that can exist apart from the visible Church? Or does it exist only as embodied, historical, and concrete? Drawing on the classical distinction between Platonism and Aristotelianism, this lecture examines how different understandings of truth, form, and reality lead to radically different views of the Church, the Incarnation, the Eucharist, and Christ’s promises of indefectibility. We will explore: Why schism cannot be explained adequately by history or politics alone How both Protestant and “Traditionalist Catholic” positions often share the same hidden assumption Why the Catholic Church’s self-understanding is fundamentally incarnational, not ideal How the doctrines of infallibility and indefectibility depend on a realist metaphysics Why “Outside the Church there is no salvation” ultimately means that Christianity cannot exist as an abstraction This is not a polemic against persons or groups. It is an attempt to uncover an unexamined philosophical error that quietly undermines Christian unity—and to show why the Catholic understanding of the Church alone coheres with both reason and Revelation. If you have ever asked: Why Christianity keeps dividing Whether the Church can lose the faith Where the “true faith” actually exists, or Why the Church must be visible --this talk is for you.

Mr. William C. Michael, O.P. Headmaster Classical Liberal Arts Academy https://classicalliberalarts.com