Zawsze Dziewica Maryja w wierze i teologii Kościoła

Abstract

Just after II Vatican Council theological consideration on the subject of virginity of Mary was still dominated by the old, precouncil terminology, which employed biological and anatomical terms. The authors of the Dutch Catechism published in 1966 moved from one extreme to the other devoting just one sentence to the virginity of Mary. H. Küng goes further still, by saying in Christ sein that the virginity of Mary, or the virgin conception of Jesus – being merely a fairly significant symbol of a new beginning made by God in Christ – does not belong to the essence of the Gospel. Many theologians, Catholic ones among them, question today both the dogmatic status of this doctrine and its contents. They opt for just symbolic or spiritual dimension of virginity. In order to avoid such misunderstandings, the paper presents a theological interpretation of the doctrine of semper virgo in a wide redemptive and ecclesia! context. Such an interpretation shows virginity as a sign of a dual dimension: the betrothed covenant between acting God and man and the birth of a new human being whose life stems from the Holy Spirit.