Medjugorie Mary apparitions – Letter to the Editor
I enjoyed the article on the alleged apparitions of Mary in the November/December 2002 issue. However, I was surprised that the author never referred to Sandra L. Zimdars-Swartz’s voluminous book Encountering Mary. Although this book is hard to find, it is the most detailed sociological account of the various Marian apparitions available. This book is extensively referred to by Joe Nickell in Looking for a Miracle, which did appear in the author’s bibliography.
Jonathan Harvey
starperson@rockermail.com
Young female (and male) rustics have been seeing strange people for quite some rime. Before the rise of Christianity, what they saw was a local goddess and the place became a shrine. After the rise of Christianity, what they saw was (appropriately enough) the Virgin Mary–and the place became a shrine. Are we really to believe that all of these manifestations were the result of “the broadest social forces”? Is it nor more likely that they are the result of newly active hormones affecting their perceptions?
The appropriation and use of these appearances by the nearest power structure willing to use it is hardly unusual or unexpected. I have no doubt it has happened many times (if not every time) in the past. I do find it amusing that the Virgin Mary was somehow used as a weapon against the Eastern Orthodox. Muslims, perhaps; but Orthodox Christians–I’m not doubting that it happened, but that was quite a trick.
Paul Person
Seattle, Washington
COPYRIGHT 2003 Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
