Mother of God: Anglicans and the Marian Dogmas
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On November 4, 2025, the Roman Catholic Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a long-anticipated document on St. Mary, Mother of Jesus. Specifically, this document, Mater Populi Fidelis, addresses two titles that many Catholics have been ascribing to Mary for some time now: “Co-redemptrix” and “Mediatrix”. While some expected Rome to dogmatize these titles in the document, the Vatican surprised many by cautioning against their use. Central to their reasoning was that the terms “risk obscuring Christ’s unique salvific mediation.”
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As far as the Vatican was concerned, the matter was settled: there would be no new Marian dogma to which the Catholic Church would be bound. This brings us to the purpose of this article: what is a Marian dogma? How many are there? Do Anglicans have Marian dogmas, or dogmas at all?
Dogma vs. Doctrine
To begin addressing these questions, let’s first compare dogma and doctrine. While doctrine can address any number of church teachings, dogma is a type of doctrine that has been divinely revealed and formally declared as such by the church. Generally, when we think of dogma, we think of essential teachings surrounding Christ and the Godhead. The Trinity and the two natures of Christ are examples of dogmas. These teachings have been divinely revealed through Scripture and affirmed by the church through time and place (at the Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon, respectively). Dogma is not optional, cannot be changed, and is essential to our identity as Christians.
Marian dogmas are teachings regarding Mary that the church has elevated beyond mere doctrine to the level of dogma. The Roman Catholic Church currently has four Marian dogmas: her Divine Motherhood, her Perpetual (lifelong) Virginity, her Immaculate Conception, and her Assumption into heaven. Note here that “immaculate conception” refers to Mary’s conception free from original sin and sinless life, not the virgin birth of Christ. If you are a Roman Catholic, belief in these doctrines is mandatory. They sit at the highest level of authority and certainty in the church alongside the Trinity and two natures of Christ. So what about Anglicans? How do we view the Marian dogmas, and what differences exist between our view of dogma and Rome’s?
The Ecclesial Limits of the Church
Article Twenty of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (one of the historic Anglican Formularies and the primary summary of Anglican theology) says this of the church’s authority to define doctrine:
The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: and yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation.
Article Twenty, The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
Article Twenty lays out the church’s authoritative limits. While the church does have the authority to settle doctrine, it does not have the authority to ordain “any thing that is contrary to God’s Word”. Further, the church cannot enforce any doctrine that does not explicitly come from Scripture. Article Six states,
Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith…
Article Six, The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
The term “necessary to salvation” is key because dogmatic teachings represent what the church believes are essential truths at the core of the gospel message. The church considers them at least generally necessary to salvation.
The Full Deposit of Faith
Roman Catholics and Protestants agree that Christ and the Apostles delivered the full deposit of faith. Yet, Roman Catholics maintain that this deposit was conveyed both in Scripture and in unwritten apostolic tradition. Anglicans, in line with the Protestant reformers, affirm that the entire Apostolic Deposit is contained in Holy Scripture alone. These distinctions carry obvious implications for the church’s limits.
For Anglicans, the church can’t dogmatize anything not explicitly laid out in Scripture because Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation and the entirety of the Apostolic Deposit. The church may carry authority to speak on issues not mentioned in Scripture, and it often does, but it does not have the authority to dogmatize them.
This addresses the most significant difference between the Roman and Anglican views of dogma. Where Rome holds to the infallibility of both Scripture and tradition (the teaching authority of the church), Anglicans hold to the sole infallibility of Scripture. Tradition is essential, but still capable of error. Since, for Catholics, tradition is equal in authority to Scripture, the church carries the authority to declare dogmas on issues not expressed in Scripture. However, since Anglicans view tradition as subordinate to Scripture, the church has authority only to dogmatize what Scripture itself proclaims.
Do Anglicans Affirm any Marian Dogmas?
So, what does this have to do with Mary? Do Anglicans affirm any of the Marian dogmas? Actually, yes! Anglicans affirm Mary’s divine motherhood, or her title as “Theotokos” (God-bearer). While “Theotokos” is a title for Mary, it has much more to do with identifying Christ than it does his mother. In his gospel, St. John affirms this truth when he says, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
The Mother of God
Affirming Mary as the mother of God, as opposed to merely the mother of Christ, clearly proclaims Christ’s divinity. God did not metaphorically become man, nor did God insert a human Jesus with divinity later in his life. Rather, Christ is fully God and fully man, and Mary’s title as “Mother of God” reflects that truth. This teaching was the focal point of the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD and reflects the biblical teaching of Christ’s birth of the Virgin Mary. So that is one dogma, but what about the other three?
Later Marian Dogmas
While the Anglican Church does affirm the dogma of Mary as the Mother of God, it does not affirm the latter three Marian dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. This includes the Perpetual Virginity, the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption of Mary. Regarding the Immaculate Conception, Article Fifteen, On Christ Alone Without Sin, argues that all human beings are guilty of sin:
But all we the rest, although baptized and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things; and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,and the truth is not in us.
Article Fifteen, The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
While Roman Catholics have presented arguments that attempt to explain how Mary could be born without original sin and still be in need of a savior, the Articles do not seem to allow for such lenient interpretations—affirming alongside 1 John 1:8 that all (other than Christ) are guilty of sin, including St. Mary.
As for the Perpetual Virginity and Assumption of Mary, it is important to note that the church does not outright reject these doctrines, but it does refuse to dogmatize them because neither teaching is directly mentioned in Scripture. Because of the lack of biblical testimony, the church would be wrong to bind these teachings to the conscience of every Christian. Anglicans are largely free to interact with and affirm these doctrines at their own discretion, but the church must not enforce them. This brings us to an essential tenet of Anglican practice: freedom in adiaphora, or “indifferent things.”
Adiaphora in the Anglican Tradition
The term adiaphora refers to secondary matters of faith. These are either not mentioned in Scripture, are open to numerous orthodox interpretations, or are spiritually neutral. Anglicans have a high level of freedom in secondary matters that may surprise outsiders from a Roman Catholic or Reformed tradition. The Marian doctrines that meet these criteria are no different. For example, while many Protestants today reject the Perpetual Virginity of Mary (Rome’s second dogma), it is the long-held majority position of the church, even by the first generation of Reformers.
The Perpetual Virginity
Today, many Anglicans still hold to the Perpetual Virginity as a matter of personal conviction. However, because of the lack of testimony in Scripture (and even possible evidence against it), the church identifies this as an adiaphora issue. Proponents of this view often cite two biblical arguments. First, the Greek word for “brother” can also mean “cousin,” which may be the case when Scripture refers to the brothers of Christ. Second, that Jesus’ siblings may also come from a previous marriage of Joseph’s.
While neither view would generally be seen as the “plain reading” of the text of Scripture, those who affirm it often point to the longstanding testimony of the church in upholding these particular interpretations.
The Assumption of Mary
While it is far less common among Anglicans to affirm the Assumption of Mary, Anglo-Catholics sometimes do so. Apart from Jesus’ ascension, there are two instances in the Bible in which people are taken up or assumed into heaven by God.
- Genesis 5:24 tells us that Enoch was “taken up” by God.
- 2 Kings 2 tells the story of Elijah being taken up into heaven and leaving Elisha to succeed him in his earthly ministry.
The New Testament tells no such story of Mary being taken up into heaven. However, it does not tell us of Mary’s death either. This would be one defense from a biblical perspective, albeit an argument from silence. While Anglicans have the freedom to affirm the Assumption of Mary, Article Twenty-Two teaches against the practice of intercession and seeking guidance from her, which is often associated with this belief.
The Plain Reading of Scripture
The church’s limits in these secondary matters do not mean the laity has unrestricted freedom to believe whatever they want so long as the church hasn’t condemned it. The whole church, including the laity, is held to the standard outlined in the Thirty-Nine Articles. Canon 2 of GAFCON‘s Jerusalem Declaration states this principle well:
The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.
Canon 2, The Jerusalem Declaration
The church does not have to specifically identify an individual issue to make it illicit for the body. For example, the Marian titles “Co-redemptrix” and “Mediatrix” violate the plain, canonical, and consensual reading of Scripture. While they may have historical roots, they are novel readings of Scripture that, at best, distort the catholic and apostolic faith, as the Vatican itself argued. Anglicans have not had the same problem as Rome regarding the popular use of these titles, and so releasing a similar statement would be largely unnecessary. Some issues may be less clear than others. However, Anglicans are still beholden to this principle of biblical fidelity expressed in the Thirty-Nine Articles and laid out in the Jerusalem Declaration.
Final Thoughts
While many Roman Catholics were waiting with bated breath to see whether Mater Populi Fidelis would introduce a fifth Marian dogma, Anglican observers knew that such a scenario would never occur within their own ecclesial structure. The English Reformers were courageous in their fierce defense of Scripture as the church’s sole infallible authority.
The church has a special responsibility as a witness and keeper of Holy Writ—to proclaim and preserve the faith once delivered to the saints—but she must never mistake her responsibility to preserve God’s Word revealed in Scripture with a divine mandate to determine articles of faith that go beyond the scope of it. We should rejoice as Anglicans in our freedom to hold differing beliefs in secondary matters while uniting around our common commitment to the Gospel as revealed in Scripture, which contains all things necessary to salvation, and can neither be added to nor subtracted from.
Image: Statue outside the Dominican Church, Alsace, France. Photo by benedek from Getty Images Signature, courtesy of Canva. Digitally edited by Jacob Davis.
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