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Summary: SCOTT HAHN'S LOVE FOR MARY TRUELY SHINES
Review: SCOTT HAHN HAS DONE IT AGAIN!!! He never fails to write books that bring Catholic theology down to the level of a typical lay person. What comes through even more clearly in his latest book HAIL HOLY QUEEN is his love for and devotion to Mary as Mother of God. He also manages to shead light on areas of Catholic theology that have previously been difficult, if not impossible for non-Catholics to completely understand. As with all of Scott Hahn's books, you will love and appreciate this book even if you don't happen to be Catholic. If any non-Catholic has questions about what makes us tick, Scott Hahn is one of the first apologists I would recommend to them. Since he is a convert with an evangelical background, he can help Protestants to understand their Catholic brothers in a new way. Since he is a former Protestant, he can also help his Catholic brothers and sisters understand their Protestant brothers and sisters in a better way. In HAIL HOLY QUEEN, he does this through helping both Catholics and Protestants understand Mary's special role in Christian history and theology. THIS BOOK IS A TRUE CHRISTIAN ACHIEVEMENT. I would recommend it to anyone.
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Summary: Excellent introduction to Marian beliefs
Review: Scott Hahn has been explaining Catholic beliefs to Catholics, as well as to non-Catholics, for the past decade. In this 2001 work he addresses a key area of Catholic belief that often confuses and scandalizes many Protestant Christians and maybe no few Catholics as well. His subject is, of course, Mary and the major dogmas surrounding her (i.e. Perpetual Virginity, Mother of God, Immaculate Conception, Assumption into Heaven, Queen and Mother to all Christians). He roots much of his approach in a typological understanding of Scripture texts but does not ignore literal meanings either. It is thus in keeping with the methodology of early Christian writers and a modern eye-opener to deeper understandings of Revelation. In this he takes serious Pope John Paul II's call for Scripture students to study the Fathers. His style and material are written at a level easily accessible and enjoyable to the general public. No average reader should fear this book as being "beyond" their understanding. While his text is serious but not heavy in content, Mr. Hahn continues his playful practice from other works of making corny puns with chapter and section headings. For example: "I Dream of Geneology" introduces his short excursion into the geneologies of Matthew and Luke. "Fetal Attraction" introduces a section on the Annunciation and the reason for her title as Mother of God. One final example, "Mary Had a Little Man" leads into part of his examination of Revelation 11-12 and Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant. They can seem a bit irreverent but do add levity to things. As a faithful general introduction to the scriptural roots of Catholic Marian beliefs this book is a must. It deals with all the main dogmas but in a largely non-polemical way. This makes it a safe book for a Catholic to lend to a Protestant inquirer. For a more in-depth, challenging, and polemical examination of the same issues I would recommend Robert Payesko's "The Truth About Mary" in three volumes. It is virtually a definitive work.
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Summary: I FINALLY understand!!
Review: I have been Catholic for only 14 years now, and if there has been one area of Catholicism that I have struggled with as a convert, it is our relationship with Mary. Thank you, Scott Hahn, for writing this book! You took my hand and lovingly introduced me to my TRUE mother, and simply made me fall in love with her. I highly recommend this book to anyone who struggles with the Catholic understanding of Mary. Scott Hahn gives beautiful testimony that is hard to dispute, and shows us how important it is we look to Mary as mother in the family of God. You will be blessed by this book!
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Summary: A good balance of spiritual & historical-critical exegesis
Review: Having grown up Catholic in the fifties and sixties, with little or no devotion to Mary, I drew most of my adult understanding of scripture from popular "mainstream" Catholic biblical scholars like Father Raymond Brown. While I still get many insights from reading scripture in that older, exclusively critical style, still, after a while, I find that it gets a little old and sterile. So what is so different about Hahn? More than just a refreshing writing style, it's the way he ties modern biblical scholarship together with patristic and medieval ways of reading Scripture. As Catholics, we should not have to choose between ancient or modern. After re-reading "Hail, Holy Queen," I even find myself praying a daily rosary, something I have not done since Vatican II, even though I graduated from Holy Rosary High School.
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Summary: Sound and lucid; very easy to read
Review: I had just finished Scott Hahn's book ROME SWEET HOME when I saw this book; I am glad I picked it up.HAIL, HOLY QUEEN is the easiest-to-read study on Marian teachings I have found, yet Hahn keeps grounding his statements by referencing back to the Early Church Fathers as well as scripture; but don't be surprised to find "short and sweet" statements that sum up the theological foundation in simple logic. This book, as the foreword states, is a book that you must read seriously to get all it has to offer, and probably will have to read more than once (I am ready to re-read it). I does address any objection I have come across on Marian theology, and highly recommend it if you wish to learn about Catholic Marian teachings.
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Summary: A very poor work of scholarship!
Review: Dr. Scott Hahn book is simply not up to par with modern principles of hermenutics. For the most part Dr. Hahn basically uses the old Alexandrian method of allegorical interpretaion, a method which has been thouroughly cast aside by everyone except the most extremely fanatically conservative Catholic, and even great Catholic scholars like Raymond Brown, Luke Timothy Johnson, and Joseph Fitzmyer would disaasociate themselves from Dr. Hahn's hermeutical methodology. The book is also very poorly documented, and in the last chapter of the book Dr. Hahn's self-praise of his apologetical abilities seems to go to far, and sounds a bit like hubris to me. While I could write a rather long review of this work, I figure that anyone who is reading this review already has an intrest in this topic so let me recommened another work which I am convinced deals rather justly with Dr. Hahn's view of Mary, "Who Is My Mother?" by Eric Svendsen is an outstanding work on the subject of Mary.
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Summary: Proof Positive
Review: Dr. Hahn provides all the proof you will ever need of the legitimacy of our Blessed Mother through the Old Testament and New Testament scriptures. He really uses his knowledge of the Scriptures well. Does a good job explaining Mary's role in our Salvation. Read this with your Bible in hand to get the most out of it. His style is always fun and energetic (his chapter titles alone are great). He is one of the easiest authors to read. I think I was expecting to get stories of Our Lady through visions and apparitions, etc. This is more of a very well written catechesis.
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Summary: Even better the second time
Review: I just finished re-reading this book last week, to prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception for the first time as a Catholic. The first time that I read it was right before entering the Church this past Easter. It answered all of my questions and objections then, but now a second reading lit a fire of love inside of me for Christ and His Mother. My favorite part of the book is the story of Scott Hahn's encounter with that Carmelite priest, Fr. Kilian Healy, who wrote the book on the Assumption. I didn't realize until now that Fr. Healy is the same man who wrote the Foreword to the book! After making the connection, I went back and re-read his beautiful Foreword. In closing, let me urge everybody who has any questions about the blessed Virgin Mary, or anybody who has friends or family members with questions, GET THIS BOOK AND READ IT.
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Summary: A moving account of Mary for both understanding and devotion
Review: Oh great! Scott Hahn's new apologetic book about Mary. This is going to be good, I thought. But I had no idea how good. Because Hahn does more than provide an arsenal of scriptural references and logical arguments in defense of Catholic Marian teaching. Hahn quite obviously wants his readers to be more than able defenders of Marian doctrine. He wants them to be ardently devoted sons and daughters of Heaven's Queen. And he presents information in a way that will lead to greater love. Those famililar with Dr. Hahn's work will recognize a favorite theme of his--the biblical covenant as a family bond between God and His people. The ultimate covenant came with the saving death of Christ, which has made possible our adoption as sons of God the Father, and brothers of God the Son. So how can the Family of God, the Church, be complete and perfect without a mother? Not to worry, God has provided one... in Mary. For the benedit of the "where's-that-in-the-Bible" crowd, as well as us Catholics who need to improve our knowledge of Scripture, Hahn takes us on a journey through the science of biblical theology, especially as it applies to Mary. Although he does a fine job of defending Mary in terms of biblical typology, the early church fathers, and the magisterium, these things were not what moved me most while reading "Hail, Holy Queen". Instead, it was the personal accounts he gave -- in the introduction and again in the postscript -- of his own relationship with Mary. The humility and honesty of these accounts renewed in me a resolve not to take my Mother for granted.
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Summary: Why we call Mary our Queen
Review: On his journey to the Catholic Church, Scott Hahn found the Catholic Marian doctrines -- her perpetual virginity, the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption -- to be major stumbling blocks. This book is an explantion of these doctrines, as well as the general Catholic sense of who Mary is. The road that Hahn takes in explaining Mary is known as "typology," that is, reading Scripture to see how the New Covenant is foreshadowed in the Old. Hahn focuses on three "types" of Mary: the new Eve, the Ark of the New Covenant, and the new Davidic Queen Mother. It's an intricate working of themes, particularly for such a brief book (175 pages of text, plus many more of Sources and References). Hahn does a marvelous job exploring the richness of Marian doctrines, pulling his evidence from both Old and New Testaments, as well as patristic sources. In the process, he ably demonstrates how Marian doctrines "fit" with the logic of salvation as God has revealed it to us, and how they are not, as many Protestants claim, contrary to Scripture in the least.
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