“The dogma of perpetual virginity is by far the most important of the mariological dogmas, for it is the basis of all later speculations about the privileges and special graces granted to Mary by God. (…) The dogma of Mary’s perpetual virginity is the foundation of Roman Catholic interpretation of the divine motherhood and of the dogmas of Immaculate Conception and of the Assumption of Mary.”
– Stephen Benko, Protestants, Catholics, and Mary (1968), p. 31.
Abstract:
In this essay I will look into how the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary developed in the United Church (the Church before it split into the Orthodox Churches and the Roman-Catholic Church). As we shall see, it will be unnecessary to look into how this doctrine evolved in the Western Roman-Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, since the doctrine was already made dogma for both Churches, while they were one Church.
You can read the essay here.
crosstheology.wordpress.com 