"... what I hope to offer is a new approach to this topic that will contribute to a better understanding of how Mary emerged as a focus of Christian devotion ... The difficulty, however, lies in finding clear evidence of devotion to Mary during the first four centuries that 1/3 can offer a meaningful precedent capable of explaining the eruption of Marian piety that took place in the middle of the fifth century. Although such evidence is surprisingly scarce when compared to Mary's prominence in the later Christian tradition, it is nonetheless 2/3

"I will sketch a brief account of Paul's thinking in a way that seeks to situate him *within* and not *against* the Jewish world that was part of the larger ancient Mediterranean world ... Paul was one ancient Jew living and thinking and acting within a diverse Jewish world 1/2 that sought to be faithful to Israel's God and Israel's law" (p.9f).

"Thomas is committed to the idea that the risen Christ is naturally in heaven and in heaven only" (p.113).

Which might leads us to point to the Thomist heart of the Black Rubric:

"and the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven, and not here". An interesting summary of the views of Thomas on the ablutions. A small amount of remaining wine in the chalice mixed with the water of the ablutions, because it ceases to be the sacramental sign of wine, is not the blood of Christ (p.125).