In many ways, the figure of mary both accentuates some problems with the new Christian cult and offers a number of typological solutions. On the one hand, Mary's universal motherhood, her ethereal quality, her virginal conception of her son, together with that female connection to all that is “other” and outside the normal boundaries of patriarchy she sometimes signifies, all contribute to the expansion and dissemination of the religious formation she helps to inaugurate.

On the other hand, Mary's human identity, her role as a New Abraham and Daughter of Zion, her close association with her son and his sacrifice on the cross, and her own impeccable lineage and faithful obedience prevent her from drifting too far free of the past and enable her to represent continuity as well as rupture. We have seen how closely linked she is through imagery, vision and logic, to the cultic life of Israel and its discourse of sacrifice. At the same time, she signals the revaluation of that discourse and a series of breaks with in it that will increase in intensity over time, and she signals these not only by her role as pillar of orthodoxy with respect to Christian cultic and sacrificial issues but by her gender as well.