BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: From Christmas cards to carols and crèches, this is the season when the Virgin Mary seems to be everywhere. Traditionally, Protestants haven't paid much attention to Mary beyond Christmas celebrations. But that seems to be changing. More and more Protestants are urging a fresh look at the role of Mary in the life of the church and the formation of faith. Kim Lawton has our special report.

KIM LAWTON: It's the time of year when the Virgin Mary gets the spotlight in the annual retelling of the Christmas story.

PAGEANT NARRATOR: And Mary brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. ...

LAWTON: It's often been the only time when Protestants devote attention to Mary.

Professor TIMOTHY GEORGE (Beeson Divinity School): About the only place that Mary made any special appearance in our tradition was at the Christmas pageant. She made an appearance on stage at the Christmas pageant, and then she exited just as quickly, and we never heard from her again.

LAWTON: Timothy George is a Southern Baptist and dean of the evangelical Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He says Protestants haven't traditionally focused on Mary largely because of their concern about the level of reverence that many Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians give to her.

Prof. GEORGE: There was a strong reaction against Marian piety and Marian devotion, because it was seen to be very excessive. It was seen to be competitive with Christ and, in some ways, even idolatrous. Mary was exalted so high[ly] that she displaced Christ. And so Protestants have generally reacted against that. Perhaps we have gone to the other extreme.

LAWTON: George is one of a growing number of theologians and writers urging evangelicals and other Protestants to stop ignoring Mary.

Prof. GEORGE: Martin Luther had a very high view of Mary and a loving devotion to Mary, in a way. He refers to her as the place where God did his handiwork on earth. I would like Protestants today, evangelicals today, to go back to the reformers. I don't think we have to become Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox believers to recover a truly Protestant, reformational, scriptural understanding of Mary.

LAWTON: And, indeed, Mary is getting new Protestant attention. There are several new books about her written by Protestant authors. George wrote a Mary cover story for the evangelical CHRISTIANITY TODAY magazine. Another evangelical publication, CHRISTIAN HISTORY, devoted an entire issue to her. Mary is also on the cover of the mainline Protestant CHRISTIAN CENTURY.

Princeton Theological Seminary professor Beverly Roberts Gaventa believes there are several reasons for the new focus.

Professor BEVERLY ROBERTS GAVENTA (Princeton Theological Seminary): We are a lot more interested now in biblical characters who are women, and we've talked about all the others; it might be time to talk about Mary as well. I also think that because we are much more inclined these days to know about other traditions and be interested in them, a number of Protestants have begun to ask questions about Mary.

LAWTON: Gaventa has written widely, calling for a new Protestant examination of Mary.

Prof. GAVENTA: Even if some of the language that some other Christian traditions use to talk about Mary is uncomfortable for us, we can still do what Protestants like to think we do well, which is stay with biblical stories. There's a lot there that we've neglected, I think, to our own detriment.

LAWTON: Gaventa says while Mary is not mentioned a lot in the Bible, she is deeply connected with the major themes of the Gospels.

Prof. GAVENTA: So even in order to understand fully what those Gospels are about, which is so much what Protestants prize, we have to pay more attention to her. We can't just bring her out for Christmas Eve and put her back away on the 26th.

LAWTON: Mary's story begins in the Book of Luke, with the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel appears to the young virgin and tells her that through the power of the Holy Spirit, she will give birth to the Son of God.

Prof. GAVENTA: What happens in the story is that Mary is chosen entirely by God's own initiative. This is a primary example of what Protestants emphasize as God's divine grace, God's initiative.

LAWTON: Some Renaissance artists portray Mary as reading the Scripture as a sign of her openness to the word of God. Mary tells the angel, "Let it be unto me according to your will."