I believe that the Virgin Mary was taken up to heaven, bodily. Revelation 12 supports the church’s belief in this doctrine. I realize you are not a Catholic, but I respect you. What do you say about this?

If I understand the doctrine of the resurrection, Jesus was the “firstfruits” (1 Cor 15:20)—the only one resurrected to go to heaven. No one else is there. Mary is not there; she will be resurrected, judged, and enter heaven along with the rest of us.

I would go even further, holding that no one is in heaven (the same state referred to in John 3:13). On this the late-second-century writer Irenaeus agrees: the departed are not in heaven, but in paradise (part of Hades). “...the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated [Elijah and Enoch] were transferred to that place. For paradise has been prepared for righteous men, those who have the Spirit. Likewise, Paul the apostle, when he was translated, heard words in this place that were unspeakable... So it is there that those who have been translated will remain until the consummation of all things, as a prelude to immortality.” —Irenaeus, c. 180. 1.531.

As for Revelation 12, let’s take a look at the passage:

 1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was pregnant and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven crowns. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her Child. 5 And she gave birth to a Son, a male, who is going to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.

In this passage, it’s not the woman who is not taken up to heaven; she is there to begin with. It’s her son who is taken up.

Moreover, most scholars understand that the woman is God’s people (idealized, glorified), who have given birth to the Messiah. Galatians 4:26 says the Jerusalem that is above is our mother. If that is true, then we don’t need Mary in Rev 12.

If “her offspring” (Rev 12:17) isn’t literally referring to the woman’s children, then why would the image of the woman in heaven need to be understood literally? Literalizing most passages in Revelation is a hermeneutical no-no. One of the basic rules for reading apocalyptic is not to take a passage literally, unless forced otherwise. This is opposite the rule for reading narratives, letters, etc.

Finally, this doctrine may have been popular long before 1950, but that is the year Pope Pius XII formally declared it to be true. Arriving nineteen centuries too late, this hardly gives confidence that this notion is part of the apostolic foundation of the church.