Mary, Did You Know?

"Mary, Did You Know?" was written by Christian comedian and singer Mark Lowry in 1991, with the melody composed by Buddy Greene several years later. Lowry wrote the lyrics while preparing a script for a church Christmas play, pondering what it must have been like for Mary to raise a child she knew was divine. Each verse poses a rhetorical question: did Mary know her baby would calm a storm, walk on water, give sight to the blind?

The song was first recorded by Michael English in 1991 but achieved widespread popularity through subsequent recordings by Kathy Mattea (1993), Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd (1996), and especially Pentatonix (2014), whose a cappella version has been viewed over 200 million times on YouTube.

The song has also sparked an enduring theological debate. Catholic and Orthodox Christians point out that Mary was told by the Angel Gabriel exactly who her child would be — she did know. Protestant listeners tend to interpret the questions as rhetorical expressions of wonder rather than literal inquiries. This theological back-and-forth has become an annual Christmas tradition in itself, with the debate resurfacing on social media every December.