Mary, God-Bearer to a World in Need
Edited by Maura Hearden Fehlner and Virginia Kimball
Imprint: Pickwick Publications
All who live yearn for freedom--freedom from political oppression, poverty, disease, crime, war, and misery in all its forms. Christians believe that only God has the infinite wisdom, resources, and will to provide what we so desperately need. The contributors to Mary, God-Bearer to a World in Need offer scholarly explorations of ways in which the woman who bore God Incarnate into human history might help humankind to open its creaturely finitude to God's infinite possibilities. By relating such topics as faith, justice, economics, family life, and interreligious dialogue to Marian doctrine, humanity gains new insights useful for healing society's bleeding wounds. In these essays, the God-Bearer becomes present to a world still very much in need of the divine grace mediated through her motherhood.
Maura Hearden, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Theology at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. She is the author of several articles on Mary.
Virginia Kimball, STD, is an online theology professor at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. She is president of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary USA.
"Perhaps the greatest strength of this collection of essays is its organic and highly accessible presentation of what both Scripture and tradition can teach about Mary today. The harmony of the presentation gives readers the means to integrate this teaching into their own spiritual and moral lives when confronted with crucial contemporary issues."
--Fr. Francois Rossier, SM, Executive Director, Marian Research Institute
"The collection of these texts, edited by Maura Hearden and Virginia Kimball, compellingly shows the important place of Mary, the God-bearer, in the history of salvation, and the enduring relevance of a sound, pastorally oriented Marian theology for today."
--M. Isabell Naumann, ISSM, STD, Professor of Systematic Theology, Catholic Institute of Sydney
"In recent years, Marian theology and spirituality, which has seemed to many to have been on life support for decades now, has begun to see something of a renewal and revival. This collection of essays is both innovative and courageous, and will certainly contribute to this refreshing renewal. . . . The authors have placed Mary not only in the midst of the divine mysteries and the church, but more particularly in the midst of the world where she becomes a real and true model for the transformation of the world into the kingdom of God."
--Rev. Benedict O'Cinnsealaigh, President, Athenaeum of Ohio
"Hearden and Kimball have assembled a magnificent collection of essays that shows how Marian doctrine and devotion can enrich and inform (inter alia) Christian mysticism, art, ecclesiology, anthropology, soteriology, the gospel of life, the theology of the body, marriage and family life, social justice, and Christian-Muslim relations. The authors confirm the insight of Pope Paul VI: 'If we want to be Christian, we must also be Marian.'"
--Robert L. Fastiggi, Vice-President, Mariological Society of America