Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Poor
by Ivone Gebara and Maria Clara Bingemer
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
Here is the first thorough reflection on the importance of Mary by women writing from the perspective of Latin American liberation theology. Gebara and Bingemer offer a vision of Mary in sharp contrast to the traditional. This is the Mary of the Magnificat: a figure who challenges male-centrism, dualism, idealism, and one-dimensionalism.
The authors focus on the idea of Mary as one who lives in God, on the feminine element of the divine, and on the personal factors which color their own perspectives. By delving into the Scriptures, they place Mary in her social, political, and economic context. Reviewing both the Old and New Testaments, they point to Mary as both heir and one who begins something new.
In dealing with the traditions of the Church, Gebara and Bingemer rethink Marian dogmas - an area not only ecumenically controversial but also morally challenging. Beginning in the 16th century, the authors survey the history of Marian devotion, exploring the initial appearance of Mary to the Indian Juan Diego (Guadalupe), and reflecting on all the phenomena connected to the figure of Mary. The mystery of Mary brings a new word about God, they note. Her humanity entirely open ... and her full participation in the enterprise of this Kingdom help us perceive who the God of the Kingdom is: God the Creator, who does not cease to perform wonders on behalf of the poor.
Ivone Gebara is Professor of Philosophy and Theology at the Theological Institute of Recife, Brazil.
Maria Clara Bingemer is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and Regional Coordinator of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians.
"Ivone Gebara and Maria Clara Bingemer's volume is a landmark work in the freeing of Mariology from its patriarchal usage, and in its presentation as an integral part of a feminist liberation theology. Here we see Mary as representative of the messianic community of the poor and the oppressed who are lifted up as the mighty are put down from their thrones."
Rosemary Radford Ruether, Pacific School of Religion
"This book shows how the insights of liberation theology continue to recast Christian tradition. Mariology, which in other hands becomes a bastion of conservatism, appears here as a vehicle for women's experience and hope among the poor. Against the notion that Latin American theology is mottled by 'machismo', the authors suggest the power of the feminine symbols associated with Mary for sponsoring equality and liberation."
Denise Lardner Carmody, Santa Clara University