THE OUP’s series of Very Short Introductions now includes titles in an impressively broad variety of subject areas; so it was surely high time that Mary should be the subject of one of these scholarly and informative books. The author, Mary Joan Winn Leith, is an American professor with a record of publication on biblical and archaeological subjects.
Winn Leith provides an engaging and wide-ranging survey. She shows how Christian theology locates Mary’s vocation within the divine plan, as described in the Gospels, in subsequent Christian literature, such as the second-century Protevangelium of James, and in the Church’s ongoing theological reflection about her person and her role.
The author, however, also ably situates devotion to Mary within its wider contexts: the Greco-Roman world out of which the New Testament arose in the first place, and the many different cultures in which Christians have honoured the mother of the Lord. At each stage, Mary has inspired countless theological, political, and artistic endeavours, while at the same time being the object of numerous projections back on to her.
A particular strength of the books is that, although herself from a Protestant background, Winn Leith is able to depict devotion to Mary not only as a historical curiosity, but as a living tradition — albeit one that is complex and contested within Christian — including Catholic — circles. One of the most moving was that of Muslim women who visit Christian shrines to Mary in quiet defiance of religious authorities: “they go because they believe Sitt (Lady) Maryam hears and helps.”
It is a pity that a tradition so colourful as that surrounding Mary is able to be illustrated here only in black-and-white. My own favourite was that of the Virgin of Guadalupe defending the rights of Chicanos (Mexican Americans) with a powerful Karate kick.
The Ven. Dr Edward Dowler is Archdeacon of Hastings and Priest-in-Charge of St John’s, Crowborough, in the diocese of Chichester.
The Virgin Mary: A very short introduction
Mary Joan Winn Leith
OUP £8.99
(978-0-19-879491-2)
Church Times Bookshop £8.09