Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary

Despite her prominence in the Christian narrative, Mary has largely been neglected within the Protestant church. Recent interest in such issues as feminism, spirituality, parenting, and ecumenism, however, force a serious reexamination of Mary's place in Protestant faith. In this book, widely respected Protestant scholars seek to answer three basic questions: Who is Mary? How does Mary's story intersect with contemporary life? and What does Mary teach us about God? This thoughtful and highly accessible book will be of great interest to all engaged in the debates of the contemporary church, Protestant and Roman Catholics alike.

Despite her prominence in the Christian narrative, Mary has largely been neglected within the Protestant church. Recent interest in such issues as feminism, spirituality, parenting, and ecumenism, however, force a serious reexamination of Mary's place in Protestant faith. In Blessed One, widely respected Protestant scholars seek to answer three basic questions: who is Mary? how does Mary's story intersect with contemporary life? and what does Mary teach us about God? This thoughtful and highly accessible book will be of great interest to all engaged in the debates of the contemporary church, Protestants and Roman Catholics alike.

Contributors include Nancy Duff, Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Joel Green, E. Elizabeth Johnson, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Nora Lozano-Diaz, Daniel Migliore, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Cynthia Rigby, and Katherine Sakenfeld.

Beverly Roberts Gaventa is Helen H. P. Manson Professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. She has published a number of books including Mary: Glimpses of the Mother of Jesus, one of the few books written about Mary by a Protestant woman. Cynthia L. Rigby is the W. C. Brown Professor of Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. Rigby is the author of more than thirty articles and book chapters. She is the coeditor (with Beverly Gaventa) of Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary and editor of Power, Powerlessness, and the Divine: New Inquiries in Bible and Theology.