Spotlight On...The Other Mary

Books on the Mother of Jesus

by Heather Grennan Gary, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 5/24/2006

With all the Da Vinci Code hoopla these days, Mary Magdalene is certainly the woman of the hour. But it's another Mary who's drawn a bigger crowd for the past two millennia: the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. She continues to inspire writers.

Two of the most recent are Jon M. Sweeney, whose Strange Heaven: The Virgin Mary as Woman, Mother, Disciple and Advocate (Paraclete, Sept.), is a broad historical work that delves into Mary's life and the traditions and devotions that have come out of it, and Anna Rabinowitz, whose The Wanton Sublime (Tupelo Press, June) explores Mary's humanity in a series of poems.

"I'm really grateful to Dan Brown for making these early Christian topics so hip," Sweeney told RBL. "It's had a huge affect on what people believe and how they think about Christianity." And Mary Magdalene? "She's kind of an interesting curiosity," said Sweeney. "But [the Virgin] Mary—there's no more central human being in the history of salvation."

Poet Rabinowitz agrees. "[The interest in] the Magdalene is very temporary. Mary, on the other hand, is absolutely a major figure. Not only from a theological point of view but from a human point of view: she represents the paragon of womanhood, of femininity, of motherhood."

While Mary has been associated almost solely with Catholicism, both Sweeney and Rabinowitz said they have long felt drawn to her—despite the fact that Sweeney grew up as a fundamentalist Christian (he's now a high-church Episcopalian) and Rabinowitz is Jewish.

"I did feel a little odd taking this on," said Rabinowitz, who is the publisher and executive editor of American Letters & Commentary and a vice president of the Poetry Society of America. "But I wasn't planning on getting into the theological aspects. As a poet, I wanted to find a way to explore who she was, what were possible alternative narratives, what she represents as a woman to women."

Strange Heaven's publisher, Paraclete, also publishes a series on the Marian apparitions at Medjugorje, including the bestselling book on the topic, Medjugorje: The Message. With the 25^th anniversary of those visions occurring next month, "This is a big time for us to promote that line," said Sweeney, who's also Paraclete's associate publisher. "But the Medjugorje books have a very specific audience. Strange Heaven will appeal to the general reader, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant or Orthodox Christian—perhaps readers who have that Da Vinci Code level of curiosity."