Iconic and devotional, but also fraught with social and political significance, the image of the Virgin Mary has shaped Western art since the sixth century. Depictions of the Virgin Mary in art through the ages are examined from a unique combination of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and contemporary art-historical perspectives. The thought-provoking texts examine Mary's image as an enthroned queen, a tender young mother and a pious woman, demonstrating how her personification of womanhood has resonated throughout history to the present day. AUTHOR: Timothy Verdon is director of Museo dell Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. Melissa R. Katz is Luther Gregg Sullivan Fellow in Art History, Wesleyan University. Amy Remensnyder is associate professor, Department of History at Brown University. Miri Rubin is Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History, Queen Mary University of London. Kathryn Wat is Chief Curator, National Museum of Women in the Arts. SELLING POINTS: * Major new book exploring how the Virgin Mary has been depicted throughout history in different cultures * Accompanies a major exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, December 5, 2014 - April 12, 2015 100 colour illustrations

Images of Mary as a mother and saint provide an historical and cultural view of how artists have perceived the mother of Jesus and depicted her in wood carvings, mosaics, statues, and murals.

Beautiful illustrations and very simple words tell the story of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

A fun and engaging story told in rhyme for younger readers, exploring the true tale of the greatest fossil hunter who ever lived! Mary Anning was an ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent for finding fossils. Join her as she searches the beaches and cliffs around her seaside home and discovers clues about animals from long ago! Formatted especially for the Amazon Kindle and packed with colourful illustrations, this book will delight parents and children alike.

Imagining Mary breaks new ground in the long tradition of Christian mariology. The book is an interdisciplinary investigation of some of the many Marys, East and West, from the New Testament Mary of Nazareth down to Our Lady of the Good Death in the twentieth century. In Imagining Mary, Professor Rancour-Laferriere examines the mother of God in her multireligious and pan-historical context. The book is a scholarly study, but it is written in a clear, straightforward style and will be comprehensible to an educated – and, above all, intellectually curious – general audience. It will appeal to anyone who has ever wondered, for example, about the flimsy scriptural basis of many beliefs about Mary; or the tendency of many mariologists to depict Mary as an incestuous "bride of Christ"; or the theological notion of Mary’s "loving consent" to her son’s crucifixion; or the idea that Mary was a "priest" officiating at the sacrifice of her son; or the unfortunate association of Mary with Christian anti-semitism; or the curious appeal of Mary to the terminally ill; and so on. Special attention is given to the psychology of representations of Mary, such as: the psychological basis for promoting Mary to the status of a "goddess"; the psychology of Mary’s compassion for her son at the foot of the cross; and the psychological conflict in Mary’s personal relationship with her son Jesus. These topics are admittedly diverse, but they all have long been on the minds of mariologists. The author takes a questioning approach to received wisdom about marian themes – including the assumption that one has to be a theist in order to understand the great appeal of Mary down the centuries. Indeed, Imagining Mary may be regarded as a first step in the direction of an atheist mariology.

The breath of Godthe Word of God, that iswas made flesh and was conceived in Marys womb. Christians call her the mother of God. She gave birth to the one we know as Jesus, the one we regard as the Son of God! This Son of God, Jesus, is the second person in the Trinity. As you read this, this Jesus sits on the right throne next to Gods own throne. These are well-grounded Christian beliefs. They are irrefutable truths. It is on these truths that the doctrines of the Christian faith are anchored. That brings me to the reason I wrote this book: The fact that the woman who carried Jesus in her womb for nine months and shared the breaths of life with him throughout her pregnancy could have been divinely consecrated just because she had him in her womb. I believe that she, Mary, at the time she was living with the hands and the mind of God in her, could easily have commanded Mount Tabor and Kilimanjaro to switch places by simply saying so. It is that belief that opened up the floodgate of story possibilities regarding the supernatural wherewith she could have been endowed during the months she was pregnant with Jesus. What you will see in these pages is compelled by aspects of fiction and nonfiction. Parts of the New Testament drive this talewell, with the exception of Marys visitations to certain parts of heaven. I truly believe that they could have taken her up to heaven every now and then, because she was walking around with the second person in the Trinity in her womb. Think about it!

The Virgin Mary has appeared to thousands and performed miracles from the early fifth century until now. Millions around the world are devoted to her. But have we wrapped so much elevating imagery around her that we've lost the real woman who gave birth to Our Lord? Was Mary of Nazareth a pain-free, perpetual virgin, a spiritual superwoman, even something of a goddess, floating calmly above the storms of her life? Or was she a woman who experienced the agony of childbirth, the dirt and grit of everyday existence, and ultimately witnessed her Son being tortured to death? What do we really know about her from Scripture, and how have we made this first-century peasant woman into a sort of glowing, semi-goddess? And while we're at it, how has the divinity of her Son obscured our clear sight of her? Simply Mary: Meditations on the Real Life of the Mother of Christ answers these questions in a combination of reflection and biography, exploring things we can know and can surmise from the record that have not been brought up before now. With both the eyes of faith and of a realistic, historical appraisal, this book addresses the most important question that has never been answered: who was the woman, Mary of Nazareth? Before she can be the Mother of God, she has to be a woman.