Mapping the quest -- Searching for Mary over the centuries. Initiating the search : obstacles, detours and new pathways -- Mary in history, doctrine, and devotionalism : from the early church through the Renaissance -- Mary in history, doctrine and devotionalism : from the Enlightenment through Vatican II -- Discovering the Jewish Mary. Will the real Mary please stand up? Multidisciplinary approaches to a new question -- Searching for the the Jewish Jesus to find the Jewish Mary -- Jewish spirituality and Hebrew prayer : praying as Mary prayed.

Jesus, as is well known, was born and raised as a Jew in first-century Palestine. A great deal of theological study has focused on the Jewish cultural and religious context of his life and ministry. It is only natural that this attention should lead us to a new approach to his mother, Mary of Nazareth. To some extent, this quest for the Jewish Mary involves excavating beneath centuries of devotional reflection and artistic depictions that have presented a mythologized Mary, detached from history and from her specific Jewish identity. In this book, Mary Christine Athans draws on the latest historical research, the fruits of post-Vatican II Jewish-Christian dialogue, the insights of feminist theology, and contemporary spiritual reflection to rediscover the Jewish Mary a woman of enormous courage, strength, and prayer. In restoring Mary to her own time and place, she helps us rediscover Mary's message for our own time.