Includes bibliographical references and index

Ave María, Gratia Plena.-- Miriam of Nazareth in the new Testament.-- The daughter of Zionand the Fulfillment of Prophecy.-- The second eve and the Guarantee of Christ's True Humanity.-- The Theotokos, the Mother of God.-- The Heroine of the Qur'an and the Black Madonna.-- The Handmaid of the Lord and the Woman of Valor.-- The Adornment of Worship and the Leader of the Heavenly Choir.-- The paragon of Chastity and the Blessed Mother.-- The Mater Dolorosa and the Mediatrix.-- The Face that most Resembles Christ's.-- The Model of Faith in the Word of God.-- The Mater Gloriosa and the Eternal Feminine.-- The Woman Clothed with the Sun.-- The great Exception, Immaculately Conceived.-- The Queen of Heaven, Her Dormition and Her Assumption.-- The Woman for All Seasons And All Reasons

The Virgin Mary has been an inspiration to more people than any other woman who ever lived. For Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims, for artists, musicians, and writers, and for women and men everywhere she has shown many faces and personified a variety of virtues. In this important book, a world-renowned scholar who is the author of numerous books―including the best-selling Jesus Through the Centuries―tells how Mary has been depicted and venerated through the ages.

Jaroslav Pelikan examines the biblical portrait of Mary, analyzing both the New and Old Testaments to see how the bits of information provided about her were expanded into a full-blown doctrine. He explores the view of Mary in late antiquity, where the differences between Mary, the mother of Christ, and Eve, the "mother of all living," provided positive and negative symbols of women. He discusses how the Eastern church commemorated Mary and how she was portrayed in the Holy Qur'an of Islam. He explains how the paradox of Mary as Virgin Mother shaped the paradoxical Catholic view of sexuality and how Reformation rejection of the worship of Mary allowed her to be a model of faith for Protestants. He considers also her role in political and social history. He analyzes the place of Mary in literature―from Dante, Spenser, and Milton to Wordsworth, George Eliot, and Goethe―as well as in music and art, and he describes the miraculous apparitions of Mary that have been experienced by the common people.

Was Mary human or divine? Should she be revered for her humility or her strength? What is her place in heaven? Whatever our answers to these questions, Mary remains a symbol of hope and solace, a woman, says Pelikan, for all seasons and all reasons.