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How did the Virgin Mary, about whom very little is said in the Gospels, become one of the most powerful and complex religious figures in the world? To arrive at the answers to this far-reaching question, one of our foremost medieval historians, Miri Rubin, investigates the ideas, practices, and images that have developed around the figure of Mary from the earliest decades of Christianity to around the year 1600. Drawing on an extraordinarily wide range of sources—including music, poetry, theology, art, scripture, and miracle tales—Rubin reveals how Mary became so embedded in our culture that it is impossible to conceive of Western history without her. In her rise to global prominence, Mary was continually remade and reimagined by wave after wave of devotees. Rubin shows how early Christians endowed Mary with a fine ancestry; why in early medieval Europe her roles as mother, bride, and companion came to the fore; and how the focus later shifted to her humanity and unparalleled purity. She also explores how indigenous people in Central America, Africa, and Asia remade Mary and so fit her into their own cultures. Beautifully written and finely illustrated, this book is a triumph of sympathy and intelligence. It demonstrates Mary’s endless capacity to inspire and her profound presence in Christian cultures and beyond.
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Mother of God
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MIRI RUBIN
Mother of God A History of the Virgin Mary
Yale University Press New Haven & London
Disclaimer: Some images in the printed version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook.
Published 2009 in the United States by Yale University Press Published 2009 in the United Kingdom by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books Copyright © 2009 by Miri Rubin.
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Set in PostScript Adobe Sabon Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Printed in the United States. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2008939283 ISBN 978-0-300-10500-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). It contains 30 percent postconsumer waste (PCW) and is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
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Contents
List of Illustrations List of Maps Acknowledgements Writing about Mary: An Introduction
viii xi xviii xxi
part i From Temple Maiden to the Bearer of God: To the Year 431 1 The Earliest Glimpses of Mary
3
2 Mary in a Christian Empire
17
3 Versions of Mary
34
4 Mary of the Imperial State
43
part ii From the Eastern Mediterranean to the Irish Sea: To the Year 1000 5 Mary of the Christian Empire
53
6 Beyond the Greek World
83
7 The Emergence of European Mary
v
100
contents
part iii The Emergence of Mary’s Hegemony: 1000–1200 8 Mary of the Cloister
121
9 Mary of Polemic and Encounter
158
10 Abundance and Ubiquity
177
part iv Mary, Local and Familiar: 1200–1400 11 Mary in Liturgy, Song and Prayer
191
12 Mary, the Friars, and the Mother Tongue
197
13 Teaching Mary in Parish and Home
217
14 Mary’s Miracles as Reward and as Punishment
228
15 Mary at the Foot of the Cross
243
16 Mary and Women, Mary and Men