Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother

by Lesley Hazleton

Arguably the most influential of all women throughout history, Mary, the Virgin Mother is also, paradoxically, the least known. In this unprecedented brilliantly wrought biography, Mary comes believably to life. We are so used to the legendary image of the Madonna that the very idea of her as a real person sets the eyes alight. Starting with the dark-skinned, hard-muscled girl barely out of adolescence when she gave birth, Lesley Hazleton weaves together the many facets of Mary's peasant villager, wise woman and healer, activist, mother, teacher, and yes, virgin, though in a sense we have long forgotten. She follows her through the worst any mother can experience-the excruciating death of her child-and then looks at how she transforms grief into wisdom, disaster into renewal. Strong and courageous, the source of her son's powers of healing and wisdom, the Mary we see here did not merely assent to her role in history, but actively chose it, and lived it to the fullest. As a former psychologist and political reporter with deep roots in both Judaism and Catholicism, Hazleton has drawn on years of Middle East experience as well as on anthropology, history, theology, and above all, empathy to reconstruct Mary's life. The woman she discovers is neither demystified nor diminished, but on the contrary, all the more meaningful and admirable. By honoring her reality, Hazleton has given her back to herself-and to us.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Christianity, Middle East, Biography Memoir

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

1. My new book 'Jezebel: the untold story of the bible's harlot queen' is just out (Doubleday). Yes, she was framed. No, she was no harlot. Yes, she was magnificent.

2. Won't bore you with the whole bio -- it's in the 'About the Author' page on www.jezebelbook.com. For now: British-born, lived for a long time in the Middle East, now live in the very Pacific Northwest.

3. Favorite drink is grappa.
Natural habitat is high desert (which must have something to do with my living on a houseboat/floating home at sea level...)
Am gnostic agnostic (and yes, will write a long piece/short book explaining that one day).

Reviews

[Judith Shadford · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rather infuriating, actually. Hazleton has lived in Israel/Palestine and has a good grasp of local color. But her agenda is rarely out of sight. I rather enjoyed Jezebel, sort of. There was real information and some plausible novelizing.
But her (Hazelton's) need to recreate a society of "strong" females leads her to dismiss, nearly out of hand, credence of Scriptural authenticity. This young Jewish girl, Mary, in her version, has a grandmother but no mother. Sits around the campfire listening to travellers' stories--a girl unattended, after dark? And pouring out evening offerings to Isis, in a Jewish community with its own synagogue? With the wealth of really fine biblical scholarship readily available these days, substituting one's own predelictions instead of due diligence, seems an act of supreme self-indulgence.

[Fadillah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her name is Maryam. A name so common in her time and place that if you call out "Maryam," one out of every three women is likely to answer. The Latin version of her name, Maria, will come into common usage only four centuries after her death, once the universal Catholic church has been established with its base in Rome. Later still, in what will become the English-speaking world for this is some two thousand years ago, and English does not yet exist as a language- she will be known as Mary. Even in her own time, her name gets lost in translation. In Hebrew, the formal, ritual language of her people, she is Miriam, after the sister of Moses, the great priestess who led the Israelites in song after they crossed the Red Sea in their exodus from Egypt. In Greek, the administrative language of the Roman Empire throughout the eastern Mediterranean, she is Mariamne-the name of King Herod's most beloved wife, the Hasmonean he married to bolster his claim to Jewishness, then fell obsessively in love with, and so, in the end, murdered. In Coptic, the Egyptian language in which many of the second- and third-century gnostic gospels will be written, her name is Mariham. And in Arabic, in which she will be honored in the eighth century in the only sura in the whole of the Koran to be named after and devoted to a woman, her name is Maryam. The same name as the one she goes by, but in a different language.
- Introduction : Mary - A flesh and blood biography of the virgin mother by Lesley Hazleton
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Listen, i love Lesley Hazleton. I have read 2 of her books which is ‘Sunni-Shia Split’ and ‘Muhammad : The First Muslim’ and i have been recommending it to almost everyone that interested in these subjects. This is why when i saw ‘Mary’ and ‘Lesley Hazleton’ in the same book cover - i have to get it. The book is divided into 4 sections, Introduction, Part One : Her World, Part 2 : Her Womb and Part 3 : Her Women. As much as i would like to summarise each chapter, i don’t think i am well versed in it. This is because Lesley Hazleton analyses consisted of verses in Torah and Bible (both testaments) , extensive research from many jewish and christian scholars that have written about Mary and even included quite controversial opinion from ‘feminism’ angle on body autonomy, consent and rape on regards of Mary’s pregnancy. I will not touch or recap that - for i don’t want to offend anyone but if you are curious , you may read the book yourself. As for any important information about Maryam from Holy Quran, Lesley Hazleton didn’t include any of it since the aim of this book is to highlight and argued why both Judaism and Christianity did not validate Mary / Maryam and she remains obscure as holy figure and unknown in the religious teaching. Meanwhile, Islam validated Mary/Maryam by emphasising lessons that can be learned from Surah Maryam which was named after her in the Holy Quran. I have to say, not all will like Lesley Hazleton’s writing. This is because she tend to humanising the subject and people cannot fathom it. This is the flak she received from her other books but that’s one the reasons i love her writing. She also has a tendency adding her POVs which didn’t sit well with some readers. For this book, she traveled to Palestine and Palestine (since Israel did not exist) to just get in touch with the land whereby Mary / Maryam Growing up and what’s left of it. Some of her travel experiences and observations are also being inserted in the writing. As much as i love and enjoy the book, chapter ‘Her world’ really caused me to reconsider giving the book 5 stars since it is so long winded especially about the world history during Mary / Maryam was born and growing up. Hence, 4 stars is a fair score for this book. As for book context, what i intend to do is to outline the part from each chapter that i would love share in my review. Overall, this is a great material to start if you wanted to learn about Mary or Maryam as many of us only knew her as ‘Jesus’s mother’. At least, Lesley Hazleton’s book has provided us some kind of framework in understanding and studying about Mary / Maryam.
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Here are the quotes from each chapter that i wanted to share in my review :
- Introduction
1. Mary or Maryam?
The Aramaic name is important--the Middle Eastern name for Maryam's is a Middle Eastern story. Where Mary floats to us on a cloud of incense, a delicate European draped in silk, Maryam carries the scent of heat and dust clinging to her skin and her thin linen shift. One is the legend; the other, the real woman. And if we are to reach beyond the legend, we must surely start with the most basic gesture of respect. Let us do Mary the honor, then, of calling her by her real name,Maryam--the name she recognized and responded to, the name she thought of as hers.
2. Maryam’s feature
But Maryam was very close. I could see her face everywhere I looked. It was in the olive-skinned and dark-eyed faces of Sephardic Jewish women of Yemenite or Iraqi or Syrian or Egyptian descent. It was in the faces of Palestinian Arab women in the small peasant villages of the West Bank- -the ancient areas of Judea and Samaria. It was in the worn faces of Beduin women herding flocks out in the hills of Galilee and Judea and the Negev. These were Middle Eastern faces, belonging to people speaking two languages very similar to the one Maryam spoke: Hebrew and Arabic, sister languages of Aramaic.
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- Part One : Her World
1. Maryam’s religion
Maryam was Jewish, of course, but not by any modern definition. She was not, as the curator of an Israeli museum exhibit on ancient goddesses dismissively called her, "a nice Jewish girl." She did not say blessings over candles and challah bread on Friday evenings. She did not sit modestly in the women's gallery in the synagogue while her menfolk bobbed up and down below, wrapped in prayer shawls. All these traditions had still to come into being. Only priests wore prayer shawls. And there were not yet any synagogues in the way we now think of them. The Greek word synagogue was used for a village or town meeting place, not a place of worship. In first-century Palestine, Herod's great temple was the only official place for that. The Judaism we know today, rabbinic Judaism, did not yet exist. In fact, religion itself did not exist as we now understand it. Ask Maryam what religion she was, and she'd have stared at you in incomprehen-sion. There was no such category. What we now think of in the west as the separate spheres of religion, politics, ethnicity, and culture were so deeply intertwined that there was no distinction between them.
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- Part Two : Her Womb
1. Maryam learned a great deal from her grandmother and becomes a healer
Meanwhile Maryam mixes the herbs that will make labor go faster. Her grandmother favors giant fennel, and Maryam measures the crushed leaves carefully, for the correct dosage is vital. Then she mixes them in oil and a little wine, lifts the pregnant woman's head, and encourages her to drink. Salome watches; she likes the way her granddaughter handles the matter. Many women in labor pains will writhe and twist away, spit out the potions and frustrate a midwife's work. But Maryam's voice and touch seem to soothe them. They swallow the liquid she offers, breathe deep when she tells them, push when she says to. More often than not, all goes well. The baby appears as it should, head first. Salome reaches up with both hands and with a deft twist brings the child out into the light of day, a bundle of wrinkled newborn flesh cradled in her dark, age-wrinkled hands. Then she calls on the afterbirth to follow without delay.
2. Maryam is a herbalist in the making
Maryam would have been expert at spotting fennel; she'd have climbed halfway down a ravine to find it, the spores tickling her nostrils with their bitter, pungent scent. She'd have recognized the small fleshy three-lobed leaves of rue with its mustard-like flowers, or the tiny yellow flowers and feathery silver-gray leaves of artemisia, even then called "the virgin's plant." With her shepherd girl's knowledge of the terrain, she'd have known which plants colonized which slopes and hilltops. The squill that covered the hillside across from Cana could be used to treat vomiting and food poisoning. Wild mint grew lavishly in low places, as it still does in what remains of Magdala, and helped prevent infection of cuts and gashes. Fever-reducing anemones grew thick on the hills in springtime, as did galangal, a sharper, sweeter form of ginger, which stopped vomiting and nausea. She'd harvest roots and stalks, tie them into bundles, and carry them home in a sling across her back. There, she'd spread the herbs out on the reed roof canopy to dry in the sun. Within a few days, the leaves would shrink and curl, crumbling beneath her fingers and ready to be pounded into powder.
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- Part 3 : Her Women
1. Maryam when she saw Jesus’s crucifixion
She barely remembers screaming when they nailed his hands and feet, though her body still aches from the force with which she shuddered at each blow of the hammer. How long ago was that? Hours, yes--it was just after dawn when it began. But it feels like an eternity, or rather, like one single moment that will not let go, that refuses to move on, as though time itself has stopped dead in its tracks. She has a vague recollection of hurling herself at the soldiers as they hauled the crossbeam into place. Of ripping at her thin shift, trying to tear it away from her body. Of hearing the pleas pour out of her: "Take me. Take me instead!" The other women reached to hold her back as the soldiers jeered and then taunted her with stinging obscenities. "He's my only son," she cried. "My one and only son. Just let him live, that's all I ask, and you can do anything you like with me. Anything at all!" And the soldiers laughed and turned their backs on her.

[Tristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should really be described as a fictional biography, if only for the very reason that the history of the Virgin Mary (and just about all women from that time in history) has been just about completely wiped out.

I thought often of The Red Tent, while reading this. I think Diamant had a much better approach than Lesley Hazleton does in Mary. Diamant fully embraces the history and research, but adds her own fictional writing gifts to create a powerful and potentially historically accurate tale of women's life in biblical time. Hazleton could have done that easily with this book and had a bestseller on her hands, but instead, she chooses to call it a biography that "blends imagination and fact."

If the subject matter wasn't such a hot topic and so controversial, she might even have been able to pull it off, but when she makes huge leaps about what Mary is thinking and feeling it feels hollow and inaccurate. It just doesn't work to be reading the fascinating and totally factual political history of Palestine and then to read that Mary was trained as a midwife by her legendary grandmother, Salome, which is based on nothing but Hazleton's imagination. It's jarring and takes away from the wonderful experience of reading this book.

It's a shame that Hazleton made this writing choice, because she does use exhaustive and fascinating research that is incredibly valuable to anyone interested in the "real" life of Mary, the "Mother of God." The book works much better when she steps back from her fantasy imagination of Mary's life and talks to the actual facts - like her wonderful discussion of when Jesus was actually born and how old he actually was when he was crucified.

I also appreciate her chapter on Mary's "virginity" and what that could have really meant, which includes a fascinating breaking down of the original Aramaic which tells us that a "Virgin" of that time was any woman who was not married. So a pregnant virgin is any woman who was raped or had sex out of wed-lock (and quite an interesting thought that Mary may have been raped and birthed the Son of God - which Hazleton very delicately steps around).

It's a great undertaking by Hazleton and for that I have nothing but respect. If you can get past the "fantasy biography" (or "Christian Haggadah," as she calls it) feeling of this book, it is a wonderful and fascinating read.

[Roger DeBlanck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hazleton’s study of the Blessed Mother Mary is subtitled “a flesh-and-blood biography of the Virgin Mother.” A more accurate and perhaps more suitable subtitle for her work might have been this: “an historical exploration of the Virgin Mother.” For that is exactly what Hazleton has done by showcasing Mary in her historical context to explain her as an ordinary Jewish peasant girl from Galilee. That is, of course, most likely who Mary was before the Gospels tell us how God approached her and she accepted His plan to bless her with the virgin birth of a son who would redeem humankind.

Hazleton’s study to uncover more about Mary reads more like a toilsome textbook of the Biblical era rather than as a compelling biography. Her work is commendable for offering a chronology of events during the period and a density of fascinating details about everyday life during that time. However, her textbook-like approach too often marginalized Mary to the point where she is often merely a byproduct of all the events and details of the era that Hazleton studiously examines.

Hazleton’s approach is understandable if we remember that we have only scant documentation and source material to go on in order to put together a portrait of who, indeed, was the world’s most famous mother. Besides Mary’s few and very brief appearances in the Gospels, we have little else of biographical legitimacy to guide our efforts to discover and know Mary, and so Hazleton has given us an interesting picture of the time and place in history where Mary lived and birthed and raised Jesus.

The issue with Hazleton’s study is that with so few facts about Mary, her book offers more of an exposition of the Biblical era in which Mary frequented rather than offering an actual biography, where Mary cannot be much more than a hypothesis. Hazleton’s effort to seek out and convey who Mary was might have worked better had she novelized her research into a more engaging narrative rather than trying to find Mary through a biographical approach.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took this book with a BOULDER of salt and think (if I may say so) that others would do well to do the same. As the other reviews attest, this is very far from being a biography in any sense. The fictionalized descriptions of her grandmother, and what she or Maryam were thinking at a certain time, were especially far-fetched and didn't add much to the story.
 
I can appreciate what Hazleton tries to do here: give the reader a space to imagine the "Flesh and blood" Mary, most fundamentally her peasant identity. It is so easy to have ethereal, otherwordly associations with those who are most holy to us, but it is important to remember their roots, their connection to the land. It was very interesting to read about the changing definition of "virginity" over time and in reference to pagan beliefs.
 
Finally, I owe it to this book for piquing my interest in the historical origins of Christianity. I realized know so little about a faith that is followed by so many, a faith which has parallels to Islam in many ways in as well. So I am moving on to read Reza Aslan's "Zealot"!

[Monty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would would not appeal to those who interpret The Bible literally. For those who view The Bible as a reflection of numerous stories passed on since the death of Jesus, I believe that reading it would enrich their beliefs about that time period. The book is divided into three parts. The first part sets the stage by describing the culture where Mary grew up and uses that to speculate on what Mary's everyday life was like. The second part goes into detail about her pregnancy at the age of 13 and discusses the concept of virginity in much detail. The third part focuses on what it must have been like during and after the time of the crucifixion. This section includes how she spent her life after Jesus' death. Each part has much more detail than I am mentioning in this summary.

For me, this book was written with much reverence for that time period and for the current state of Christianity as well as Judaism and Islam. There are over ten pages of bibliography.

[Andrew [A] · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jewish kabbalist new age take on Mary... if the statement "i mean, who actually believes in the virgin birth and the resurrection literally, give me a break" offends you, this book will offend you. And as always, combining a narrative with history-for-dummies will frustrate history buffs. As well as the rather strange choice of paralleling Mary to the Palestinian resistance. However, there are many ideas and images in the book that illuminated my search for the true face of the Virgin Mother.

Mary is very relevant, but not for the reasons that this author may think.

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

As you can tell, I disliked this book, although I did finish it. I love books about Biblical characters that explain the culture and the physical surroundings of the times. This book did that, but ... well. Let me start by saying that any biography of Mary that throws shade on the virgin birth and on the resurrection doesn't fly with me. But I liked this one less than others I have read. The first part was the best, where the author explains various myths and legends about Mary that grew up over the years since the events, and debunked them. No evidence that she was raised by priestly parents, or by priests, for example. The research and explanations for that are very interesting. But then, the author proceeds to make up her own heritage. Mary is given a childhood raised by a grandmother - her parents having perished, perhaps mom in childbirth, perhaps dad in insurrections. This grandmother is a wise woman, adept in herbs and healing. She teaches Mary, who taught her son. (see, when you remove the miracles you have to explain how Jesus did his healing and since the author rightly dismisses the whole raised in Egypt/Britain/India fables,
ipso facto his mom must have taught him, which means someone taught her, etc. etc.) Mary and her grandmother and all the women of the region evidently worshipped Isis (I have no idea what Biblical/cultural basis for this there would be, because by now the author is in full spate and not pausing for references or historical artifacts or any research at all.), performed abortions etc. (herbal abortions, not surgical ones). There is the usual attempt to find Jesus's father - the Roman soldier Panthera makes another appearance as well as others, including Joseph himself. There are attempts to fix Jesus's actual birth year by juggling assorted Herods etc. Now all the books I have so far read have agreed that an unmarried pregnant girl would have faced opprobrium and even risked death by stoning in that culture. Ms Hazleton proposes a different view, one where in a society with such high infant and child mortality (grim statistics follow to demonstrate that), peasants would have embraced any pregnancy, any baby, because their eyes are fixed on survival of their gene pool. This may be true. I don't know. It's an interesting perspective, but I don't know enough to come down on any side. There are long discussions of Mary's name, which would have been Maryam, but in a book that essentially becomes Bible fan fiction, Maryam is actually the author's very own Mary Sue.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a nice story to affirm everything you learned in catechism or Bible school, this isn’t it. This is not the docile, white-skinned Mary dressed in blue. Hazleton offers a deeply researched look into the times in which Mary, the mother of Jesus, lived, and draws conclusions about what her life might have been like. She calls her Maryam and speculates that she was raised as a healer/midwife, taught by her grandmother, Salome, and that she passed these skills on to her son. She dismisses the idea of pregnancy by the Holy Spirit, insisting a man was involved, either Joseph, recruited for an arranged marriage, or another man. She may have been raped. It doesn’t stop there. Hazleton says it’s unlikely Joseph and Jesus were carpenters, that Jesus was probably not born where the Bible says he was, and that he could not have been physically raised from the dead after his crucifixion. Furthermore, Maryam did not hide away for the rest of her life after Jesus died but led a group of faithful women in a compound just outside the walls of Jerusalem.
By now, some Christians will run, screaming heresy. Some will doubt everything they have always believed. But this is a masterful work. Hazleton gives extensive information about the land, the politics, and the customs. She does not give us much more actual information about Mary than we can find in the Bible, and I found that disappointing. But this is an important book that will make open-minded readers reexamine their beliefs.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would probably give this 3.5 stars. The anthropological aspect of it was so interesting. I loved reading about the atmosphere of Mary's time and place, and thought it really gave a lot of insight as to what it would have been like to live back then. However, I felt that after that the book took this wild feminist turn wherein the author was making these wild conjectures with no facts (which she admits) and then relying on them as truth to build more of the "biography" of Mary, and that part I really didn't like.

[Gormless Book Buff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Lesley Hazleton, so i would probably be pretty biased in my opinion, but should you ask me, i would definitely say that this book is a five star reading and is highly recommended, and you should read it! 😊😍

[Shuk Pakhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

প্রথমবার বইয়ের নাম দেখেই চমকে গিয়েছিলাম। মাতা মেরির বায়োগ্রাফি! কীভাবে সম্ভব!!
ইহুদি, খ্রিস্টান, মুসলিম তিন ধর্মেই উনার নাম জড়িত থাকলেও খুব বেশি কিছু তথ্য আসলে জানা যায় না। যে খ্রিস্টান ধর্মে উনাকে নিয়ে এত মাতামাতি সেই নিউ টেস্টামন্টে উনার কথা বলা হয়ছে মাত্র ২/৩ বার।
যিশুর জন্মের সময়ে আর মারা যাওয়ার সময়ে। এছাড়া বাকি সময় তিনি বেপাত্তা।

দু হাজার বছর আগে হারিয়ে যাওয়া একজনের বায়োগ্রাফি লেখা চাট্টিখানি কথা নয়। তবে ধর্ম, পুরাণ এই সকল বিষয়ে লেখালেখিতে ক্যাথেরিন আর্মস্ট্রং আর লেসলি হ্যাজেলটনের লেখা ভালো পাই। খোলা মন নিয়ে উনারা বাস্তব ঘেসা যুক্তি দেন। এরপর পাঠক হিসেবে আপনি চাইলে সেই যুক্তি নিতে পারেন আবার নাও নিতে পারেন। উনাদের লেখায় ঠান্ডা মাথার মানুষের জন্য ভাবনা-চিন্তার প্রচুর উপাদান থাকে। সেই ভরসায় এই বই শুরু করেছিলাম।

খ্রিষ্টান ধর্ম নিয়ে শুরুতেই খটকা জাগে মাতা মেরি আসলেও কুমারী মা ছিলেন ? যিশু ঈশ্বরের পুত্র ছিলেন?
বইয়ের মাঝামাঝিতে এই দুই প্রশ্নের সুন্দর উত্তর পেয়েছি।
লেসলি হ্যাজেলটন এই বই লেখার জন্য চার বছর সময় নিয়ে গবেষণা করেছেন। বইতে মেরির সময়কাল, তার পরিবেশ পরিস্থিতি, সেই সময়ের ধর্মীয় ও রাজনৈতিক প্রভাব, ভাষাগত ব্যাপার-স্যাপার নিয়ে প্রচুর উদাহরণ দিয়ে দিয়ে প্রতিটি জিনিস বুঝিয়েছেন। তাতেই এই বইয়ের সাইজ হয়েছে ২৮৮ পৃষ্ঠা। আদতে শুধু মাতা মেরিকে নিয়ে লিখতে গেলে হয়তো সাইজ হয়ে যেতো আধাআধি। শুরুতে এত ব্যাখ্যা পড়ে পড়ে মনে হয়েছে আরে মুদ্দা কথায় আসুন প্লিজ। এরপর তিনি এলেন এবং ব্যাখ্যা দিলেন।
একটানে বইখানা পড়া সম্ভব হচ্ছে না। কিছুটা পড়ি, ভাবি- উঠি-পানি খাই -হাঁটি আবার পড়ি। পাঠক মাত্রই ভাবনার ব্যাপক খোঁরাক পাবেন বইতে।

[Fizza · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read two of her books before: The First Muslim and After the Prophet; and I always appreciated her research and her way of analysing events and circumstances in a certain time period or an era. The scene-setting in her books is so vivid and interesting that it actually transports you to the time where those historical moments might have taken place. While this may be a credit when it comes to one's writing - weaving a world especially a prehistoric one with words - sometimes it does take away from the credibility of the book especially when the book you have in your hand is a biography. This, I think, is one of the major issues with this book. I love reading biographies and picked this one up, but right from the get-go it comes off as an in-your-face fictional account of her life. Biography is a written history of one's life. If it is fiction it should be labelled as one, which is still better than a concocted version of someone's life. Tales of Maryam (AS) with her grandmother, her day-to-day activity as a peasant girl or just how she feels while laying under the night sky seem too hard to stomach at times. To my dismay, the book has surprisingly more portion dedicated to socio-political / religious commentaries of Hellenistic era than to the protagonist's life. And by the end of the book I can safely say I know more about Greek mythology and Roman Empire than I do about Maryam (AS). Which was certainly not the reason I picked up this book.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course this is not a bio on the mother of Jesus because there is scant historical information on the legendary woman. Hazleton uses conjecture to formulate a story about Mary. the author's Mary is a healer and midwife, and sometimes abortionist. As for miracles, the virgin pregnancy is dismissed, because the word virgin translates in Hebrew and ancient Greek as unwed woman. Mary is mostly absent in the Bible.

Hazleton makes the argument that the female Christian sects of the 1st and 2nd centuries of the early church provided a bridge to Christianity for women who followed female led pagan beliefs, such as those of Diana and Isis. However, this surging popularity of Mary was seen as a threat by the male dominated church elders. Thus, any writings about Mary were destroyed and considered heretical, along with the gnostic gospels.

Mary died 24 years before the second destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. Tbe destruction would sever Christian belief from Judaism. No longer would religion be centered in a physical space; it would be reinterpreted as a belief of the heart and soul.

[Agustus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kyk judul bahasa inggrisnya, flesh and blood biography. Buku ini ga demikian kemaruk buat berambisi memotret seluruh kehidupan Sang Bunda Perawan sejak lahir hingga wafatnya. Alih2, lebih fokus ke tiga episode besar kehidupannya: (1) Masa kecil, (2) Kehamilan, dan (3) Akhir hayatnya. Dlm masing2 ketiga episode tsb itulah penulis mengeksplorasi kehidupan Maryam berdasarkan penelitian observasi dan literatur yg dilakukan di tempat2 Maryam pernah hidup. Dari Galilea Bethlehem sampai Ein Kerem. Ditulis dg perbabdingan proporsi antara narasi dongeng dan paparan penelitian sekitar 1:1 scr keseluruhan, meski tergantung jg ke bab2 ttntu yg kadang memuat eksplorasi penelitian jauh lebih banyak ketimbang narasi2 dongengnya. Cukup ya reviewnya. Asik buat yg penasaran latar kontekstual kehidupan Maryam di Palestina 2 abad silam, eksplorasinya cukup berani. Tp kl yg dicari bukan buku dongeng, mungkin lebih baik cari buku yg lain. Pengin ngasih rate 4/5, tp kuatir lebih gegara sy yg ngebet sama semua detil ttg beliau. Jadi bolehlah sekitar 3.8/5, ya~

[Shifa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hazleton’s style 100% stems from her educational background- namely her degrees (plural) in psychology. Reading any of her other works, you can see that she takes creative liberty, by using what she knows of the human mind, historical context, and cultural norms to offer deeper insight into the people she studies. Her perspective is cultivated-and valued. That being said, I think Hazleton grasped at the spirit of Mary, brushed onto the whisper of something, and then came away with a fistful of air. An empty fist.

Gorgeous writing though.

“For kings and priests are never to be trusted. Always, they'll betray the people of the land, the peasants. And so arose Elijan, the great prophet of the north, from the wild, ultra-austere sect of Rechabites.
Elijah, who came from the poor and spoke for the poor. Who lived by the Jordan River and was fed by ravens. Who wore animal skins and fed on carobs--the fruit of the honey locust tree. Who bested the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel and brought down rain. Who heard the voice of God on top of the sacred mountain.”

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was thrilled to have found this book about Mary. I have a similar background to that of the author. I loved the way she brought up some of the stories about her and spoke in real terms about what could’ve happened. I was looking for a book that was not religious. I also appreciated her speaking quite a bit about the goddess in general. That was helpful. I was looking for a perspective that combined the current world with the ancient world and it was done well and with grace and respect.

[Summer D Clemenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary: A Flesh and Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother by Lesley Hazleton is a powerful book that studies many facts and accounts from around the history and culture of the Middle East and the time when Maryam, the mother of Jesus Christ was alive. This account of what may have really happened helps create a true human experience for the woman that gave birth to the Son of God and raised Him to change the world. I found this book fascinating and could hardly put it down.

[Hina Tabassum Khatri · Rating 1 out of 5]

What was Hazelton even thinking and how did this book even get the go ahead for publishing?

Read like fiction or rather fan fiction. Ever conceivable probability is acceptable to Hazelton other than what religion has taught us of the life of Maryam. Be it in Christianity it Islam.

Don't think will be reading anything by Hazelton again.

[Chhanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the flesh and blood bio actually. This is an analysis of historical politics of Mary's time and from that analysis trying to revealing Mary's character. Here Mary is in other word "what Mary should be". Anyway worth reading for in-depth analysis of her time, politics, myth and religion.

[Sydney Stockwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my religion class, but I was pleasantly surprise. I am in no way religious, but this read as more of a pick apart parts of the Bible that don’t make sense, but also show how badass the Virgin Mary was. Not too bad.

[Farhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boring. I expected a much better researched and fleshed out book from Lesley Hazleton. Instead, I found a book full of what-ifs and speculations. Nothing substantial.

[Siska Filawati · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jauh banget kualitasnya dibanding The first Muslim

[Donni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I like her other book about Islam.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a miracle. Does the impossible - presents a fresh view of Mary, the mother of Jesus - a view that sweeps away all the pious legends that have gradually accumulated around her during the last two millennia - removes the veils that the devout have thrown over her, the veils that have obscured her humanity - have turned her into an "near divinity", an object of veneration, of worship. This book is a biography of a very different Mary, of a real flesh-and-blood woman. Hazleton, rather doing a "search for the historical" Mary, provides what might be considered a Christian Haggadah, an allegorical, homiletic parable. By creatively re-imaging Mary's personality and life, Hazleton attempts to re-mythologize Mary - to renew her image - to deepen its relevance for contemporary culture - to give us a Mary who is credible, relevant, understandable to modern men and women. And to a marvelous extent, Hazleton succeeds. Her Mary is not only loving and maternal, but also strong, and wise, and competent - a Mary that everyone, even secular feminists, can respect and admire - a woman with whom they can identify even if they cannot worship. Needless to say, this alternative portrayal will deeply offend many, especially traditional Catholics and conservative evangelicals. Her virginity and her monotheism are not absolutely confirmed. Her son is not explicitly discussed. Although she does not offer an explicit Christology, her portrayal of the crucifixion is vivid, dramatic, emotionally heart-rending, unforgettable. However, Hazleton is not doing history, nor theology. Rather this is a brilliant intellectual exercise - an attempt to demythologize Mary, to present a different image of her, one that is more suited to contemporary culture, one that speaks to modern humans. This "re-thinking" is nothing new. Mary has undergone numerous transformation over the centuries, changing from the Galilean Jewish maiden into the Queen of Heaven imperially robed and crowned with a circle of stars, then into the luminous vision revealed to Bernadette at Lourdes. These "make-overs" are far from being disrespectful - are rather a sign of a vibrant faith, a sign of Mary's significance for the faithful, of the need for the faithful to adapt her image to their devotional needs. Hazleton's Mary is just as valid as all the previous constructs - perhaps even more so. Her Mary is vivid, is convincing. Hazleton knows her Bible, knows contemporary Biblical analysis, has a deep knowledge of the history and culture of 1st century Judea, has lived in Israel for many years and knows by long experience the unchanging life style and folkways of the small Galilean agricultural village. She gives us a Mary who is a real woman living a real life in a real place. Book is just marvelous. Course, I may be overly enthusiastic about this book because it has enabled me, for the first time in my life, to feel a real connection to Mary - to regard her as more than a painted statue or as the fantastically perfect ideal of womanhood - sinless, virginal, holy, and somewhat silly. Hazleton has rescued me from this.

[Robyn Tocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lesley Hazleton’s "Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother" is the perfect blend of biography, history, and faith.

Full review: https://robyntocker.weebly.com/mary.html

[Nathan Dehoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

While well-written, this book struck me as more historical fiction than biography. But then, unless you're just recapping what others have said, we don't have that much information on Mary. She's a significant part of theology, particularly for the Catholic Church, but the little information on her we find in the gospels is fragmentary and often contradictory. At least she fares better than her husband in this respect. As Hazleton points out, only the Gospel of John even mentions Mary's presence at her son's crucifixion. The book touches on some of the legends that developed about the woman, including the story in the Protoevangelium of James about her being brought up as a ward of the Temple and the rumor that she was raped by a Roman soldier. Most of it just seems to be supposition on Hazleton's part, though. She proposes that Mary was a village healer, which is how Jesus learned his healing skills. There's also the suggestion that Jesus was younger than the Gospels say when he was crucified. Why? It's rooted in the idea that it wasn't common for Galilean peasants of the time to live into their thirties, but I don't think there's any actual evidence for it. It's not a bad read, but I can't recommend it as a work of history.

[Lynne Marchetti · Rating 3 out of 5]

A truthful telling of who Mary, the mother of Jesus, really may have been.
What her time were like and where the notion of "virgin" may come from.

Lesley Hazleton has a grasp of the Aramic language as well as Herbrew and Arab languages so pulls a lot of her wisdom from
translations that may need tweaking.

The first 2/3 of the book were slow but the end 1/3 was worth the wait.

If your curious enough to delve into who Mary "is" then you'll like the information in this book. I took it out of the library in Topsfield. It just happened to be on one of the table top displays so caught my eye.

[Amie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book because I couldn't believe The Stranger had selected a writer on religious/middle east issues for their 2011 Genius Award. I had to see what this was about. I really enjoyed this because it is difficult to picture life in those times, especially for women. Of course, this is based on research of life in those times/anthropology/biblical (and other writings) scholarship. So, "biography" might be a strong word. Some of the hypotheses seem a bit far out, but they really gave me something to think about.

[Manuel Sanchez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Challenging biography that radically re-envisions the life of Mary, restoring her as both a real woman and a powerful spiritual leader. Author, an avowed agnostic, takes some disturbing license in this retelling which assumes and excludes all events that are miraculous and seeks out a different perspective or cause for those events. No virgin birth, no visit by angels, no exile in Egypt and no physical resurrection of her son. I enjoyed how it challenged by faith and perspective, as well as apocryphal references to support her position. Liked the challenge but discounted her conclusions.