Missing Mary: The Queen of Heaven and Her Re-Emergence in the Modern Church

by Charlene Spretnak

What ever happened to the Virgin Mary in the modern Catholic Church? For the past forty years her presence has been radically minimized. In a groundbreaking work, Charlene Spretnak cuts across the battle lines delineated by the left and the right within the Church to champion the recovery of the full spiritual presence of Mary. Spretnak, a liberal Catholic, asserts that a deep loss ensues for women in particular when Mary's female embodiment of grace and mystical presence is denied and replaced with a strictly text-bound version of her as a Nazarene housewife. Complete with a striking insert of contemporary Marian art, Missing Mary is a deeply insightful reflection on Mary in the modern age.

Genres: Religion, Spirituality, History, Nonfiction, Christianity

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Charlene Spretnak has been intrigued throughout her life as a writer, speaker, and activist with dynamic interrelatedness. She has written nine books on various subjects in which interrelatedness plays a central role, including its expression in the arts. She is particularly interested in 21st-century discoveries indicating that the physical world, including the human bodymind, is far more dynamically interrelated than modernity had assumed. Such discoveries are currently causing a “relational shift” in our institutions and systems of knowledge, as she suggests in Relational Reality (2011). Several of her books have also proposed a "map of the terrain" of emergent social-change movements and an exploration of the issues involved. She has helped to create an eco-social frame of reference and vision in the areas of social criticism (including feminism), cultural history, and religion and spirituality. Since the mid-1980s, her books have examined the multiple crises of modernity and furthered the corrective efforts that are arising. Her book Green Politics was a major catalyst for the formation of the U.S. Green Party movement, of which she is a cofounder. Her book The Resurgence of the Real was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of the Best Books of 1997. In 2006 Charlene Spretnak was named by the British government's Environment Department as one of the "100 Eco-Heroes of All Time." In 2012 she received the Demeter Award for lifetime achievement as "one of the premier visionary feminist thinkers of our time" from the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology. She is a professor emerita in philosophy and religion.

Reviews

[Margaret Chind · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book that I read as part of a full semester independent study of the differences between the Lutheran and Catholic Churches. I wrote a detailed research paper on Marian Devotion. This was one of the best books that I read during that whole study.

It contains annotations and underlines through out. It was a fabulous read, and I'm excited to have it back on my shelf after it's long term loan to my sister for more than three years. *grin*

[Awallens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reviews the Virgin Mary's history in the Catholic church and why she is not discussed much anymore. It stems from a decision at Vadican II where the church tried to modernize its image. One of the steps the church took was to reduce Mary's pressence in the church. Spretnak reviews this decision on the Catholic Churches' part and the harm it has done to Catholicism as a whole, and to Catholic women and men who want to worship mary in particular. It was an interesting look at a problem I had noticed but had never really thought of until now. It's a good book for Catholics to read, no doubt, but I not being Catholic wasn't as interested as I thought I would be. Although I liked it, it took ages to get through, so that brought the rating down for me.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spiritual ecologist, feminist Charlene Spretnak's very interesting book on Mary, the Virgin Mother of God's emergence as Catholicism's answer to goddess worship; her banishment as Catholicism's answer to goddess worship; and her re-emergence as Catholicism's answer to goddess worship. Those Catholics - never satisfied. Ms. Spretnak's done her homework, writes well, and presents a compelling history. Worth the read if you're interested in these things.

[Bruce Morton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlene Spretnak's language and analysis put modern Catholicism on its heels. Her vantage point of goddess theology misreads the evidence regarding early veneration of Mary. Her proposal of a "cosmic Mary" goes far afield of papal thought. As a result her book reveals the pressure points Catholicism has faced since Vatican II. She opens wide the question that grows in our day (even beyond Catholicism): Do we follow Jesus or (in some way) Jesus and the Goddess?

[K Kriesel · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a few gems of information and insight, muddled among rambling and disorganization. I read most of it skimming paragraphs filled with hyperbole and personal references. And then Spretnak speculated that people from northern Europe are of colder demeanor and therefore rejects Mary? And perhaps vice versa? Ugh, I had to put it down after that.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the idea of this book (reconceptualizing Mary as a goddess and more of a key player in Christianity) more than I liked the actual book. I found it to contain a mind-numbing amount of info relating to Catholic bureaucracy that didn't interest me.

[Olga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learning to pronounce a word "Marian" and trying to see whether I can use this word and the word "I" in one sentence :)

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

The original cover art was much better, but the author thoughtlessly vetoed it. She was easily the most demanding I worked with.

[Robert Showers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spretnak has some important points but the book is repetitive.