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

by Lesley Hazleton

Book Overview

Starting with a dark-skinned girl barely out of adolescence when she gives birth, Lesley Hazleton weaves together the many facets of Mary's existence: peasant villager, wise woman and healer,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582342369
• ISBN13: 9781582342368
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Mary: Finally flesh and blood

Lesley Hazleton has broken an icon, one that holds great meaning for millions of people. She has taken the most important woman in Christianity, identified her as a jew, a very young, very poor, very real person who lived in Jesus' time. It is Mary the healer that we meet; Mary who knew much about the world around her. Hazleton's ability to dig deep into the literature and culture of the middle east is supported by her knowledge of the languages and the fact that she lived there for 13 years. Her explorations of the possibilities within the biblical accounts of Jesus' time present an extraordinary example of an author who has both the intellectual capacity to examine these texts with a reporter's skills and the imagination to invest Mary (Maryam as Hazleton calls her.) with a humanness that is both touching and challenging. I loved the writing. I loved the journey. I loved living in the time which I certainly did while reading this book. Anyone who has ever scratched their head and wondered how Mary handled what she saw when she witnessed her only child dying a slow, cruel, painful death on a cross must read this book. It is a fascinating and convincing story.

A

I read Mary like a house on fire. Truly, this work is a gem of intellectual courage, imaginative risk taking, penetrating scholarship, and spell-binding writing -- a beautiful evocation that makes those Catholic school plaster statues of Mary leap out of their alcoves and into spirited life. This is the Mary the church fathers don't want you to know. This is a flesh and blood Mary, the real woman behind the iconic image. Hazleton rediscovers Mary as a human being, and in so doing makes her divinity more personal, intimate, and real. Like Jesus, this Mary had the courage to be herself under every set of circumstances. Lesley Hazleton's Mary is not the second Eve of the church fathers' - the obedient virgin who redeems the first Eve's primal rebellion. This Mary is the Great Mother Godess who is, "short, wiry, with dark olive skin and the trace of of a moustache on her upper lip." This Mary doesn't come with the good table manners and idealized looks of the Renaissance virgin. Hazleton delivers Mary from the hands of ecclesiatsical partriarchy, and gives us a historical Mary whose divinity suffers not one whit.

The Real Mary Revealed

Who was she? That elusive, light-skinned blonde icon in a long blue scarf, idealized on alters, in alcoves and adorning creches throughout the Christian culture? No. This deeply moving and powerful book will bring you the real Mary, a young Palestinian woman with the "flesh-and-blood" life issues of a teenage pegnancy and the murder of a son. It will bring you to tears, to revelations and to a human understanding of what has become a question of this decade. The opening, intervening and closing pages of this scholarly account of Mary, "Mother of God," carried me to tears. Lesley Hazelton's inspirational treatment of the life of Jesus' mother does not threaten the devout, only strengthens belief and understanding. A remarkable read for the history, the emotion, the theology. Besides, the writing is exquisite! Don't miss this one.

A-mazing book

A friend told me about this book, then somebodyelse mentioned the website (www.marylife.org). I read the reviews and the excerptposted there, bought the book, and couldn't put it down until I'dfinished reading it. Hazleton pulls together whiz-along storytellingwith solid scholarship and insights about history, women, culture andthe human spirit. I'd say that if you loved The Da Vinci Code,you'll love this book, except that 'Mary' isn't some fictionalmade-up story. This is the real, intense live-feed of the life of awoman we all thought we knew something about. It's got me re-thinkingmy view not only of Mary but of a whole lot of things...

Thank you so much...

In a time when we tend to be too literal in the interpretations of scriptures and have a very Manichean approach to contemporary problems, Hazleton's book is a breath of fresh air. Captivating, her biography of the 'historical' Mary is bringing life to a shadow, largely ignored by the, until very recently, male-ruled Christian 'aristocracy'. The power of a woman, a mother is given back to a character who without doubt is at the starting point of a tsunami shaping Europe and (alas) the rest of the world for centuries after her time.The depth of Hazleton's research manages to depict a vivid and credible picture of a woman's life in Palestine two millenniums ago. The book masterfully realizes the difficult balancing act of writing a credible and highly readable historical account without destroying the mystery of the legend.Thank you so much Lesley...