Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary [Paperback]

Marina Warner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 1983

Shows how the figure of Mary has shaped and been shaped by changing social and historical circumstances and why for all their beauty and power,the legends of Mary have condemned real women to perpetual inferiority.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dramatic, informative and entertaining...a substantial and provocative book." - TLS

"A work of remarkably elegant and eloquent scholarship." - Observer

"Astonishing and enlightening.... packed with scholarship, imagery, vivid selection, and wry contrastive comment." - Margaret Mead

From the Inside Flap

Shows how the figure of Mary has shaped and been shaped by changing social and historical circumstances and why for all their beauty and power,the legends of Mary have condemned real women to perpetual inferiority.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Vintage Books ed edition (March 12, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394711556
• ISBN-13: 978-0394711553
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, well researched, April 20, 2002

By 

"troytron" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary (Paperback)

The fact remains that this book offers a very solid and accurately researched survey of the development of the "phenomenon" of devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is not exhaustive by any means, but traces all the major strains of development from at least the third century. What the book fails to do adequately is critically delve into the real roots of Marian themes as found in the New Testament records. Indeed, what we see in the very first century of the Christian/Biblical era is a rather rapid (and radical) development of attitudes about the Mother of Jesus, a shift from early indifference and ignorance of Mary's role (the Marcan Gospel, Pauline letters) to an outright "lifting up" of Mary as the Ideal Christian, the First True Disciple, worthy of loud praise (Luke), and even iconic status as Eve-Israel 'Mother of believers'(John) and glorified symbol of the Church itself (Revelation). I wish Werner had spent more time drawing attention to how swift and startling these developments in the understanding of Mary were when the New Testament writings were being composed. Also, how did these "arcs of thought" regarding Mary take root geographically in the 2nd century church? Werner could have noted that it was no coincidence that Gospel communities giving great prominence to the figure of Mary(Luke's Antioch, the Johannine churches) in the first century continued to preserve these emphases in the 2nd (Ignatius of Anioch, Irenaeus-Justin, etc). Otherwise, Werner gives a solid depiction of how formative ecclesiastical motives (asceticism, Christological controversy) rattled the chains of Mary's rather flexible image in the patristic age, and how her mystique lent itself so readily to mythical, legendary rumblings about her death, intercessory powers, etc. A fascinating handbook and not even remotely [a] feminist manifesto ... It seems that some would have a hard time handling the reality that much of what Mary represents was a complex combination of iconic mythologizing that began in Scriptural/Apostolic times and only grew in succeeding centuries according to the demands of the age and normal human piety.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant research and interpretation, January 23, 2006

By 

Elizabeth G. Melillo "gloriana" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary (Paperback)

Marina Warner's writing style is so magnificent that each paragraph seems a tribute to the beauty of the English language. I should like to use this book as an instruction manual for advanced courses in literary composition.

In itself, this book is a landmark work of European history. Marina's treatment of nearly a millennium of devotions, historical implications, poetry, art, and culture is exceedingly extensive and cohesive.

I withheld the fifth star because the underlying thesis, that the devotions to Mary have condemned women to inferior status, distorts the essence of the devotions chronicled. Even in the 'age of faith,' the connections between devotion, which admits to God's ways being unknowable, and the physical manifestations (icons, relics and the like) which make them come alive for the believer, hardly would have been veritable manuals of 'how to use Mary's holiness to underline female inferiority.' In fact, were this book a historical work without the feminist angle, it would have been far better.

36 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, October 4, 1999

By 

Pedro Rosario (Río Piedras, PR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary (Paperback)

I am a catholic, and one of my favorite subjects is mariology. I personally find this book illuminating in the fact that for many years many (male) theologians have used the figure of the Virgin Mary to oppress women in many different ways. I admire Marina Warner's work.

However, not always Marian dogmas are used in such a way. I think that this book makes an extraordinary point against the devotions to the Virgin Mary, but avoids the fact that also such devotions have been used to free women.