Tag: Mary

Book Review: The Lost Mary, Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus

April 9, 2026

When I happened upon a blurb about this recently-published book, I checked to see if my local library has it. I was pleased to find out they had a copy and I checked it out. In amongst my other reading, I found time to read the first few chapters of the library copy before it came due; I couldn’t renew it as other patrons have holds on the book. I’ve found The Lost Mary – Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus to be thought-provoking enough to want my own copy.

Fortunately, the timing of this book’s recent publication dovetails nicely with my master’s in theology studies. We had learned in class that much of what we know about Mary comes from “The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James).” ….. It’s widely known that there are four “canonical gospels” – the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that are in the Bible. In addition to the four canonical gospels, there are other gospels – some of which are “heretical” and others that are not heretical….. I learned in my studies that the “non-heretical, non-canonical” gospels are read by the church and religious scholars to provide “supplementary history” that enrich what we know from the four canonical gospels. Rabbit hole – this lead to me ordering Robert J. Miller’s book The Complete Gospels and I read “The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James).” In the Protoevangelium of James, I discovered that Mary’s parents (Joachim and Anna) were wealthy and that Joseph functioned as more of a guardian than a spouse to Mary. I was curious to learn more.

Then, I came upon James D. Tabor’s book The Lost Mary – Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus.

What I find intriguing about this book is that the author – James D. Tabor – goes beyond what we commonly know today about Mary life to consider the historical context of her life. What was it like historically for Mary to be living in Judea at the time that she lived? Tabor looks into topics – and ponders to the sociological impact on Mary’s life of what was happening at the time – the daily details of Roman conquest, a description of the town where her parents were likely living when she was born, Joseph needing to look for a Hebrew midwife when Mary went into labor, the idea that Jesus likely visited his wealthy maternal grandparents when he was a child, etc. It’s never occurred to me to ponder Jesus’ childhood visits with extended relatives and other day-to-day aspects of Jesus and Mary’s lives. Therefore, I am finding it insightful to consider the ideas presented in this book. Does writer and historian James D. Tabor accurately figure out every possible aspect of Mary’s life? Who knows. Even if Tabor goes down some tangents that may be open for debate, Tabor is raising points that broaden and enrich the reader’s understanding of the teenager who gave birth to Jesus.

I am looking forward to having my own copy of this book that I can keep on my bookshelf as a reminder that we should want to know more about the life of Mary.

Bibliophile and would-be-antiquarian Kim Burkhardt reviews books at The Books of the Ages and at The Hermitage Within. If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you follow this blog (thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog, please share it with them (thank you!).

Book Review: Nourishing Love – A Franciscan Celebration of Mary

November 30, 2023
Nourishing Love a Franciscan Celebration of Mary

This book takes readers on a novel way of exploring Mary’s life (no, not a novel). For those of us who tend think of Mary either historically and/or as a saint, this book brings us an additional way to consider Mary.

Franciscan author (and priest) Murray Bodo offers us something similar to that of The Chosen TV series: a conceptual view of what it could have been like living Jesus’ or Mary’s lives – making their day-to-day lives more tangible for us than what many of us consider when reading the Gospels. Both this book and The Chosen contain historical aspects of the lives of Mary and Jesus (respectively). Reading historical accounts alone – however – don’t necessarily take us into thinking about the daily aspects what they did and felt as people.

In this book, Nourishing Love, there are reflections that take us to ponder, “what thoughts did Mary ponder?” After Jesus offered her and John to one another as mother-and-son, what conversations Mary and John have about Jesus? Possibly ponderings by Mary and possible – plausible – conversations between Mary and John are presented here to bring us into considering their lives on a very human level.

At one point in the book, the author writes, “Since Jesus was both God and man, he had his mother’s genes and was deeply influenced genetically, as most of us are, by his mother. He was Mary’s son, prompting us to imagine how Mary herself was in fact revealed in the person of her son.” Hmm….. Did genetics cause Jesus to look like his mother? Did Mary and Jesus share similar voice inflections? Did Jesus maintain some of Mary’s habits once he became an adult (ate the same foods for breakfast, had the same evening routines, etc.)? How much did Mary’s human personality influence Jesus’ human personality? The author of this book observes that the stories Mary told Jesus during his infancy and childhood may have influenced the types of stories Jesus chose to tell as an adult – including the parables he told. How she cared for the people around her could have been socially instructive for the human Jesus.

The way this book is constructed made me think of Ignatian exercises in terms of the creativity brought to subjects of faith. There’s a degree to which I felt uncomfortable with this book – I would more naturally gravitate to an academically-oriented sociological construct/analysis of people’s daily lives in first-century Palestine to get a sense of Mary’s life (that type of book would also be interesting!). Sometimes, though, discomfort is good. Discomfort can challenge us to consider topics in new ways; new perspectives help us grow.

Kim Burkhardt blogs at The Books of the Ages and A Parish Catechist. If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you follow this blog (thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog post, please share it with them (thank you!).