Thomas Oden is Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University in Madison, N.J. He is a leading Protestant scholar of church history who has argued that Protestants should explore history and scripture to recover Mary of Nazareth as a model of spirituality.

Kristy Nabhan-Warren is a professor of religion at the University of Iowa. She has written widely on the role of the Virgin Mary in Latino cultures. Her research focuses on Catholic studies. She is the author of Meatpacking America: How Migration, Work, and Faith Unite and Divide the Heartland.

Elizabeth A. Johnson is a religious sister of the Congregation of St. Joseph and a theologian at Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y. She is one of the foremost feminist theologians and has written extensively on the Virgin Mary, including the book Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints.

Lesley Hazleton is a former psychologist and journalist and is the author of Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother. Hazleton lives in Seattle and describes herself as having “deep roots in both Judaism and Catholicism.”

Read a May 23, 2003, National Catholic Reporter review that discusses four new books on Mary.

Read a Dec. 1, 2002, Christianity Today interview with evangelical theologians J.I. Packer and Thomas Oden about the appeal of the Virgin Mary.

Read a Dec. 1, 2003, Christianity Today essay by Timothy George about the social importance of the Virgin Mary.

Read a Dec. 3, 2007, Los Angeles Times story about the growing appeal of the patroness of Mexico.

Read a Dec. 4, 2007, Catholic News Service story about the growing appeal of the patroness of Mexico.