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.

Read a Dec. 12, 2007, New York Times story about the growing popularity of a theatrical version of the Guadalupe story that is playing beyond the Los Angeles cathedral where it began in 2002.

See the entry on the Virgin Mary in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, edited by William H. Swatos Jr.