Some Christians have piled the status of the mother of Jesus so high that it rivals that of her Son. Others ignore the Virgin Mary entirely. Behind all of the images is a girl who grew up to be the mother of Christ. How did the first Christians view her? What were the commonly understood facts about the Blessed Mother's early life --- before the Annunciation? How did Mary, the mother of Jesus, become the Theotokos? Frederica Mathewes-Green opens up the Virgin Mary's early life, offering a window into her centrality to the Christian Faith in new and sometimes startling ways. “Do you want to get to know Mary a bit better? Are you interested in entering a faithful Marian spirituality? Let Frederica Mathewes-Green facilitate a rich, traditional, authentic meeting of Mary. When it comes to spending time with the mother of our Lord, this book is second only to Scripture.” Lauren F. Winner, author of Girl Meets God, Mudhouse Sabbath, and Real Sex “The Mary that Frederica Mathewes-Green gives us in these winsome texts–a palpably real woman, at once humble and exalted--transcends the differences that persist even today among the main streams of the Christian tradition, not least because this Mary points beyond herself to the ultimate source of our hope and our joy. -John Wilson, editor, Books & Culture "Frederica Mathewes-Green is a sparkling writer. In The Lost Gospel of Mary, not only is her material fascinating, but so is her perspective as a thoughtful and irenic Orthodox Christian. There is much here to warm the heart as it engages the mind from here to warm the heart as it engages the mind from early in our comon Christian tradition." - Brian McLaren, author of A Generous Orthodoxy and www.brianmclaren.net.