Mary: Nazarene housewife or the Blessed Queen of Heaven? Historical mother figure or source of power manifested in visions throughout the world? In the 1960s, Vatican II largely abandoned the traditional meaning of Mary. Once a mystical bridge between humans and the Divine, Mary's spiritual significance is now severly diminished. Today the Church debates whether reducing Mary to a strictly biblical role was a modernizing advance or a profound error. Cutting across the ideological battle lines, Charlene Spretnak, a liberal Catholic, reflects on what was lost when Mary's mystical presence and power were denied, and argues, from a progressive perspective, for a resurgence of Marian spirituality. Missing Mary is the book on the cosmological Queen of Heaven and is sure to spark debate about Her role for the twenty-first century.

Charlene Spretnak is the author of several books, including States of Grace and The Resurgence of the Real. She is a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Preface: Being Marian * The Virgin and the Dynamo * The Quiet Rebellion Against the Suppression of Mary * Premodern Mary Meets Postmodern Cosmology * Where Mary Still Reigns * Why the Church Deposed the Queen of Heaven * Mary's Biblical and Syncretic Roots * Reflections on Her Mystical Body of Grace * Epilogue: Being Mary