Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The Testament of Mary by Colm Toiben


The Testament of Mary is a new look at an age-old story.  According to legend, Mary the Mother of Jesus lived out the end of her life in Ephesus, Turkey, an important city in early Christianity.  It is in this city that she gives her testament, hoping to understand the events that eventually became the story told in the New Testament, events that she admits “unhinged” her.  This Mary is not the dutiful saintly woman of Christian teaching and her recounting of events does not correspond to that in the Bible.  She does not agree that her son is the Son of God.  She is angry about her son’s death and at both his followers and herself for not protecting him from his gruesome fate. At the end of her life she is in hiding, living among strangers, dependent on two men she does not like or trust, possibly John and Luke. Colm Toibin’s Mary is a tragic human woman, imperfect, doubtful and frightened. The Testament of Mary is a book for readers open to examining another point of view.

Check out The Testament of Mary @ the library!