"What the Gospels present is the story of a mature adult woman facing some of the most difficult problems of womanhood and motherhood, and thereby sharing their common trials," notes Father Tissa Balasuriya in this book. Writing out of an Asian context with its multi-faith character, this Sri Lankan Catholic priest and theologian celebrates the mother of Jesus as a strong woman faithful to her son during the darkest moments and days of his life. As an exile and a refugee, Mary has been "a great inspiration to Christian movements for social transformation throughout the world."
Father Balasuriya's book was published in 1990, and he was excommunicated by the Catholic church in 1997 for his refusal to recant alleged errors in it or to sign the profession of faith prepared for him by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Most of the problems here stem from Father Balasuriya's critique of the doctrine of original sin with its discrimination against women, its hostility toward the natural world, and its intolerance of other religions. Read Mary and Human Liberation for its insights into theology and for what it reveals indirectly about the narrow-mindedness of the Vatican.