The Virgin Mary across Cultures: Devotion among Costa Rican Catholic and Finnish Orthodox Women

This book examines women’s relationship to the Virgin Mary in two different cultural and religious contexts, and compares how these relationships have been analyzed and explained on a theological and a sociological level. The figure of the Virgin Mary is a divisive one in our modern culture. To some, she appears to be a symbol of religious oppression, while to others, she is a constant comfort and even an inspiration towards empowerment.

Drawing on the author’s own ethnographic research amon...