When the Editorial Advisory Committee for In God's Image decided on the theme "Mary and Holy Spirit" for the December 2010 edition, the committee members must have considered the significance of setting this topic at the fourth quarter of the year. For how indeed can we go through the seasons of Advent and Christmas without Mary and the Holy Spirit? How indeed can there be Christmas without Mary and the Holy Spirit?

When the publications staff of AWRC sent out the call for papers, we did not know what or how much to expect. We were aware that the topic is something that is more popular, even common, among Catholics, more than the Protestants. But we also know that many Protestants, especially Protestant feminist theologians, are now revisiting, reclaiming and re-reading the oft neglected Marian heritage.

As the contributions to this IGI edition indicate, many actually came from the Protestant circle and two came from Catholic sisters. Of the two Catholic sisters, Sr. Dr. Margaret Shanthi Stephens from India presents an Asian feminist perspective on the Holy Spirit and Mariology, exploring images of Mary as Divine Mother and Divine Feminine as well as a woman of extraordinary faith, a disciple, and a liberation model. Sr. Teruko Ito from Japan shares an imaginary dialogue with the Snake covering a wide range of interesting topics and time periods going all the way to the Garden of Eden and on to the present.

Dr. Asnath Niwa Natar of Indonesia reflects on the meaning of Holy Spirit and Mary for Asian women, critically highlighting her being a role model of living in faith and the implications of her being a sinless virgin and glorified mother. The Rev. Dr. Tabita Kartika Christiani, also of Indonesia, expounds the meaning of Mary's being servant of the Lord and raises a critical point that the lack of emphasis on this image of Mary has resulted in the lack of role model for ordained women in the Bible.

In her paper on a theology of Holy Spirit as Mother based on Saktism and Indian Christian interpretation of Sakti, Dr. T. Mercy Rani of India brings out an interesting issue of how Indian Christianity has derived its God image from the West instead of the Indian Sakti tradition which approves of the feminine image of God. She therefore proposes a reconstruction of the theology of the Spirit as Mother to reduce the excessive masculinity in the Trinity. 

Focusing on the song of Mary, Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana of the Philippines reflects on the significance of The Magnificat in view of the struggles of Filipino women in their common cause of overthrowing social structures that perpetuate inequality, oppression, exploitation and domination. She asserts that The Magnificat is incarnated in people's active resistance against tyranny and repression. Dr. Liza B. Lamis, also of the Philippines, shares her own version of a prayer poem titled, "Hail Mary".

One interesting article presents an intertextual reading of passages from the Bible and the Qur'an on the qualities of Mary. The author, Gé Speelman of the Netherlands, acknowledges the risk that women take when embracing the larger religious traditions of Islam and Christianity while trying to liberate themselves from patriarchal traditions. However she affirms that religious traditions are never one-dimensional - so is the story of the annunciation - and that feminist theologians should show the oft neglected aspects of their traditions.

Two other articles contributed to this edition have a wider focus than the theme of Mary and Holy Spirit. The Rev. Dr. Kim Ok-youn's paper on Jesus Christ's perspective on women as reflected in the Gospel of Luke highlights the evangelist's focus on Jesus' vision of the full liberation of women. This she argues is clearly shown through Luke's emphasis on the witness of these women especially at crucial times and events - from the birth of Jesus to his resurrection.

Writing on the sources of feminist theology in Asia, Dr. Gabriele Dietrich of India focuses on the Samaritan woman who gives water to Jesus, the Syro-Phoenician woman who contradicts him, and the unnamed woman who anoints him, connecting these stories with issues of water, land, and sources of livelihood that Asian women face in daily life.

We sincerely thank all these contributors for this wonderful edition of In God's Image. And we hope that readers will greatly benefit from them and be encouraged to contribute to IGI in future.

Hope S. Antone

Publications Secretary