Cold War Mary : Ideologies, Politics, and Marian Devotional Culture PDF

First-everstudy connecting the Cold War to the field of popular religiosity and Mariandevotion

One hardly known but fascinating aspect of the ColdWar was the use of the holy Virgin Mary as a warrior against atheistideologies. After the Second World War, there was a remarkable rise in the Westof religiously inflected rhetoric against what was characterised as “godlesscommunism”. The leaders of the Roman Catholic Church not only urged theirfollowers to resist socialism, but along with many prominent Catholic laity andactivist movements they marshaled the support of Catholics into a spiritualholy war. In this book renowned experts address a variety of grassroots andChurch initiatives related to Marian politics, the hausse of Marianapparitions during the Cold War period, and the present-day revival of Mariandevotional culture. By identifying and analysing the militant side of Mary inthe Cold War context on a global scale for the first time, ColdWar Mary will attract readers interested in religious history, history ofthe Cold War, and twentieth-century international history.

Contributors: Michael Agnew (McMaster University), Marina SanahujaBeltran (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), William A. Christian, Jr. (Independent,Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), Deirdre de la Cruz (University of Michigan),Agnieszka Halemba (University of Warsaw), Thomas Kselman (University of NotreDame), Peter Jan Margry (University ofAmsterdam / Meertens Institute), KatharineMassam (University of Divinity, Melbourne), David Morgan (Duke University), Konrad Siekierski (King’s CollegeLondon), Tine van Osselaer (University of Antwerp), Robert Ventresca (WesternUniversity Canada), Daniel Wojcik (University of Oregon) and Sandra L. Zimdars-Swartz (University ofKansas)