Here is a collection of ecumenical essays by scholars representing various Christian denominations, presented at the International Congress of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary [ESBVM] in Pittsburgh, PA, in 2008. The contributors in this book center attention on Mary, the Mother of Christ, who was the biblical disciple whose life brings us to the love and glory of God. Contributing authors are Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. These authors are: Very Rev. John Behr, Dean of St. Vladimirs Seminary in New York; Dr. Robert L. Fastiggi, Professor of Sacred Theology at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit; Sr. Nonna Verna Harrison, an Eastern Orthodox nun and specialist in Patristics and Orthodox Theology; Dr. Maura Hearden, a Roman Catholic scholar; Rev. Jennifer Mary Kimball, pastor of the First Congregational Church UCC in Walton, NY; Dr. Virginia Kimball, an Eastern Orthodox theologian, President of ESBVM USA; Rev. Dr. Donald Charles Lacy, United Methodist pastor and well-known ecumenical author and lecturer; Sr. Barbara Jean Mihalchick OSBM, a Byzantine Catholic Sister and vocation director for the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil in Uniontown, PA; Sr. Mary Catherine Nolan, a Roman Catholic Dominican Sister, a Marian theologian and author of Marys Song - Living the Timeless Prayer; Rev. Dr. Edward J. Ondrako, OFM Conv, scholar in residence at the Franciscan International Study Center in Canterbury, Kent, England and author of Progressive Illuminations - A Journey with John Henry Cardinal Newman, 1980-2005; Rev. Dr. Paul Snowden Russell III, an Anglican priest and Dean of the St. Joseph of Arimathea Anglican Theological College in Berkeley, CA, and a noted Syriac scholar.
