My Spirit Rejoices: Mary, the Mother of Jesus (2023)

[The text of the pieces of music in this audio file can be accessed at https://www.stpauls.co.uk/sites/default/files/2023-09/Texts%20and%20Tranlations.pdf] Mary the mother of Jesus is a polarising figure. Is she Queen of Heaven, the New Eve, an ordinary person called to do extraordinary things, the ultimate good girl, a feminist foremother, or is her story altogether more complex? She is also the subject of countless paintings, poems and works of music, sometimes overlaying our sense of her presence in the Bible. Rowan Williams considers contrasting aspects of Mary’s story in the Gospels and the church, her place in our faith, and why she still matters so much. Dr Rowan Williams is a poet and theologian, and was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury.