Daughter Zion: Meditations on the Church's Marian Belief

This dense little volume by then-Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Bendedict XVI) reproduces three lectures presented in the mid 1970s and aims to provide a short introduction to the Church's Marian belief, the place of Mariology in Holy Scripture and a presentation and explanation of the great Marian dogmas of the Church.Although not meant to be a treatise it is theologically rich; revealing and exploring the manifold layers through which the person and work of the Blessed Virgin Mary was foreshadowed in the people and faith pattern of the People of Israel and the Covenant of love and faithfulness between God and his chosen people.My Kindle device suggested a reading time of approximately 1 hour for this book; I spent over a week reading and digesting the fresh understanding gained through studying this small essay and still feel I have only just scratched the surface. This book bears re-reading several times.

I couldn't understand it; very difficult to read.

Some others have reviewed this book for being "too" theologically deep. I would like to say that it is theologically RICH, while still being accessible to a willing reader. He presents his thoughts thoroughly and thoughtfully, gentling nudging the reader along through his great insights and remarks. It is truly a gem of a book. As a young, twenty-year old female Catholic, this book really inspired and watered me.

In a very lucid and rigorously thought book , one of the greatest theologians of the XX century demonstrates that Mary is truly the new Israel , the Blessed Woman , the Immaculate , and the Virgin mother of God , who is the full human answer to the invitation of God

This book although very small is very dense in content. The language used and the amount of words used to get across a point could have been so easily simplified. The entire point of the book may seem quite controversial because what our current Pope acknowledges in ths book is that salvation actually occurs through the women in the bible. If one follows all the stories of the old testament the covenant of the spirit is made with the offspring of particular women. The Prophets themselves are important but only the children of specific wives are chosen. Thean the bringer of death and holder of life . Not the contradiction it may seem at all because with so called death came the chance for mankinds evolution her error was that she did not trust or wait for the Creator to reveal the plan.Churchianity and Christianity are not the same thing this is wht has us confused and will keep us forever locked in this illusion.

This book is excellent, but it's very what I would call theologically deep. At any rate, even though the book is theologically deep, and things that were written went a bit over my head at times, it provides a very good concept and understanding of Mary as a version as well as a virgin birth. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about The Blessed mother.

I found that this book was marvelously done. Joseph Ratzinger does an excellent job describing, using both Biblical sources and other philosophical sources, the role of Mary both in the Church and in the history of man after the death of Christ. He brings together both Old Testament and New Testament knowledge of the people's understanding of the purity of barrenness and combines it with the newer idea of the purity of virginity. Overall it was very well written and was a great intellectual challenge that left me with much more than I had before reading it.

This book is a true enlightenment and a short book but not one to be ready quickly.

This is a lovely little text on mariology written in the usual approachable and charming style of the author. Some very moving imagery.

Anyone who wants to learn more about the connection of the Old and New Testament, the notions of Mary in these two traditions as well even some connection to pagan beliefs and be exposed to the pure style and logic of a great philosopher/thinker/Mariologist needs only to read this excellent, short (82 pages) book. It was based on three lectures he gave in 1975. (I can see why his former students still pack the hall for their yearly get-togethers with their old professor until even recently).