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Christine Valters Paintner

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Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal Paperback – April 8, 2022

by Christine Valters Paintner (Author), Kreg Yingst (Illustrator)

4.7 60 ratings

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Named one of the best spiritual books of 2022 by Spirituality & Practice. Awarded third place in contemporary spirituality by the Catholic Media Association and third place in inspirational books by the Association of Catholic Publishers.

Do you long to feel more alive, to see the vibrancy in your daily life? Do you feel the seeds of a new calling tugging at you?

Look to the Blessed Mother for help. In Birthing the Holy, Christine Valters Paintner—abbess of the online Abbey of the Arts—invites you to better know Mary and her heart through thirty-one of her titles, and, along the way, you’ll nurture the new growth in your life.

The Blessed Mother is known by many beautiful titles, some of which are familiar—Virgin, Queen of Peace, and Star of the Sea—and some we may not be aware of—Vessel of Grace, Greenest Branch, and Our Lady of Silence.

Paintner offers a flexible format to reflect on Mary’s titles through a thirty-one-day personal retreat, a series of novenas, or with visio divina exercises using striking images by printmaker Kreg Yingst. As you reflect on Mary in her role as Mother of Good Counsel, Woman Clothed with the Sun, Mystical Rose, Mother of Sorrows, Queen of the Angels, and other titles, Paintner invites you to hear what God calls you to develop in your life, help that dream or vision grow, and then nourish it in the world.

Whether you’re meeting Mary for the first time in these magnificent titles or revisiting her as a beloved companion, Birthing the Holy invites you to see the exploration of Mary and your life as a spiritual and creative act, one that can help deepen your faith even as it sparks new growth within you.

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Sorin Books
Publication date

April 8, 2022
Dimensions

6.1 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
ISBN-10

1932057277
ISBN-13

978-1932057270
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From the Publisher

Birthing the Holy, roman catholicism, Mary, Marian, Marian books, Marian titles, personal retreats

Christine Valters Paintner, Abbey of the Art, titles for Mary, feminine wisdom, the blessed virgin

Embrace the Sacred Feminine with Christine Valters Paintner

What does it mean to "birth the holy" you might ask? Regardless of your gender or your physical capacity to bear children, everyone is born with the capacity and call to bring awareness of the sacred presence more fully into the world. One of Mary’s prime identities is as bearer of God, pregnant with the holy, called to bring the divine into physical presence. We can call upon her as we discern how we are invited to do the same.

In Birthing the Holy, Christine Valters Paintner invites you to take a personal retreat to help you discover your own sacred feminity. Each day will take a look at a different Marian title to nurture your spiritual growth, help you feel more alive, and see the vibrancy in your day-to-day.

Reflect on the heart of Mary through:

a thirty-day personal retreat
a series of novenas
visio divina exercises

Explore Titles for Mary, such as:


Virgin: She Who Is Whole unto Herself	Vessel of Grace: She Who Is the Alchemical Container	Queen of Peace: She Who Blesses Reconciliation	Tree of Life: She Who Roots Down and Reaches Out

Kreg Yingst, art by Kreg Yingst, catholic art, Marian art, Christian art, catholic books, holy art

More Titles by Christine Valters Paintner


The Soul’s Slow Ripening For those exploring an alternate way of discerning a spiritual path—one which honors the moment-by-moment invitations and the soul’s seasonal rhythms—will discover that this book will help you become more aligned with creativity and wholeness.	The Artist’s Rule Explore the ways that contemplative practice and creative expression can nourish one another. Artists of all kinds will discover how traditions of Benedictine, Celtic, and desert spirituality can offer new sources of inspiration for your work.	Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire In each chapter, the author offers her reflections on the Christian and spiritual significance of the element, along with various concrete practices and reflection questions that the reader can employ to meet God through that element.	Earth, Our Original Monastery You are invited both to be more gentle with yourself and the difficulties we face each day as well as to challenge yourself to reach past your carefully constructed plans and meet God beyond the current edges of your life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Keen insights and fresh perspective on the life and meaning of Mary, the Blessed Mother of Jesus.” --Fr. David L. Guffey, CSC, National Director, Family Theater Productions

“Even if you have known Mary all your life, you will encounter her afresh here in deeply nourishing and empowering ways. Drawing upon centuries of art, theology, and spiritual tradition, Christine Valters Paintner leads us into the sacred act of co-creation with God while Kreg Yingst’s beautiful block prints guide us in thoughtful contemplation of our Mother Mary, ever ancient, ever new.” --Cameron Bellm, author of A Consoling Embrace

“Every name for Mary, like every name for Christ, opens a window to another dimension of a mystery that will never be exhausted. We need a whole litany to even begin our pondering of Mary and the gift she is for us. Christine Valters Painter gives us just that in this richly textured retreat for the contemporary believer.” --Ann M. Garrido, associate professor of Homiletics, Aquinas Institute of Theology

About the Author

Christine Valters Paintner is the online abbess for Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery offering classes and resources on contemplative practice and creative expression. She earned a doctorate in Christian spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and achieved professional status as a registered expressive arts consultant and educator from the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association. She is also trained as a spiritual director and supervisor.

Paintner is the author of numerous spirituality titles, including The Love of Thousands; Birthing the Holy; Sacred Time; Earth, Our Original Monastery; The Soul’s Slow Ripening; The Wisdom of the Body; Illuminating the Way; The Soul of a Pilgrim; The Artist’s Rule; Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire; and three collections of poetry.

She is a Benedictine oblate living in Galway, Ireland, with her husband, John. Together they lead online retreats at their website AbbeyoftheArts.com.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sorin Books; First Edition (April 8, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1932057277
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1932057270
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #98,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #70 in Christian Mariology

Customer Reviews:
4.7 60 ratings

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Christine Valters Paintner is the online Abbess at www.AbbeyoftheArts.com, a virtual monastery and progressive global community offering resources that integrate contemplative practice and creative expression. She is the author of over twenty books on spirituality including three collections of poetry.

She is a Benedictine Oblate, poet, writer, spiritual director, retreat facilitator, teacher, and pilgrimage guide. Her fields of expertise include Christian spiritual practices, monastic spirituality rooted in Benedictine, desert, and Celtic lineages, and the expressive arts. Christine earned her PhD in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and her professional status as Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator (REACE) from the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA.org).

Christine has lived in Galway, Ireland with her husband John since 2012. Together they lead a variety online programs including retreats, contemplative prayer services, prayer cycles of morning and evening prayer, and a book club.

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Jennifer Trently

Mary as more than a Virgin Mother

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2022

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Once again, Christine Valters Paintner brings the ancient into the 21st century. Birthing the Holy is much more than honoring Mary as a Virgin who became Christ's mother but rather a book of archetypes of the ways Mary has connected with people through the ages not only in the Christian West but also in the Islamic, and Eastern Orthodox Traditions. My favorite is Mary as Untier of Knots; someone who can act as a guide and provide comfort in the midst' of life's entanglements. Featuring 31 archetypes each with their offerings of sacred creativity and blessing, Birthing Holy will be a book that will be one I return to again and again to mine its riches and learn from Mary.

5 people found this helpful

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Trish Harris

Exquisite

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2022

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CVP offers us many opportunities to explore the holy with her. This is a book to savor & re-read several times. So thankful for its beauty & wisdom.

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Gary

Breaking open the titles/archetypes of Mary with new eyes!!

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2022

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Less than 30 pages into this book. Can. Not. Recommend it enough. Great for a prayer group a spiritual book club or for personal contemplation and spiritual growth. Such a revelatory work!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2 people found this helpful

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Brittany

Lovely Book

Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2022

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This book is great! I’m new to the various names of Mary and her feast days. The prayers in this book are especially beautiful.

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John H. Danner

A Book about Mary Even a Protestant Can Love

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2023

So what's a dyed-in-the-wool Protestant like me doing dipping into a book about the Virgin Mary? I suppose its a fair question, based on the general distrust of most anything to do with the mother of Jesus since the Reformation era. Yet for me it's been something of a personal issue ever since I had a vision, if you will allow such language, of Mary many years ago. At the time I tried to ferret out its meaning with my spiritual director (OK, true confession time, she was and is a Roman Catholic), but in the end I decided to just accept it as one of those unexplained gifts that sometimes come our way from the beyond.
When I first received my review copy of Christine Valters Paintner's book Birthing the Holy:Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal in the early fall and saw that it was formatted as short chapters on thirty-one titles for Mary, I decided to hold it until Advent and use it as a daily mini-retreat as we prepared for the annual celebration of the birth of Christ. And it certainly lent itself to such a treatment. One could read it in one sitting, I suppose, or over two or three days (it is only 183 pages of text), but it is a book that invites reflection, contemplation and a bit of time to process.

Paintner, who is the Abbess of the online Abbey of the Arts, and author of a number of volumes, provides some extremely helpful history of each of the titles. Often she refers to icons and statues that embody, if you will, a particular title or image of Mary. Each of the thirty-one titles includes an explanation/introduction, what she calls a "Calling", which essentially is a way to make a practice of the title, and a blessing. The blessings are really quite exquisite and reflect a lifetime of liturgical practice.

Some of the titles are quite familiar: Queen of Heaven, Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy among them. But many, at least to this Protestant, were totally unknown before reading and using her book. But it is the less familiar ones that proved to be the most provocative and helpful for my own journey.

One such title is "Untier of Knots." Paintner explains that the concept is rooted in the work of St Irenaeus of Lyon, who wrote "the knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience," and came into common usage in Bavaria around 1700 as a result of a painting by Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner. In the painting Mary is pictured loosely holding a white ribbon with many knots that she is patiently untying. Reflecting on its application to our own lives, Paintner writes, "Rather than tugging again and again at the knot of our lives, we are invited to soften our grip, to surrender our desires to overcome our tender places." (32)

This is also a visually rich book. The specially created block prints, one for each title, made by Kreg Yingst are powerful and could easily be used as one might use an icon for meditation.

In her exploration of Mary as "Gate of Heaven," Paintner invites us to "ask for the wisdom to see heaven shimmering everywhere." (45) That actually is quite easy as one prays through her book. For heaven often shines through its pages. Even for a Protestant like me!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 225

6 people found this helpful

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CS

A Lovely Companion

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2023

This book has been a lovely companion to me in my reflections and creative explorations this winter. It goes into such depth with the figure of Mary and has carried me along with it as a very willing and fascinated Protestant. Paintner writes with such spaciousness that I think readers of many backgrounds and life experiences will value her words.

2 people found this helpful

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Kristeen Black

great tool for reflecting on the archetypes of Mary

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2022

This reflection on the archetypes of Mary can be used several ways depending on your interest in Mary as the classic feminine religious figure. As pitched, it can be a tool for becoming better acquainted with Mary in her various forms. As a Marian devotee it can be a lovely prayer or meditation guide for spiritual reflection. Dates are given for Marian feast days that could be used to structure a yearlong meditative focus or rhythm of prayer and devotion. Alternatively, since there are thirty-one depictions of Mary, the book could be used as a monthlong meditation or prayer practice.

As a sociologist, I found it to be a rich reflection on how different cultures and thinkers have used or created versions of Mary to either bring comfort to difficult situations or to perpetuate cultural norms of the place of women in society (specifically ideas regarding heteronormativity and virginity). Although direct quotes are not often properly cited, the notes section serves as a sound works referenced section. Accessing the works listed there would give the more academically inclined reader a nice source for further reading.

The book is clearly written for Catholics (or those very familiar with using a Rosary), and Paintner assumes a level of familiarity with Catholic prayers and practices throughout the book. Sadly, the first chapter is her worst example of this and non-Catholic readers (like me) can feel left out of the conversation. While Paintner does include some of the prayers used in praying the Rosary, she doesn’t give enough detailed information about them (giving us only a curt “there are many other books” you can reference comment) to make the non-Catholic reader feel included. However, if you power through the author’s awkward assumptions about her readers prior knowledge of Mary and the Rosary, the book can be a wonderful way to access Mary in her many forms.

The very brief chapters each include a suggestion on how to engage with the archetype presented as well as “Blessing” or prayer for you to use in a personal devotion. I personally enjoyed the brief overviews each chapter presented as they provided the right balance of information and invitation for reflecting on each archetype. Each chapter also includes a lovely block print depicting each Marian archetype which helps the reader visualize each form. Overall, I feel this book would be a valuable tool for using the archetype of Mary in anyone’s personal spiritual journey.

2 people found this helpful

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Robin Rivers

My Go-to for the BVM

Reviewed in Canada on December 31, 2023

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I bought this as a reference for the Blessed Virgin Mary and it has transformed into a book from which I read daily and find myself more and more connected to Mary in so many forms. Beautiful and accessible.

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