The Gospel According . . . to Mary

The very best art takes the received mythologies and, through perception, craft, and force of will creates images and metaphors for a current age. Absent this process of periodic renewal, the old stories grow moribund and their wisdom gets lost. With the poems in his latest collection, Carl Winderl continues to inhabit the Madonna story and achieves something fresh and insightful. Above all, The Gospel According . . . to Mary deepens our understanding of ourselves.

-David Daniel, Author of Inflections & Innuendos and White Rabbit

In these remarkable and highly imaginative poems Mary speaks, not as a shy child wondering if she should say "Yes" but as the mother of the King of the Universe. Bold and edgy, she knows Christ as no one else-from the tattoos she finds as she washes his body to the yellow star on his prison garb. If poetry should upset the usual and provide new angles of vision, Carl Winderl has triumphed. This Mary not only radiates her love through the most trying of circumstances, she is both Queen and our contemporary.

-Jill Peláez Baumgaertner, Dean of Humanities and Theological Studies, Wheaton College; 

Poetry Editor, The Christian Century; recent poetry collection: What Cannot Be Fixed

Rich in biblical imagery, lyrical wordplay, poignant and sometimes disturbing contemporary allusions, and spiritual musing, this collection of Marian poems magnifies the human and cosmic heartbreak and passion of the Mother of Jesus. By exploring the interplay between divine mystery and human emotion, Winderl enlarges our view of Mary and by doing so, extols her. These are poems to treasure and ponder in your heart.

-Donald A. Yerxa, author, co-author, or editor of twelve books, most recently Religion and 

Innovation: Antagonists or Partners?

The Gospel According . . . to Mary, by Carl Winderl, is an engaging and catalytic work that stretches one's imagination and appreciation for both the poetic written word and the Word made flesh. This significant work is to be digested slowly, thoughtfully, and reverently-listening as well as reading. These poems serve as prisms, which refract the Light. It is as the Psalmist declared: In Your light we see light. Read, reflect, and rejoice.

-John C. Bowling, President of Olivet Nazarene University, author of Graceful Leadership, 

ReVision, Making the Climb, Above All Else, Windows and Mirrors, and A Way with Words 

The emotional tsunami of a mother's love and sorrow is captured through poetry in The Gospel According . . . to Mary by Carl Winderl. Mother Mary's heart is revealed in language and imagery of a mother's sacrifice, made in faith to Christ's mission. Winderl's poetry imprints the reader with the power of a supernatural, maternal love.

-Suzette Martinez Standring, Award-winning author and Syndicated Spirituality Columnist, 

GateHouse Media

"Carl's BEST book ever."  

-Suzette Martinez Standring