Places Orthodox sources―icons, hymns, and prayers―on motherhood into conversation with each other. In so doing, this work brings an anchored vision of motherhood to the twenty-first century―especially the embodied experience of motherhood. † In this book, Carrie Frederick Frost has undertaken an act of quiet, powerful courage. Mining the treasurers of Orthodoxy's veneration of the Virgin Mary - its hymns, icons, and festal calendar - Frost seeks resources for theological reflection on the embodied experience of maternity, She follows Mary's presence during the liturgical year though the sequence of conception, pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and nursing. Drawing on her own experience as a mother of five, she explores the physical realities of motherhood - the maternal body - as a profoundly fruitful source for understanding incarnation, divine-human relationships, and creation as divinely blessed. --Susan Ashbrook Harvery, Professor of Religion and Hisory, Brown University In Maternal Body, Carrie Frederick Frost weaves Orthodox sources icons, hymns, and prayers together into five chapters defined by the biological stages of motherhood:Conception, Pregnancy, Birthgiving Postpartum, and Breastfeeding. Throughout these chapters, the persistent Orthodox Christian regard for the maternal body becomes apparent. Additionally, certain practices that undermine this regard, but have occasionally appeared on the Christian record, are observed and reflected upon. While acknowledging that the Church has sometimes disappointed mothers, Frost's conclusion is that the balance of Orthodox reflection on motherhood uniquely protects a Christian vision of the human body as Creator-fashioned, integral to salvation, and destined for eternity a vision that is vital not just for mothers, but all people. Furthermore, through contemplation of the imperfections of her Church, the author also offers a path for those who choose to live within a venerable but flawed tradition. --Paulist News For an interview with author Carrie Frederick Frost, author of Maternal Body, please visit Eastern Christian Books Blog Post. --Eastern Christian Books Carrie Frederick Frost is a professor of theology at St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary and the editor of The Reception of the Holy and Great Council: Reflections of Orthodox Christian Women. She holds a PhD in theology, ethics, and culture from the University of Virginia.