The submissive figure of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, has influenced the Church's attitude to women for 2000 years. Yet Mary, in the Gospels, has a radical and challenging message to convey, of central importance for feminist and other liberation theologians. This is a book which caused a furore in the Roman Catholic Church and the excommunication of its author. In 1990, Sri Lankan theologian and social activist, Father Tissa Balasuriya, OMI, published "Mary and Human Liberation". In January 1997 he was excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church for his refusal to recant on the theological assumptions it contains, and to sign a profession of faith delivered to him by the Committee for the Doctrine of the Faith. His excommunication has caused a storm of controversy in Christian and secular circles, due mainly to the lack of any public debate about the issues. The introduction to this edition of the book sets out what happened, as well as providing the full correspondence between Balasuriya and the Vatican.