An active member of her church, Barbara Horton Jones maintains a private practice as a licensed psychologist in Colorado, where she treats individuals, couples, and groups. Both her master’s thesis and her doctoral dissertation examine religion and the Bible from psychological perspectives. These professional and personal interests, combined with her encounters in private practice with men and women struggling to become full persons within the context of their faiths, led Jones to write this, her first book.

Born in Washington, D.C., Jones grew up on a small farm just outside of Fulton, Missouri, where her father was a professor at a small liberal arts college. She graduated from the University of Missouri, married, and had a teaching career in elementary education before taking a break to raise her own children. Once her children were in school, Jones earned her Ph.D. in psychology from Colorado State University, where she completed her dissertation, “Anger: Psychological and Biblical Perspectives.” This topic allowed her to pursue an abiding interest in the integration of Christian spiritual growth and psychological growth and healing. She began treating a wide variety of people in her psychology practice, including but not limited to those who wanted a psychologist grounded in Christian spirituality.

As a Christian with a Protestant background, Jones did not grow up with much focus on Mary, the Mother of Jesus. After a conversation about the woman God chose to birth Jesus, she decided to do a scriptural study of Mary and was delighted to find a more complete role model for women and all who want Christ to grow within them than she had been taught or previously known. She continues to write, speak, and do therapy as well as enjoy nature and being a grandparent. One of the gratifying things about her work on Mary is the women, both Protestant and Catholic, who say, “This is a healing book. This book made me glad to be a woman again.”