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| | | Jesus and the Lost Goddess : The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy | | | PUB. | | | Three Rivers Press | | | ISBN | | | 1400045940 | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | From the book description: Drawing on modern scholarship, the authors of the international bestseller The Jesus Mysteries decode the secret teachings of the original Christians for the first time in almost two millennia and theorize about who the original Christians really were and what they actually taught. In addition, the book explores the many myths of Jesus and the Goddess and unlocks the lost secret teachings of Christian mysticism, which promise happiness and immortality to those who attain the state of Gnosis, or enlightenment. This daring and controversial book recovers the ancient wisdom of the original Christians and demonstrates its relevance to us today. |
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| | | Mary Magdalene and Her Seven Devils | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Alvin Boyd Kuhn | | | PUB. | | | Kessinger Publishing Co. | | | ISBN | | | 0766154564 | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | Book description: New Lectures on the Ancient Wisdom No. 8. The publication of this brochure is inspired by the earnest desire to exorcise from one of the most popular characters of world literature the stigma of moral obliquity which she has borne for eighteen centuries through the total miscarriage of ancient literary symbolism. |
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| | | Mary Magdalene: Myth and Metaphor | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Susan Haskins | | | PUB. | | | Riverhead Books (Reprint ed.) | | | ISBN | | | 015157765X | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | Review: Back in print! It's tempting to call Susan Haskins' book the most definitive work on the market. So much information is presented that it takes awhile for the casual reader to wade through all of the details. The density of the information provided could place it in a "reference" category, but there is definitely enough serious research and intriguing conclusions to make reading it from cover to cover a worthwhile endeavor. |
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| | | Mary, Called Magdalene | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Margaret George | | | PUB. | | | Penguin | | | ISBN | | | 0142002798 | | | CAT. | | | Fiction | | | MISC: | | | Magdalene.org review: The Gospel of Luke says that Mary Magdalene was possessed by seven demons. What if she really had been? Margaret George's novel pivots on this event, providing a point of departure from a safe and secure upbringing into a world haunted by demons that could be figments a troubled mind. This isn't a story in which Mary Magdalene's life is treated superficially only in order to get to the "important" part, that is, her eventual discipleship. George presents a well-researched immersion in the life of a first-century girl who tries, like everyone else, to find her place in the world. Childish ways yield to growth, but Mary discovers that maturity and wisdom are the products of painful experience. The broad scope of this novel allows the author to explore situations in detail, and laudibly, she doesn't settle for easy answers. Where many other writers have glossed over the decisions facing a woman wishing to follow an itinerant preacher, Margaret George creates a life for Mary Magdalene that is filled with the complexities, tensions, sorrows and joys of human nature. |
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| | | Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene : The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Bart D. Ehrman | | | PUB. | | | Oxford University Press | | | ISBN | | | 0195300130 | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | Book description: Bart Ehrman, author of the highly popular Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code and Lost Christianities, here takes readers on another engaging tour of the early Christian church, illuminating the lives of three of Jesus' most intriguing followers: Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus, and Mary Magdalene.
What do the writings of the New Testament tell us about each of these key followers of Christ? What legends have sprung up about them in the centuries after their deaths? Was Paul bow-legged and bald? Was Peter crucified upside down? Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute? In this lively work, Ehrman separates fact from fiction, presenting complicated historical issues in a clear and informative way and relating vivid anecdotes culled from the traditions of these three followers. He notes, for instance, that historians are able to say with virtual certainty that Mary, the follower of Jesus, was from the fishing village of Magdala on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (this is confirmed by her name, Mary Magdalene, reported in numerous independent sources); but there is no evidence to suggest that she was a prostitute (this legend can be traced to a sermon preached by Gregory the Great five centuries after her death), and little reason to think that she was married to Jesus. Similarly, there is no historical evidence for the well-known tale that Peter was crucified upside down. Ehrman also argues that the stories of Paul's miracle working powers as an apostle are legendary
accounts that celebrate his importance.
A serious book but vibrantly written and leavened with many colorful stories, Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene will appeal to anyone curious about the early Christian church and the lives of these important figures.
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| | | The Feminine Face of Christianity | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Margaret Starbird | | | PUB. | | | Quest Books | | | ISBN | | | 0835608271 | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | From the book description: Even though feminine values have always been at the core of Christianity, its long history has often ignored or marginalized women’s key role in it. Margaret Starbird’s unique view from the feminine perspective serves the need many are feeling to search their traditional faith for fresh meaning and inspiration in these difficult times. This is the second in a series of splendidly illustrated but affordable gift books on the feminine experience of religion (following Gill Farrer-Halls’ The Feminine Face of Buddhism, 2002, and anticipating Mariam Baker’s The Feminine Face of Islam, 2003, both by Quest Books). Magdalene.org review coming soon! |
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| | | The Goddess in the Gospels : Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Margaret Starbird | | | PUB. | | | Bear & Co | | | ISBN | | | 187918155X | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | Review: This book is mostly autobiographical in nature, in that it devotes most of its pages to explaining the hows and whys behind Margaret Starbird's plunge into the legends of Mary Magdalene. While it may be considered a "light read," the subject matter is far from trivial. She also talks about the gematria involved in the original Greek words in the gospels that indicate some uncanny coincidences that can't quite be explained away. Read more... |
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| | | The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Karen L. King | | | PUB. | | | Polebridge Press | | | ISBN | | | 0944344585 | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | Lost for more than fifteen hundred years, the Gospel of Mary is the only existing early Christian gospel written in the name of a woman. Karen L. King tells the story of the recovery of this remarkable gospel and offers a new translation. This brief narrative presents a radical interpretation of Jesus' teachings as a path to inner spiritual knowledge. It rejects his suffering and death as a path to eternal life and exposes the view that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute for what it is - a piece of theological fiction. The Gospel of Mary of Magdala offers a fascinating glimpse into the conflicts and controversies that shaped earliest Christianity. (Full review coming soon!) |
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| | | The Jesus Mysteries : Was the | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy | | | PUB. | | | Three Rivers Press | | | ISBN | | | 0609807986 | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | During the time when Christianity was forming, mystery religions were commonplace throughout the Hellenistic world. A common theme in many of them was the myth of the "dying godman," in which a god comes to earth in human form, dies, and then is resurrected. The thesis presented in this book is that Jesus as a historical figure is very unlikely, and that Christianity was likely started as a mystery religion based on Jesus, a Dionysian figure representing the death and resurrection of the soul to higher spiritual awareness. |
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| | | The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Later Middle Ages. | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Katherine Ludwig Jansen | | | PUB. | | | Princeton Univ Press | | | ISBN | | | 0691089876 | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | Jansen shows how perceptions of the Magdalen merged with errors and misunderstandings to shape the social, spiritual, and political agendas of the later Middle Ages. She brings to life the rich complexity of medieval culture, which condemned female sexuality and women's preaching and yet popularized the veneration of Mary Magdalen as a former prostitute chosen by Christ to be the "apostle of the apostles," the first to witness and preach the Good News of the Resurrection. (Full review coming soon!) |
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| | | The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene: Legends, Apocrypha, and the Christian Testament | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Jane Schaberg | | | PUB. | | | Continuum | | | ISBN | | | 0826413838 | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | From Library Journal: "Schaberg (The Illegitimacy of Jesus: A Feminist Theological Interpretation of the Infancy Narratives of Matthew and Luke) moves from contemporary feminist concerns, through the vast array of legend, apocryphal writing, and biblical reverberations, back to the "real" Mary Magdalene. She concludes that Magdalene was denigrated because she was a powerful woman, close to Jesus and perhaps to John the Baptist as well." |
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| | | The Woman With the Alabaster Jar : Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Margaret Starbird | | | PUB. | | | Bear & Co | | | ISBN | | | 1879181037 | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | Review: I would recommend reading this and her second book together, because the second book serves well to illustrate how intrinsically tied the first book is with her personal quest for the Divine Feminine. "The Woman With the Alabaster Jar" poses questions that I believe are far from being answered to the satisfaction of everyone, but they are still intriguing questions. Was Mary Magdalene married to Jesus? Did she carry his child into France? The real value in this book is not the speculation about their literal marriage, but whether or not the medieval Cathars believed they were, and an introduction to sacred union symbolism. |
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| | | When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome | |  | | | AUTH. | | | Richard E. Rubenstein | | | PUB. | | | Harvest Books | | | ISBN | | | 0156013150 | | | CAT. | | | Non-Fiction | | | MISC: | | | Because Christianity seems to have lost a sense of its own history, this is a book all Christians should read. Because Christianity has shaped Western culture, this is a book all non-Christians should read. The concept of the Trinity is so well-ingrained in Christianity now (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit), both Catholic and Protestant, it's easy to forget that it's an idea not found in the Bible. Yes, the Trinity is entirely man-made, and the result of many years of political intrigue, spiritual wrangling, riots, and murder. Richard E. Rubenstien does an excellent job at making this complicated issue accessible to the non-scholar. |
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