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by Lesa Bellevie
Mary Magdalene: The Disciple Jesus Loved, by Stuart Ledwith (Soul Works Intl, 1990)
In Mary Magdalene: The Disciple Jesus Loved, the author seeks to sculpt a person around the name Mary Magdalene.
He begins with imagining her childhood as an orphan of war who was forced to a hard life on the streets, which explains her
eventual turn to prostitution. There is no explanation of why the author chooses to reinforce the centuries of mistaken
identity in characterizing Magdalene as a prostitute, but I believe it's because this small book was written as an
evangelical tool to bring "lost sheep" into the fold. More on that below.
The book spans Magdalene's entire life, including references to Biblical accounts and a great many imaginings of how her
life might have been. It is written from the perspective of Magdalene as a disembodied soul writing her autobiography in
our time in order to find healing and finally ascend to the Heavenly Father. There is no explanation of why, as someone
whose life had been changed by Jesus, she wouldn't have gone directly to heaven, or where she has been spending her time
since the first century AD. Purgatory? I don't know.
Written at a fourth grade reading level (using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula), this will not be a challenging
or particularly enjoyable book for an educated person. It contains some strange stylistic conventions, such as "I know not"
instead of "I don't know" or "I do not know," that appear completely out of context. There are several textual
contradictions, and there was at least one bit that seemed entirely contradictory to, or at least unexplainable by Christian
theology (that God would get impatient with someone and take longer to forgive him or her). It is clearly intended for an
audience who believe they are beyond redemption, thus Magdalene serves as an example of how anyone can be "saved." This is
a religious tract intent on spreading a conservative Christian message, nothing more.
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