The Mary Magdalene Cover-Up: The Sources Behind the Myth

(Paperback)

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Description

Mary Magdalene has always been the subject of both popular and scholarly intrigue. Was she the wife of Jesus, his complete initiate, a Goddess or a priestess Did the Church dramatically alter her image to deny her importance These questions have inspired representations of her in art, film and literature, from Caravaggio to The Last Temptation of Christ and The Da Vinci Code. The Mary Magdalene Cover-Up is the first book to bring the original sources that have informed our current day view of Mary to a wider audience. Esther de Boer has brought together an impressive array of texts from the first century, when Mary Magdalene was alive, to the sixth century, when her image as a penitent sinner was invented.

Each text is accompanied by an informed and lively commentary by the author placing it in its historical context. This combination of original texts and commentary enables the reader to draw their own conclusions about this most enigmatic of first-century women.

Reviews

Esther de Boer's work is a valuable resource for current and future scholars interested in rethinking the history of early Christianity. She has gathered here all the relevant texts we now know, canonical and apocryphal and patristic, some of which appear in English here for the first time. Her presentation is clearly organized (introduction, texts, explanation). I highly recommend it for those who want to join the conversation. Jane Schaberg, University of Detroit Mercy
Review in International Review of Biblical Studies, vol. 54:2007/08
"an excellent counter-balance oto fiction" Methodist Recorder, 7 February 2008 -- Margaret Daniels

Author Bio

Esther A. de Boer completed her Ph.D. at the Theological University of Kampen, Holland. She is the author of Mary Magdalene: beyond the Myth (Trinity Press International, 1997) The Revd Dr. John Bowden is the former Editor and Managing Director of SCM Press. He is the author of several books and articles, including Christianity: The Complete Guide, and has translated numerous religious books from German, French and Dutch.