Mary Magdalene: Christianity's Hidden Goddess FROM THE PUBLISHER
Tradition and history have made of her "the other Mary." Even in the New Testament Mary Magdalene stands among women second only to Mary the Mother, albeit she has been reduced by the biblical Gospels to little more than a fallen woman redeemed by Jesus. In the Gnostic Gospels, however, Magdalene figures almost as significantly as Christ, who names her "the woman who knows all." The conflicting accounts of Mary Magdalene have sent best-selling author Lynn Picknett on a quest for the truth that has led her to the thirteenth-century cult of the Black Madonna, then back to Christianity's beginnings and earlier. Tracing Mary's name to Magdala in Egypt, Picknett learns that the term Magdal-eder means "tower of the flock," or Good Shepherd, a title also given to Jesus Christ. Based on her explorations into new scholarship on recently discovered Gnostic texts, Picknett finds a vital partnership between Jesus and Mary that synthesized Eastern and Egyptian mysticism and that promulgated gender equality, anointing rites, and sexual rituals. In that relationship, she discovers an alliance that Christ's Apostles and, later, the Catholic Church strove ardently to suppress. Picknett's revelations rarely fail to provoke at least a reconsideration of long-accepted church doctrine.
FROM THE CRITICS
The Washington Post
Picknett was brought up in the Church of England, converted to Mormonism for four years before putting "its quaint and distinctly dubious doctrine" behind her, explored "Theosophy, Spiritualism. Witchcraft and unexplained phenomena -- even becoming something of an expert on the paranormal." Eventually she learned that the New Testament canon was not the only biblical bag of tricks around. After confronting a vicar on a television show, she set out to dispel "the ignorance in which believers are deliberately kept by churches whose theologians have long known the unpalatable facts." — Alice K. Turner
Publishers Weekly
While conventional wisdom sees Mary Magdalene as a trollop-turned-saint, recent scholars and popular biographers (including evangelical funny lady Liz Curtis Higgs) have quite convincingly argued that there's no credible evidence that this close disciple of Jesus was ever a lady of the night. Revisionist history, though, takes a turn for the improbable with Mary Magdalene: Christianity's Hidden Goddess, Lynn Picknett's overly speculative account of Mary as the "secret" goddess of the New Testament and early church. Drawing on several Gnostic texts, Picknett offers both well-worn and new arguments about Mary, who Picknett claims Jesus designated as his true successor. Where some Gnostic texts suggest a sexual relationship between Mary and Jesus, Picknett sees full-blown sexual rituals as de rigueur in the esoteric early church, though they were later suppressed. And while some fanciful (and relatively late) church legends have Mary Magdalene fleeing to "France" after Jesus' resurrection, Picknett offers a detailed chapter claiming that this "French connection" was not legend but fact. This reformist take on the much-maligned Mary Magdalene is sometimes fascinating, but conjectural and prone to hasty theorizing. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Best-selling author Picknett (The Turin Shroud: In Whose Image) offers a daring glimpse into the possible life of Mary Magdalene and her relationship with Jesus of Nazareth. She suggests that accidents of history, histories written by the "winners," and downright ecclesiastical conspiracies have denied Mary Magdalene her rightful place in history. Picknett's impressive and broad-ranging research raises some thought-provoking questions about the cult of the Black Madonna, the Egyptian goddess Isis, John the Baptist, the Holy Grail, etc., and the connections all of these matters have with one another. A former Mormon, Picknett quotes many of the same sources as the LDS church's apologist and polymath Hugh Nibley-namely, Elaine Pagels, the Nag Hammadi codices, the early Greek and Latin fathers of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. She takes the Mormon alternative history of early Christianity a few steps further, however, and would undoubtedly disturb many Christians with her hypothesis that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' priestess, leading apostle, and lover (or wife). Recommended for public and academic libraries whose patrons enjoy alternative religious histories.-Gary P. Gillum, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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