About the Book

Continuing in the tradition of the New York Times bestselling SECRETS OF THE CODE, the latest book from the "Secrets" team, SECRETS OF MARY MAGDALENE, brings together world class experts from different faiths, backgrounds, and perspectives, to discuss the most thought-provoking new ideas and original thinking about Mary Magdalene.

All of the contributors to SECRETS OF MARY MAGDALENE are well-known and highly respected authors whose books have sold more than five million copies in total. Never before has such a wide range of fascinating ideas and new scholarship about Mary Magdalene been collected in one book that is so timely, popular and accessible.

SECRETS OF MARY MAGDALENE is the powerful and insightful new book from the team that created and edited the New York Times bestseller SECRETS OF THE CODE. It brings together world-class experts from different faiths, backgrounds, and perspectives to discuss today's most thought-provoking new ideas about Mary Magdalene. Now, more than at any time in modern history, questions about the "real" Mary Magdalene abound:

Who was Mary Magdalene? Why are we so fascinated by her?
What is fact and what is fiction about her role in early Christianity?
Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene? Did they have children?
Did Jesus expect Mary Magdalene to lead his movement after his death?
Was Mary's rightful role as leader of the early church usurped by Peter?
Does Mary Magdalene represent pre-Christian traditions of the "sacred feminine"?
How should we interpret the Gnostic Gospel of Mary and other alternative ancient scriptures?
Why did the Roman Catholic Church represent Mary Magdalene as a repentant prostitute six centuries after her death?
Why did the Vatican change its mind fourteen hundred years later?
Did Mary flee to Provence? And might her bones yet be found in Southern France today?
How is Mary Magdalene influencing today's spiritual and religious movements?

SECRETS OF MARY MAGDALENE addresses all of these issues and much more. From her depiction in paintings by Leonardo da Vinci to references to her in the films of Walt Disney; from debate about her in the mainstream Roman Catholic Church to the invocation of her spirit in Wicca and New Age ceremonies, the Mary Magdalene story is a Rorschach test of modern beliefs about women, gender politics, sexuality, Bible history, religion, faith, spirituality, and cosmology.

Secrets of Mary Magdalene
by Dan Burstein [5] and Arnie de Keijzer [6]

Publication Date: August 28, 2006
Genres: Literary Criticism [10], Nonfiction [11]
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Vanguard Press
ISBN-10: 1593152051
ISBN-13: 9781593152055