The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus

by James D. Tabor

A world-renowned historian of early Christianity and ancient Judaism lifts the veil on the life of Mary—revealing her revolutionary role as the matriarch of the Jesus movement

“Tabor restores her voice, her faith, her motherhood, and, most of all, her humanity, in this groundbreaking portrait that challenges everything we thought we knew about the origins of Christianity.” —Reza Aslan, author of Zealot

Mary, mother of Jesus, is the best known—and least known—woman in history. Revered and worshipped by millions, she remains a figment of the imagination, the ethereal subject of Raphaels and Botticellis, bathed in heavenly light, too virginal and pure to move among us.

But what about the real Mary? The young Jewish woman and single mother of eight—five boys and three girls. The defiant citizen of Roman-occupied Galilee who survived through one of the most dangerous periods of Jewish history—an ancient “game of thrones” that claimed the lives of three of her Jesus and Simon by crucifixion, James by stoning. The historical Mary whose teachings and courageous example may in fact make her the “first founder” of what we now call Christianity.

This Mary has not only been lost to us—she has been systematically erased over the past two millennia by a theological, cultural, and political programme intent on removing her from the human realm and marginalising her womanhood, motherhood, and Jewishness.

In The Lost Mary, James D. Tabor corrects the record, laying out the results of his intensive textual and archaeological sleuthing over the past three decades, including new evidence regarding Mary’s genealogy (which may be hiding in plain sight in the New Testament!). Tabor’s quest for the historical Mary offers a transformative perspective on Jesus and his early followers, and recovers the nature and essence of earliest Christianity.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Christian

240 pages, Hardcover

Published September 30, 2025

About the author

Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he has taught since 1989. He previously held positions at Ambassador College (1968-70 while a student), the University of Notre Dame (1979–85), and the College of William and Mary (1985–89).

Reviews

[Jenny]

I am not going to write a long review. I obviously disagreed with many of his conclusions. The editing did not help his argument. The buried ledes and organization of the information hurt the line of logic he was trying to develop. He did not spend much time discussing validity of sources he chose, but this is a popular level book, so that is not unusual.

I did very much enjoy the historical cultural context. The chapters focused on Herod and the generations leading up to Mary were fascinating and really helped bring to life the world Jesus was born into.

[Jean-Philippe Laugs · Rating 3 out of 5]

The central message of this book, that Mary, mother of Jesus, is THE inspirational founder of the Jesus movement, and a true Jewish heroine, is quite daring - and hard to accept. Is this book proof of a fact, or an attempt, made up of wishful thinking, answering perfectly to the current interest for the role of women in history?

Yes, the book brings together some quite interesting views on Christianity and the times and circumstances when the movement came about:
- The many Jewish uprisings, messiah candidates, crucifixions and beheadings before Jesus and after Jesus, that Mary must have witnessed when she was living in Nazareth, Sepphoris and Jerusalem.
- The sheer terror exercised by Roman occupiers and Jewish royalty.
- Herod not being of noble - i.e. royal and priestly - descent, being envious of and hostile to competitors to the throne. His many murders.
- Mary being of both royal AND priestly descent, making her offspring legitimate claimants to the throne of Israel.
- Mary being godmother of John the baptizer, mother of Jesus, her eldest born, and mother of 4 more sons and 3 daughters.
- Three of her sons (Jesus, Simon and James) having been executed, as was her nephew John. All were leading the movement one after the other.

However, the ample speculations about who might have been Jesus’ carnal father, and the many lines dedicated to the Roman? Jew? Pantera?, remain very unsatisfactory. The answer simply cannot be given and we need to acknowledge and accept that. Jesus was a man, born from a woman, father unknown. Joseph was already an old - but just - man but no more than Jesus’ adoption father - although he likely was the father of Jesus’ brothers and sisters.
Tabor pictures Mary as being the sole person - a young widow - raising her kids, transferring values, insights, spiritual learnings onto them, including their cousin, John the baptizer. He makes the whole beginning of the movement a family affair, Mary at the centre, and in doing so puts the role of Jesus in a new perspective. Through time the ‘true’ Mary that he claims to have discovered, family affair included, has been written out of the official story and was forgotten. History favoured the christianity as it was retold by Peter and redesigned by Paul.
For all this Tabor draws ‘evidence’ from multiple sources, and this includes his many travels to the holy land and his own archaeological research. He states that he has spent many years in making up the picture. An obsession? What can we really know for certain, what can we conclude, make up, guess, what can we only speculate about?
When I was reading the book, it struck me how adamant Tabor is right from the start about the mystery that he is about to unravel in all detail. This finalistic way of telling the story I did not really appreciate.

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting take on the forgotten life of the Virgin Mary. I never thought about how we’ve erased core parts of her - her instilling values within Jesus (ie. the entire Christian framework and values come from her mothering him and sharing these ideas), her sexuality and motherhood (Jesus had 7 siblings - and this was erased in the Bible because male theologians wanted to portray her as “pure” and “clean” and yet as a woman her womanhood was completely erased and that is a defining identity of her), and her strong hand in the Christian movement - she was ever present and a leader that isn’t discussed. I would recommend reading this for a new perspective. Some of the historical context and way it was written was hard to follow and a bit repetitive but overall really good and backed by a ton of research.

[Vanessa Corcoran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting book on the historical Mary, and what her world looked like, especially under the violent reign of Herod. Will use this in future iterations of my undergraduate Mary Through the Ages history seminar.

[Matthew O'Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it twice! Dr. Tabor has once again released a work that will have you flipping through your Bible. Lots of new insights into the very important role the matriarch of this holy family played, as did her less-famous children. Mary grew up in a world that terrified her, and she taught her children, Jesus included, how to really put the fear of God into Herod and his offspring.

[Kiran Kumili · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE LOST MARY By James D Tabor

JAMES D. TABOR is a retired professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he served as department chair for a decade. His previous ten books include the international bestseller The Jesus Dynasty, The Jesus Discovery, and Paul and Jesus. Over the past three decades Tabor has combined his study of ancient texts with field work in archaeology, and since 2008 he has been co-director of the acclaimed Mt. Zion excavation in Jerusalem. Tabor’s work has been featured in dozens of major magazines and TV documentaries, including on PBS Frontline, BBC, Discovery Channel, Nightline, 20/ 20, and the History Channel. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

STORYLINE: Its one of the best books that every Christian should read to learn about how Christianity was born and evolved over two centuries. The book is full of interesting facts and illustrations about Mary, the biological mother of Jesus and her re-discovery from the lost status in Bible. Equally astonishing are the facts about how she and her surviving family of Jesus have been effaced from the Bible tactically to start an entirely different ideology. Though the book might be appearing highly controversial by followers of Jesus Christ as God, the author produced enough archaeological evidences about Jesus’s birth and life as on ordinary man who inherits the genes of King David. All facts presented in this book point out to the reality that he was a Messiah of God along with John, the Baptist (his elder cousin) but not God himself. The book turns even more interesting when the evidences of Mary’s royal lineage are illustrated and how she is portrayed as a “Virgin” having been the vessel to bring in the Messiah of God into the world. It is also proved that she has six more biological children (four sons and two daughters) after Jesus’s birth. The author mainly concentrated on establishing Mary as the torch bearer of starting and taking forward the Jesus movement after the crucifixion and death of Jesus through his brother James. But her efforts have been diluted in the New Testament by strategically masking her involvement in the birth of Christianity. Instead, Paul, one of the later apostles who haven’t even met Jesus ever, wrote the New Testament of the Bible under the influence of his allegiance to Roman kings. The main reason behind this cited to be as to present Jesus as a God and not just Jewish Messiah of God for which he needs to be born of divine intervention but not through regular biological methods. This tactical move of Paul silenced the original seeds of Christianity started by Mary and her family, through his original preachings as a Messiah. The author put all his efforts to bring back Mary to lime light whom he considers as the one who bore the brunt of all sufferings during the reign of King Herod the Great to give birth to Jesus and also raising him through the ruthless barbaric killing of thousands of Jews by means of crucifixions in Jerusalem. He considers her as the most important of the greatest women of the world who needs to be given the credit of bringing Jesus, the son of God to the mortal world and also raising him to become the future leader of the deprived and needy, during the most tumultuous periods of Jewish sufferings.

Pros : The wonderful archaeological evidences with graphic, Biblical citations and original illustrations of the proofs of every aspect of Mary’s birth, her life before the birth of Jesus and her being silenced after that is worth reading. The author’s deep inquisitive knowledge about the geographical area of Nazareth, Jerusalem and its surrounding places gives even more strength to his evidences proving every aspect about Mary’s family history. Truly wonderful.

Cons : Though there is quite a believable historic evidence put forward, some to be just imaginations of the author that a particular event might have taken place at that time. Such were again mostly based purely on Biblical citations of New Testament which according to him was a deviation from originality of Christianity.

My rating : 4 out of 5

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's start with my reasoning for reading this book. When I first saw this in my public library's catalog, I was intrigued, because I am a Catholic Christian and my section of Christianity has a focus on Saint Mary to the point that other Christian denominations think we worship her like Jesus. When I got the book and started to look at it, I was like "No! I am not reading this," because it seem to contradict what I know and the seemingly impressive bibliography and notes section indicate that my faith will be shaken and shattered, if I read this book.

Eventually, I decided I needed to read this book. Some of you may ask is my faith shattered? No, it's most definitely not! My thoughts and emotions were the following words: disbelief, shocked, the author's audacity, annoyed, and frustrated. I would give the author more credence if he cited his statements with his sources.

Yes, there was a substantial bibliography and a notes section. Yet, not a single sentence was tied to a footnote, an endnote, or something that said this information came from this source. The notes listed a page number, but not which sentence it was supporting. This made me doubt everything in this book, especially from the first chapter where James D. Tabor, where he said Jesus' Davidic lineage came from Mary! Tabor didn't attempt to explain himself until Chapter Seven: Doubly Royal, which I don't believe (Update 11/23/25: the author may be right, but I have to check this eventually). First, he has to refute Jimmy Aiken in his book a Daily Defense, where Aiken said the genealogies could differ. Second, there was nothing tying the "evidence" to a source! That is sloppy writing, which as a professor James D. Tabor should know! Does he allow his students do this type of work? Yes, citations can be clunky, but there important when you are being a sledgehammer to millions, even though Tabor says he is not trying to ruin the beliefs of others. Who believes that?

Verdict: With his bibliography and notes, James D. Tabor seemingly is bringing a vibranium sledgehammer into the wall of Christianity when it comes to Mary. That should have shattered that wall or at the very least make a sizeable dent. In reality, it only has the appearance of a vibranium sledgehammer and it is made out of foam. Also, this book is a dream for certain types of feminists for Tabor basically claims and comes out says it that Mary is the founder of Christianity. While I do not think Tabor has a leg to stand on, I would be curious to know what Marian scholars think about Tabor's claims about finding the "lost" Mary and her impact.

[Luke Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s hard not to love Dr. Tabor! His writing style is clean, succinct and even, at times, fun! In “The Lost Mary,” Dr. Tabor attempts to shed centuries of theological, political and social varnish that taints our modern understanding of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Tabors quest is to remove this varnish leaving behind the true authentic Mary of history - a courageous first century Jewish Mother whose ideas shaped the movements of John the Baptist, Jesus and James (Jesus brother). To this end, Dr. Tabor hits a home run.

For me, this book has three primary issues:

1. In order to truly understand this book, you “almost” have to have already read his previous book titled, “The Jesus Dynasty.” Reading “The Lost Mary” without reading “The Jesus Dynasty” would be difficult for the average reader.

2. Much of this book is already in “The Jesus Dynasty.” So, at times, it felt like I was rereading a book that I’ve already read. I know it’s customary for authors - especially historians - to reuse portions of their previous works, but this felt especially lengthy.

3. Dr. Tabor uses a lot of speculation in his books and this one is no different. Speculation, in and of itself, is fine as long as the historian makes it clear that he/she is speculating. Dr. Tabor sometimes makes this clear, other times not so much. I like Tabors imaginative approach, it makes his writings unique and fun to read, but sometimes I wish he substantiated his claims with a bit more evidence.

With all of that said, this was a good book in which I learned and processed many new things. But ultimately this is also a book that I must advise needs to be taken with a grain or two of salt.

[Mary Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read, much like a detective story, where little is known about the lost person, although millions know her name. To find her, Tabor assembles the context of her life. This book, like Tabor's other books written for the non-academic, is an easy read. In the back, he provides many Notes, an extensive Index, and Bibliography so the reader can dig deeper if desired. If you do not, then you will still come to know the violent world where she raised a large family: apparently as a single parent and stood in front of her crucified firstborn. If you want to meet the woman who was put into a box by the Church, stripped of her sexuality, family, and nationality, then this is the book for you.

[Mimi Ottavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone raised Catholic, this book was revelatory in providing historical context to the “Virgin Mary, Mother of God” and the erasure of her independent personhood. Though the text itself is somewhat dry—understandably, considering it remains very focused on timelines, lineage, and biblical or other theological texts—the information revealed and discussed brings the story of the historical Mary to life, finally showcasing her as more than just a vessel for the Son of God, but in fact a revolutionary leader and founder of one of the largest religious movements of all time.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so excited about this book. The beginning of the book described the times in which Mary lived. Then the end got to the heart of the matter.
Scattered throughout was the constant thread that Mary was human. She wasn't "just" the eternal virgin who gave birth to Jesus and was rarely heard from again.
But the lineage, all the Herods ... that all confused me.
Bottom line is that Mary is the bomb!

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had a lot of interesting historical context regarding the life and times of Jesus. his major arguments were interesting, and I have no issues with the ideas, but he makes a lot of big statements without a lot of clear evidence. he states the evidence is clear and obvious, but I don't feel that it's well supported.

[Denise Kruse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I needed this. Mary as a real woman. She was so much more than The Church would have us believe. I could read more from James Tabor; whether or not he speculates, he researches and is very knowledgeable.

[Frankie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I put it down after the author said Jesus was fathered by a Roman soldier. I almost put it down after he said Herod didn’t kill all the babies 2 years old or younger. I dont care if it can’t be historically proven beyond a doubt. God said it, I believe it. PERIOD.

[Ellen Marcolongo · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you were raised catholic as I was this book will flip everything you learned in religion class on its ear. I like this version of Mary compared to the biblical on who was subservient. Dare I say that this lost Mary could be a feminist icon? Great research by the author.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given the brevity of the book and sources available, I think Tabor does a fine job arguing for the excision of women and many of Jesus' family from the Bible. Honestly, I wish there were more personal anecdotes about his archaeological expeditions.

[Suzan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting concept. But I didn't care for the narrator, and it was not that interesting without a good narrator.

[David Goh · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun read i guess. unfortunately has shattered my faith in the historicity of a bunch of canonical theology. but whatever God can reinstate that later if He so wills

[i.willey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

[Tal · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some interesting thoughts in there but I’d have appreciated Tabor discussing the validity of his sources. I did enjoy learning more about the cultural/historical contexts.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A look at Mary, the mother of Jesus, from different perspectives than you might have thought of before.

[paula ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Excellent Book by Dr. Tabor

James Tabor brings to life the almost mythical characters of the Bible. His first-hand knowledge of the geography, culture and nuanced history behind the Jesus movement enables him to add incredible insight into the stories and myths and forgeries that are weaved into the greatest story ever told. Whether you believe all that he postulates or not, his discourse on Mary and the family of Jesus is informative, vivid, and entertaining. Well done, Dr. Tabor.