The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene: Legends, Apocrypha, and the Christian Testament

by Jane Schaberg

The controversy surrounding Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code has intensified interest in Mary Magdalene and Jane Schaberg provides an authoritative source for a deeper understanding and re-assessment of this popular figure. Within a progressive feminist framework, The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene approaches Christian Testament sources through analysis of legend, archaeology, and gnostic/apocryphal traditions. This is the story of the suppression and distortion of a powerful woman leader - Schaberg presents Mary Magdalene as successor to Jesus in a challenging alternative to the Petrine primacy.

Genres: Nonfiction, Theology, History, Gnosticism, Spirituality, Christianity, Religion

382 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Fred Kohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was mentioned in a very strange book I recently read by James David Audlin. I was already familiar with Schaberg’s work, having previously read The Illegitimacy of Jesus: A Feminist Theological Interpretation of the Infancy Narratives. For that work, Schaberg received hate mail, death threats, and even had her car firebombed. The current book is not as controversial, but it isn’t your usual biblical study. Schaberg takes a feminist approach, causing her to interweave her observations with quotes from Virginia Woolf, which for me was just distracting. She excoriates John Dominic Crossan for saying the empty tomb is ahistorical, claiming that this is due to his male-oriented approach to biblical studies. Myself, I think she is more driven by a gender-oriented approach to biblical studies but, hey, what do I know? I am undecided about the empty tomb, but I suspect that the story of Mary Magdalene being the first witness to the risen Jesus and the empty tomb was made up. So Schaberg would probably class me as a male-oriented student of biblical studies as well.

[Heather Judson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a religious person, but I did find this book fascinating. Having had theology forced on me as a young person, I'm familiar with the stories. It's been truly enlightening to read an academic perspective about Mary Magdalene. I plan to read more.

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

A challenging read but meticulously researched and documented by a well-respected scholar of early Judeo- Christianity

[Sofia Wren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an academic text, appropriate for a college setting. I needed to read something related to Biblical study for grad school but I am not actually Christian.

Having always been drawn to divine feminine images and archetypes I was fascinated with the rumors that there is more to Mary Magdalene. This book does an excellent job of parsing through the actual evidence, both historical and from literature such as ancient Scriptures, to find information about her.

The information in the end is still rather hazy, but there are some very interesting thoughts in this book about assumptions you may never have realized you had when thinking about the problem of Mary Magdalene and what is said about her.

Check this book out if you are interested in where feminism, literature, Western culture and Christianity meet, even if you aren't Christian yourself.

[Michael Thomas Angelo]

loving it so far. I've always been interested in women, religion and spirituality as they are intermingled in society. This is steeped in feminist history with documentation from Virginia Woolf who was a profound atheist.

[Rhondda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an very interesting analysis of Mary Magdalene. I have not finished it yet, as there is much to think about. I do like her comparison to Virginia Woolf and the Outsider's society.