|
Review Summary: Good resource |
Date: 2008-02-15 |
|
| |
Details: This book is actually a very good read. The editors have culled together all the experts and got down each of their respective takes on the Mary Magdalene issue. However, there are no "secrets" as such, and we are certainly not given the "untold story." What we are presented with are the opinions and research of reputable scholars and lay writers. The real Magdalene remains as elusive as ever.
Mark Gibbs
Author, The Virgin and The Priest |
| |
|
Review Summary: An abundance of facts, fictions, insights and opinions about this misunderstood woman in this latest Secrets release |
Date: 2007-06-05 |
|
|
| |
Details: As with the other titles in Dan Burstein's Secrets series, SECRETS OF MARY MAGDALENE brings together authors from a variety of perspectives and areas of expertise in an attempt to shed light on the person the book cover describes as "history's most misunderstood woman." And also, like the other titles in the series, this one is directly linked to a book by Dan Brown --- in this case, THE DA VINCI CODE, and its depiction of the follower of Jesus known as Mary of Magdala. The book features an introduction by Princeton University professor Elaine Pagels, one of the foremost scholars of Gnostic literature and author of two highly acclaimed bestsellers: THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS and BEYOND BELIEF: The Secret Gospel of Thomas.
Fellow scholars like Bart Ehrman and Karen King contribute essays, but so do the likes of singer Tori Amos and novelists Ki Longfellow and Kathleen McGowan, who believes she is a descendent of Mary, as well as Lesa Bellevie, author of THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO MARY MAGDALENE. The editors seem to cover all the bases, providing insight into the Magdalene mystery through writers in the fields of history, religion, art, fiction, film, music and even cyberspace. The book's nine sections cover the current fascination with Mary, the concept of the sacred feminine, Mary as "apostles to the apostles," Mary as the mistaken harlot, a roundtable discussion with seven experts on Mary, varying impressions of who Mary was, Magdalene cults and organizations, Mary in popular culture, and 21st-century ways of perceiving Mary. As always, Burstein and his team do a thorough job of examining the subject at hand.
That said, readers need to be aware that a book like this inevitably will include a great deal of repetition. And because the book is logically organized, within some sections there's even more overlap from one essay to the next. An example is the section on Mary as apostle to the apostles; four of the five essays are written by scholars from Harvard, Penn State, Bard College and Chapman University (the fifth is identified as an "independent, eclectic scholar"). For a change of pace, you might want to skip around the book and read the essays at random unless you're doing some serious research on one aspect of Mary.
Singling out the "best" of the essays is nearly impossible, since they serve different purposes. But two of my favorite quotes happen to appear in the same chapter, "The Alternate Gospel Tradition," the transcript of an interview with Marvin Meyer, author of THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus. Unlike so many other writers who paint the "Gnostic vs. canonical gospels" as a black-and-white issue, Meyer recognizes the complex factors involved in deciding the canon of Scripture. Here's one quote: "The Gnostics...never got their act together to get organized and get political. While the Gnostics were meditating and looking for the God within, the followers of Peter's way had their feet on the ground. They mowed their lawns and painted their churches --- and assembled a canon and got into bed with Constantine." Constantine was the Roman emperor who legalized Christianity and called the Council of Nicea, which among other things set the stage for determining the canon of Scripture.
One of the major controversies surrounding Mary is the nature of her relationship with Jesus: was she "just" his disciple, or could she also have been his sexual partner and the mother of his child, whether they were married or not? But speculating about the possibility of a sexual relationship also threatens to marginalize her, Meyer argues. Here's that second quote: "Luke said she was hysterical. Pope Gregory the Great said she was a whore. We might say, 'Oh, she was just the sexual partner of the really important guy.' And then we miss what the texts are trying to emphasize --- that she was an intelligent, independent woman and a spiritual leader."
In all, more than 30 writers contributed essays that together provide a fascinating picture of a fascinating historical figure who has undergone so many transformations over the centuries that it's doubtful we'll ever know who she really was. But that never stopped anyone in the past from creating their own Mary, and it's unlikely it will stop anyone today from doing the same. Whether you're a diehard Magdalene cultist or just an amused observer of Magdalene mania, you'll find an abundance of facts, fictions, insights and opinions about this misunderstood woman in this latest Secrets release.
--- Reviewed by Marcia Ford |
| |
|
Review Summary: Interesting Collection Of Opinions Based On Little Fact |
Date: 2006-11-24 |
|
|
| |
Details: A very interesting, but perhaps slightly redundant compilation of articles and essays about Mary of Magdaleen. What carried my interest most is the wide range and diversity of the backgrounds upon which each author paints their understanding of who she was,her relationship to Jesus, and her role in the doctorine and development of Christianity.
It is, if nothing else, an interesting and many faceted depiction of the people and times and conditions that shaped western history. |
| |
|
Review Summary: Wow, what a read |
Date: 2006-10-01 |
|
|
| |
Details: For those of us who are not biblical scholars, who are the "well known and highly respected authors"? Allow me to assist with a few words on their background ( university staff first sorry, otherwise alphabetical):
Elaine Pagels- professor of Religion at Princeton Univ, one of the foremost scholars on Gnostic literature, author of "The Gnostic Gospels" & National Book Critics Circle Award winner
Lesa Bellevie, founder of magdalene.org and author of "The Complete Idiots Guide to Mary Magdalene"
Bart D Ehrman, professor of Religious Studies at Univ of North Carolina, authority on history of early Christianity, author of "Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code"
Susan Haskins, researcher and author of "Mary Magdalene: Myth and metaphor" and contributor to "Secrets of the Code"
Karen L King, professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School, author of "The Gospel of Mary Magdala..." and more
Marvin Meyer, professor of Bible and Christian Studies at Chapman Univ, author of many books on Christian religions in antiquity
Margaret Starbird, writer on the concept of the Sacred Feminine and acknowledged influence on Dan Brown's novel
Diane Apostolos-Cappadonna, professor of religious art & history at Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Centre for Muslim -Christian Understanding and prof at Georgetown Univ
Ann Graham Brock, lecturer, TV doco person, and author of "Mary Magdalene, the first Apostle..."
Bruce Chilton, professor of Religion at Bard Univ, author and editor of "J for the Study of the New Testament"
Mary-Rose D'Angelo, prof in theology at Univ of Notre Dame, coedited "Women and Christian origins"
Deirdre Good, prof of New Testament, General Theological Seminary, NY city and author
Katherine L Jansen ,prof of history at the Catholic University of America, writer on women, gender and religious culture
Philip Jenkins, prof of History & Religious Studies at Penn State Univ and author
Katherine Kurs, at New School Univ, interests include contemporary American spirituality
John Lash, eclectic scholar, founder of Metahistory.org and author
John Saul, contributed to research with Henry Lincoln at Rennes-le-Chateau in 1970s
Jane Schaberg, prof of Religious Studies at Univ of Detroit Mercy and Magdalene author
Merlin Stone, teacher of art history, organiser of Goddess Festivals
Jacobus de Voragine, Dominican italian monk in 1200s
Joan Acocella, staff writter for the New Yorker
Tori Amos, singer-songwriter and pianist
Elizabeth Bard, art historian based in Paris, contributed to Secrets of the Code
James Carrol, civil rights activist and playwright
Richard Covington, contributor to "Women of the Bible"
Maxine Hanks, writer and feminist theologian
Ki Longfellow, novelist
Kathleen McGowan, editor and writer on spirituality, metaphysics and alternative therapies
Jeremy Pine, antiquarian and archaeologist
Nancy Qualls-Corbett, Jungian analyst, author of "The sacred prostitute..."
Anna Quindlen, bestselling author, columnist & Pulitzer Prize winner
Its a bit of a read sorry, but it gives you an idea of the breadth of contributors to the book and their scholarship. My apologies if I have cut a university academic's 40 year career to two lines! There is obviously a bit of repetition and overlap between authors, but Wow, what a read.
|
| |
|
Review Summary: A very good way to start |
Date: 2006-09-21 |
|
| |
|
Details: A very nice collection of viewpoints about the woman who is fast becoming the focus for many people's spiritual lives. Ranging from the scholarly to what amounts to a love letter; from those rooted in the traditional to those very inclined to the New Age (and what's so wrong with a new age, I ask...as if new thinking was somehow laughable); from some people whose life work is the study of the feminine principle in religious matters, to one or two who've, as they say, "jumped on the bandwagon"; this book is a fine way to enter into today's consideration of Mary Magdalene. As the reviewer below said, I do wonder at the inclusion of a few (well one, really) who seem to hold odd agendas concerning the Magdalene, but this is far outweighed by those whose thoughts and opinions are well worth reading. I recommend this book for all those who are picking their way through the thicket of today's rapidly growing interest in the divine feminine. |
| |
|
out of 6 Reviews
