--WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER-- The Gospel of Mary Magdalene
reveals a very different love story from the one we've come to refer to
as Christianity. Harvard-trained theologian Meggan Watterson leads us
verse by verse through Mary's gospel to illuminate the powerful
teachings it contains.
A gospel, as ancient and authentic as any of the gospels that the
Christian bible contains, was buried deep in the Egyptian desert after
an edict was sent out in the 4th century to have all copies of it
destroyed. Fortunately, some rebel monks were wise enough to refuse-and
thanks to their disobedience and spiritual bravery, we have several
manuscripts of the only gospel that was written in the name of a woman:
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
Mary's gospel reveals a radical love that sits at the heart of the
Christian story. Her gospel says that we are not sinful; we are not to
feel ashamed or unworthy for being human. In fact, our purpose is to be
fully human, to be a "true human being"- that is, a person who has
remembered that, yes, we are a messy, limited ego, and we are also a
limitless soul.
And all we need to do is to turn inward (again and again); to meditate,
like Mary Magdalene, in the way her gospel directs us, so that we can
see past the ego of our own little lives to what's more real, and
lasting, and infinite, and already here, within.
With searing clarity, Watterson explains how and why Mary Magdalene came
to be portrayed as the penitent prostitute and relates a more
historically and theologically accurate depiction of who Mary was within
the early Christ movement. And she shares how this discovery of Mary's
gospel has allowed her to practice, and to experience, a love that never
ends, a love that transforms everything.
