The Gospel of Mary Listening to the Beloved Disciple

The success of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and other novels has raised interest in Mary Magdalene and in the Gospel of Mary. The Gospel of Mary, the only Gospel named after a woman, lay buried in a Christian cemetery for more than fifteen centuries until being discovered in 1896. About half of the Gospel survived and, since its publication in 1955, it has been the subject of increasing debate. Here, Esther de Boer-an established scholar who has published widely on Mary-considers Mary Magdalene's influence on the beginnings of Christianity. She examines the Gospel of Mary's background and the depiction of Mary found within it. By comparing the portrayals of Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of Mary and in the New Testament Gospels, we see that in earliest Christianity Mary Magdalene was held in high esteem. The book also investigates the possibility that the "beloved disciple" in John's Gospel is none other than Mary Magdalene.