According to Mary Magdalene [Hardcover]

Marianne Fredriksson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999

Long ater the death of Christ, the apostles seek out Mary Magdalene. They have come for her memories of Jesus, as she was closest to and most loved by him. Thus begins her story: her childhood and the murder of her parents; her education and service at a brothel; her first love. Mary recounts her intimate experience with Jesus of Nazareth--of meeting this remarkable man, their all-too-human relationship, and his journey toward destiny.

Later, when she realizes the apostles are intentionally altering Christ's teachings to suit their own goals, Mary struggles to spread the undistorted teachings herself, joining with her sisters who would otherwise have no place, and no voice, in the new church the apostles are creating.

In sharing her own story, Mary weaves a richly textured tapestry of people, landscapes, cultures, and beliefs, and provides new insight into the role of women in the early Christian church. Marianne Fredrikkson masterfully breathes new life into the figure of Mary Magdalene in this triumphal novel of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, seen through the eyes of the woman who loved him most.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A top-selling author in her native Sweden and in Germany, Fredrikssen here departs dramatically from her recent contemporary fiction (Hanna's Daughters) to take on the foundation of Christianity, as told from the perspective of Mary Magdalene. Though this work proposes to represent the new subgenre of "visionary fiction"--novels with spirituality and metaphysics at the core--the story seems best slotted as historical or religious fiction. Full of keening biblical insurgency, the narrative has a decidedly feminist-revisionist ideology: Jesus respected women, and included women in his band of disciples. If only the male disciples had allowed women an equal voice, Christianity would not be as based on myth and law, but rather would focus on self-sufficiency and responsibility, reconciliation and forgiveness. Providing atmospheric background, Fredrikssen fascinates with the behind-the-scenes details of Mary's life: a flaxen-haired Jewish child, orphaned when Greek centurions kill her family, she is rescued by homosexual warrior Leonidas and raised in a house of pleasure. Mary grapples with the nature of Jesus' love in a time when Jew, Greek, Gnostic and Christian vie for understanding. For the uninitiated reader, following the story across the reinvented landscape of Christianity's first century may prove difficult, but for those well-versed in the Gospel it is a stimulating and serious conversation piece.

Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Fredriksson gives a human face to Jesus of Nazareth in this account told by the woman who was his apostle, closest companion, and?yes?bedmate. This Mary Magdalene is a teenaged, yellow-haired, blue-eyed Jewish whore?orphaned as a child when Roman soldiers brutally murdered her family?who meets Jesus walking in the mountains and teaches him carnal love. Years later, when Mary is in a companionable marriage to the Greek centurion who took her in as a child, she is courted by Simon Peter and Paul for her recollections of Jesus and finally records her own account. With the political and religious conflicts of the times as background, Fredriksson (Hanna's Daughters, LJ 7/98) portrays the later life and excruciating death of a loving, feminist Jesus whose teachings would be misinterpreted by the men around him. A lovely, revealing retelling of a powerful story, with an unfortunately weak ending. For larger collections.?Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing; First Printing edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571741208
• ISBN-13: 978-1571741202
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,456,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Old stories through new eyes, October 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: According to Mary Magdalene (Hardcover)

reading books is a great way of spending the train rides to and from work. With this book the rides were to short however. The story of Mary of Magdala, remembering her encounter and life with Jesus is refreshing and inspiring. The birth of Christianity and the life of Jesus is portrayed in a new way, through the eyes of a troubled woman and intermingled with her problems in society and her life. My view of Jesus was very much refreshed, and his teachings retaught in the view of a woman apostle. Highly recommended!

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A strong woman, June 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: According to Mary Magdalene (Hardcover)

Mariannes books always have at least one powerful,wise woman as a frontfigure. In "Maria Magdalena" it happens to be Jesus girlfriend. Not a whore and not a saint. A woman. It's a fantastic story about how it might have been. She writes like it's a fairytale. In the end you love Jesus and you love Maria Magdalena.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reinforces a simple message that we too often forget, July 12, 2000

By 

Kelly H (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: According to Mary Magdalene (Hardcover)

I highly recommend According to Mary Magdalene, especially if you're in the mood to question traditional Christian thought, but you aren't yet ready to digest something like Why Christianity Must Change or Die by Bishop Spong.

AtMM has a simple message that I think most present-day Christians seem to forget altogether: we are here to love and accept one another, not to make rules and laws and judge one another.

I liked reading about Mary Magdalene so much so that I'm anxious to read non-fiction works about her (as non-fiction as Christian mythology can be, that is). I also remembered that one of my favorite books, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, features her in statue form.