58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mary Magdalene Beyond The Da Vinci Code., April 17, 2005
This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Mary Magdalene (Paperback)
Prior to this, I had not read any of the books in the Idiot's Guide series, my closest estimation of what to expect being my experience with the computer oriented Dummies books. While I think that those books work as great introductions to material, they never seem to go beyond 'Hello World' enough to satisfy my needs.
This book appears to go well beyond 'Hello World', and if one's expectations are limited to just the Biblical Mary Magdalene or to the matter of the Da Vinci Code, one will either be pleasantly surprised or possibly overwhelmed. With 2000 years of Mary Magdalene material to draw from, alot is covered here.
Many views of the subject are presented, from the Biblical and 'Gnostic', to the more recent work of author Margaret Starbird, which The Da Vinci Code is partly based upon, and the 'feminist' Apostle of the Apostles view. There is also an entire chapter devoted to lesser known modern ideas surrounding Mary Magdalene.
There are also different parts of the book that explore Mary Magdalene as a cultural figure, such as in art, books and movies, or how she is viewed in different branches of Christianity and different parts of the world and how one might personally celebrate her Feast Day.
There is quite a bit of important supporting material, such as information used to illustrate the place of women in the 1st century, ideas that Mary Magdalene has been used to represent by early church fathers, and information about the other Biblical figures named Mary who Mary Magdalene has often been confused with. While sometimes this information doesn't always directly relate to Mary Magdalene, it does help to set up the world which she may have lived in.
The book is extremely readable except for a few difficult parts, where the matter is otherwise pretty confusing anyways, such as when dealing with all the different Mary characters in the Bible. Fortunately this is rarely the case and the book is very accessible.
The Appendices include a guide to looking up where Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the Bible and other places like Gnostic texts, which I have found very useful.
There's alot more 'bang for the buck' than I expected and I think this title works as a great introduction to the rich history surrounding Mary Magdalene. Based on this I would also venture to check out other titles in this series.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Broadly informed, accessibly presented, May 30, 2005
This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Mary Magdalene (Paperback)
Lesa Bellevie's book surveys and critiques a broad, comprehensive, and diverse array of studies and theories about Mary Magdalene, including the recent wave of scholarly and popular books on the subject.
Bellevie utilizes well the clear format provided by the Complete Idiot's Guide series, such as multiple section headings on each page, making it easy to jump in anywhere and rapidly skim.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I was looking for something like this, May 25, 2005
This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Mary Magdalene (Paperback)
I'm a novice when it comes to Mary Magdalene, and I needed a place to start. This is it. A great big overview of the whole topic, and Mary Magdalene is certainly a topic. I'm using this one book to follow paths to other books of worth. Lucky me, starting here. By the way, I found it in the library at the university...now I have to buy it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
