Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile [Paperback]

Margaret Starbird (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2005

An in-depth investigation of the facts and mythology surrounding the historical Mary Magdalene

• Reveals new details about the life of the beloved of Jesus

• Illustrated with rare and unusual imagery depicting Mary’s central role in Christianity

• Includes 60-minute CD of author discussing "The Greatest Story Never Told"

• By the author of the bestselling The Woman with the Alabaster Jar

The controversy surrounding Mary Magdalene and her relationship to Jesus has gained widespread international interest since the publication of Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code, which specifically cites Margaret Starbird’s earlier works as a significant source. In Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile Starbird examines the many faces of Mary Magdalene, from the historical woman who walked with Jesus in the villages of Judea to the mythic and symbolic Magdalene who is the archetype of the Sacred Feminine. Starbird reveals exciting new information about the woman who was the most intimate companion of Jesus and offers historical evidence that Mary was Jesus’ forgotten bride.

Expanding on the discussion of medieval art and lore introduced in her bestselling book The Woman with the Alabaster Jar, Starbird sifts through the layers of misidentification under which the story of the Lost Bride of Christ has been buried to reveal the slandered woman and the “exiled” feminine principle. She establishes the identity of the historical female disciple who was the favored first witness of the Resurrection and provides an interpretation of Mary’s true role based on prophecy from the Hebrew scriptures and the testimony of the canonical gospels of Christianity. Balancing scholarly research with theological reflection, she takes readers deeper into the story and mythology of how Magdalene as the Bride embodies the soul’s own journey in its eternal quest for reunion with the Divine.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Capitalizing on the success of her bestseller The Woman with the Alabaster Jar (which was plugged in The Da Vinci Code), Starbird revisits the Mary Magdalene myth, hoping to separate truth from fiction, and from all-out fallacy. In an effort to reclaim Mary as the exiled Bride, and to reassert belief in the ultimate sacred union of Mary and Jesus, of "God incarnate in flesh, both male and female," she provides a suggestive if somewhat muddled argument. One of the most intriguing stories comes via a second-century prayer rug that seems to support the Grail legend in which the exiled family (namely Mary, her sister and possibly a daughter of Jesus) escaped from Palestine in a tiny boat. Explorations of Sarah the Egyptian, the Merovingian fish as well as Isis reveal logical connections to various Mary stories. Moreover, references to artistic depictions of the Magdalene illustrate the historic symbolism long associated not only with Mary but with Christianity itself. After 30 years of studying the Magdalene stories, no one can fault the author's dedication. Unfortunately, she is distractingly unsure of her audience, and few outside academia will find this as captivating a read as it could have been. The book includes an hour-long audio CD of the author's presentation on the sacred intimacy between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The success of The Da Vinci Code (2003) has focused renewed attention on Mary Magdalene. Starbird, a writer experienced in biblical history, is among the latest to focus on the woman called "the apostle to the apostles." Starbird, who primarily looks at the way Mary's story merges into myth, paints with a bit of New Age patina, yet her book is more focused and organized. Starbird thinks that the Magdalene and Mary of Bethany were one; other writers think Mary was poor; Starbird styles her as rich. Readers interested in Mary will want to read this book and come to their own conclusions. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Bear & Company (August 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591430542
• ISBN-13: 978-1591430544
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #644,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roman Catholic scholar Margaret Starbird's extensive study of history, symbolism, medieval art, mythology, psychology, and the Bible uncovers new and compelling evidence that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalen. Starbird's investigation of this suppressed history calls for a restoration of the feminine principle to its intended place in the canon of Christianity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The importance of Margaret Starbird's message, September 2, 2005

By 

Mary T. Beben (Falls Church, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile (Paperback)

In this best and clearest of her works Margaret has spelled out what was lost from the very start in Christianity and why this loss of Mary Magdalene's correct place next to Jesus, as his beloved, matters still. This book is not a feminist tirade about women's rights, although it upholds the valid need for this sort of reformation. It goes beyond that point to expose damage done to the human soul/spirit because the paradigm of wholeness or union of the human soul with God was skewed early on. She teaches us about the customs and prevailing mindset of the peoples surrounding Jesus and Mary in first century Palestine and we begin to see that there was surely a heiros-gamos or sacred marriage between Jesus and his beloved. This sacred union should have been the model, since it truly reflects the image of life itself. She has rightly stated that her research and her premises are based on the gospel stories themselves and on a solid Judeo-Christian heritage. They cannot be debunked. This is important, breakthrough work that should be considered seriously for the healing and refreshment it can bring to Christianity. Margaret has brought to light challenges that will not easily be overthrown. It is only lack of information about the era that keeps us ignorant of the importance of her work. While no one can prove or disprove an actual marriage between Jesus and Mary, reading this book may convince one that history is not always the way it has seemed for all these years!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, January 1, 2007

By 

Dr. James Gardner (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile (Paperback)

With her latest book, Bride in Exile, Margaret Starbird joins a few very select biblical scholars (e.g., Spong, Schoenfeld) whose work remains steadfast at an extremely high level. The current book continues the work she started with Woman witn the Alabaster Jar (1993), the Goddess in the Gospels (1998, and Magdalene's Lost Legacy (2003). Her main theses are that Jesus and Mary were married and that knowledge of this marriage was not included in the gospels. This denial of the "sacred marriage" has left Christianity, particularly Catholic Christianity, lacking the feminine counterpart, and thus incomplete. Some lesser themes center around the true meaning of her name (Starbird believes that it is "Mary the Great" rather than Mary of Magdala) and the many myths and legends about Mary that gave birth to the plethora of artwork in the Renaissance.

Comparing this book with her other works, some readers may be disappointed that the role of Mary in legends and folklore and her portrayal in artwork have been placed somewhat on the back burner in favor of a more scholarly approach to establishing the veracity of her theories. Personally I enjoyed the change and find that this book should silence any critics who harp, unfairly, about her lack of scholarly acumen.

This isn't to say that I am in perfect agreement with Starbird on all her points. For example, I don't believe that "James the Lesser" refers to James, the brother of Jesus (p. 21), or that "the other Mary" is Jesus' mother (p. 75). Nor am I convinced that Mary's marriage to Jesus was purposefully kept from the gospels to protect her (p. 31 and elsewhere). I'm more inclined to believe that the mentions of the marriage were removed by competing Christian sects, just as they removed favorable mentions of the activities of other members of Jesus' family (see Jeffrey Butz' The Brother of Jesus for an excellent exploration of this area). But any disagreements with Starbird are minor compared to the evidence she marshalls to support her main views, and on these points she can't be faulted.

Of all her books I think this is the best all around summary of Mary Magdalene. In addition, it may be the best all around summary of Mary by any author. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in Mary, from beginning students to advanced scholars. It's well written, has good notes, a chronology, and a CD with a one hour lecture.

55 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There are good historians to back up this story!!!, September 14, 2005

By 

Margaret C. Jacob "grail buff" (Dallas, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile (Paperback)

If you feel you need other detailed historical research to back up Margaret's story here, Custodians of Truth, The Continuance of Rex Deus, by Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins, 2005, will give you wonderful back-up history!!! This is just such an important piece of history to understand thoroughly if you want to appreciate the fascination with the DaVinci Code type stories. This was info subjected to the various Inquisitions over and over again, sadly by some of my own ancestors; but more of my ancestors had Margaret's "story" passed on to them in their Initiatory organizations, and know there is plenty of truth here that now needs to be made public. Thanks to Margaret for helping with that process, as it should make the world a gentler place when we realize we do not need an exterior authority to "save us from sin" and to exterminate those who disagree; we need to realize The Kingdom is Within, and get on with understanding our Oneness with the Quantum worlds now being explained by great physicists like Michio Kaku.
Another great new book written by someone who's studied this for more than 30 yrs. also, is Stephen Mehler's, From Light into Darkness. The connection of Jesus and Mary to ancient Egypt is made clear. This is important information that will be coming out more and more now as it is imperative for our evolution into the higher quantum worlds around us!!