The Lost Gospel: Decoding the Ancient Text that Reveals Jesus' Marriage to Mary the Magdalene

An extremely good read. It is an attempt to throw some light onto one of the most heavily censored and most important parts of human history, cutting through to what we can either prove or sensibly infer from known texts. The authors tread a careful line between what is know and what is conjecture, leading to some eye - opening conclusions.

This hardcover is a dustjacketed clothbound edition, with sixteen full-page, colour photographic plates. Since it's a complicated book, I hope to help by quoting what's on the book's dustjacket - verbatim. So here goes: "The mystery of a newly translated "gospel" is now revealed - filled with startling revelations and fascinating detail about the life and times of Jesus - in this ground-breaking follow up to the 'New York Times' bestseller 'The Jesus Family Tomb'.' 'Waiting to be rediscovered in the British Library is an ancient manuscript from early Christianity, copied by an anonymous monk. This document is at least 1,450 years old, possibly dating to the first century, but it has never been properly translated and decoded. Until now. Working with an expert team of translators and digital imaging experts, acclaimed authors Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson provide the first-ever translation from Syriac into English of this unique document that tells the inside story of Jesus' social, family and political life. 'The Lost Gospel' takes the reader on an unparalleled historical adventure through this paradigm-shifting text. What the authors eventually discover is as astounding as it is surprising: the confirmation of Jesus' marriage to Mary the Magdalene; the names of their two children; a previously unknown plot on Jesus' life more than a decade prior to the crucifixion; an attempt to abduct Mary and kill their children; the politics behind the crucifixion; and a religious movement that antedates that of Paul's - the Church of Mary the Magdalene. Part detective story, part modern adventure, 'The Lost Gospel' reveals secrets that have been hiding in plain sight for millennia. Jacobovici and Wilson's astounding discovery and vigorous scholarly research position this ancient text alongside the Dead Sea Scrolls and Gnostic writings as pillars of our evolving understanding of the historical Jesus."

This was a very interesting and informative read. The authors are very good at filling in the historical and archaeological background needed to understand the historical Jesus. Wilson has spent his professional life "decoding" texts and is very good at it. So, what is new? Well, they make a persuasive case for saying that the text in question is not Jewish, but is in fact a "Valentinian Gospel", (i.e. a sacred text for a group of gnostic Christians named after a charismatic leader Valentinius). We already know that this group believed that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. However, what is new is that they argue/show that this could be a first century text which was written at the same time as the new testament gospels. They also show that there are some churches that in Israel that correspond to the imagery of the text. They also argue that the text shows that Mary Magdalene was not Jewish and in fact was a priestess of Artemis. There are lots of other things too. What to make of it? Well, if they are correct, then it shows that early Christianity in the first century was more diverse than we thought. We already "know" of two forms of Christianity: the "Jewish" one (Jesus, Peter, James etc.) that basically meant following the Torah, and the "Pauline" one developed by Paul from divine revelations in which the Jewish law was unnecessary. This book argues that there was a third one, which was a syncretic Jewish-Gentile Christianity which later developed into Gnosticism. Sex played an important part in ritual. The book argues that this came out of Mary Magdalen, and hence (according to the "Gospel") Jesus himself. Hence Gnosticism is not an exotic second century offshoot of the first two types, but was founded by the "apostle" Mary and belongs to the earliest period of the Christian church. Mary and Jesus were married and had children. The book argues this case very strongly, although I doubt that any orthodox minded Christians will take much note: their Christianity is based on Paul's Revelations and later accretions of church dogma (virgin births, Trinitarian doctrine etc.). However, let us see how opinions change over time. There is a lot of speculation in the book. I think that the authors sometimes get carried away. For example, the rabbinical Jewish tradition that Jesus was fathered by a Roman soldier. Now of course, this may be true (someone had to be the father, and there were a lot of Roman soldiers in Palestine around the time of Jesus' birth doing a lot of raping and pillaging). However, the "Pantera" story could just be a slur on Jesus: Joseph was not his father, so why not blacken his reputation by suggesting that he was an offspring of the hated Romans (a bit like saying your dad was an SS soldier). The book ends by linking the "Gospel" with events in Rome (Sejanus and Tiberius) and Palestine (Herod and Pilate), arguing that Jesus was embroiled in high level politics. Again, this could be true, but there are a lot of ifs and buts. Overall, this is a very good book. Does it prove that Mary Magdalen was really Jesus's wife? Well, no, but it makes it more likely. If they are correct in dating it to the first century, then this claim needs to be treated much more seriously than if it was something originating in the second century. We know from the standard Gospels that there was a lot of "redaction" and writing out of history James and the Jewish Christians. Paul's theology won out. We know that there was a long struggle between Pauline orhtodox Christians and Gnostics in the second and third centuries, which was resolved brutally when Pauline Christianity was adopted by Constantine. Perhaps the strength of Gnosticism (at least in its Valentinian form) artose form its origins in early Christianity. As a book this is a fascinating read and I recommend it to anyone interested in early Christianity.

Fascinating! I had long thought that we had only an edited version of that history. History, as they say, is written by the winning side!

I recommend this book to all christians who struggle to understand many passages of the gospels. I am grateful to the authors for interpreting this texts and to have searched thouroughly to come to these conclusions. I read everything as a history book, and history cannot be disliked or liked, it can only be lived.

Interessantes Buch. Wie angeboten. Rasche Lieferung

As a practicing Catholic who is fascinated with religious history, and is on a journey to find "Truth", I couldn't put this book down. Typology was difficult to accept, but the writer explains in down to earth understandable terms. Once over that hurdle, I found the book to be chockablock full of research findings and revelations I am still processing. A startling, amazing, mind-boggling read!

Libro meraviglioso

La thèse des auteurs est la suivante : le texte de "Joseph et Aseneth" serait un évangile dont l'interprétation et la compréhension ne seraient possibles que par la méthode de la typologie biblique. Une fois le texte décodé, cet évangile caché nous révélerait (entre autres) la relation amoureuse de Jésus et Marie Madeleine, leur mariage, leurs enfants, la protection romaine de Jésus par Sejan, chef de la garde prétorienne. D'après les auteurs, "Joseph et Aseneth" est aussi un texte fortement influencé par le gnosticisme, tout en étant aussi l'évangile du mouvement dirigé par Marie Madeleine après la mort de Jésus et qui serait entré en concurrence avec la famille de Jésus et les Pauliniens. Il faut reconnaître l'érudition des auteurs et leurs efforts de contextualisation historique. En revanche, toute leur argumentation ne s'appuie que sur la typologie biblique et donc sur de l'interprétation textuelle. Nous sommes donc loin de la méthode historico-critique et tous les arguments avancés par les auteurs ne sont finalement que des hypothèses.