This torrent presents two recent works about the significant role women played in
early Christianity. In The Gospel of Mary of Magdala Karen L. King relates the
recovery of The Gospel of Mary, the only existing early Christian gospel written
in the name of a woman and lost for more than fifteen hundred years. King's
scholarly and comprehensive work provides more than recap of Mary Magalene's life
or early Christian movements. It explains how this Gospel, since it interprets
Jesus' teachings as a path to inner spiritual knowledge rather than his suffering
and death as a path to eternal life, contributed to (and continues to) the conflicts
and controversies that shaped Christianity.

Conflicts and controversies continue with Rena Pederson's The Lost Apostle.
It examines the life of Junia, an early Christian convert, labled an apostle, who
partnered with Andronicus in mission work. Pederson is not a Biblical scholar, but
she researched Junia by consulting such scholars. And early in the book she
identifies the key issue of Junia's story: scholarship does not preclude an agenda,
and the recognition of Junia as an apostle "rekindles the debate whether women should
be authorized to preach." (p. 31)

King, Karen L - The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle
190 pp. + notes, glossay (terms), bibliography, index

Pederson, Rena - The Lost Apostle - Searching for the Truth About Junia
218 pp. + discussion questions, notes, bibliography

Download File Size:9.06 MB

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