Book Reviewed: Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel & the Christianity We Haven't Tried Yet by Meggan Watterson

The sacred embrace of Mary

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene presents a radical interpretation of Jesus' teachings as a path to inner spiritual knowledge. Both the content and the message lead inward toward the identity, power, and freedom of the true Self. The soul is set free from the powers of matter and the fear of death. For example, The Savior said, all nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots (Mary 4:22, Pages 1 to 6 of the original manuscript containing chapters 1 - 3 are lost. The extant text of this gospel starts on page 7, chapter 4). Such a metaphysical message is all too familiar in the ancient Hindu scriptures of Upanishads and the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. Mary’s teachings reject the most fundamental concept of Christian beliefs (e.g. John 3:16) that Jesus paid for the sins of others, and whosoever believe in him as a savior will find everlasting peace. The gospel of Mary also rejects that there is such a thing as sin! For example, Then Peter said to him, you have been explaining every topic to us; tell us one other thing. What is the sin of the world? The Savior replied, there is no such thing as sin (Mary 4:25). Another distinctive feature of the gospel Mary is that God is not referred to as the Father, and this gospel does not say that Jesus is the son of God. The parables of Jesus that is the only form of Jesus’ teachings found in synoptic gospels are not found in this gospel.

When the Christian church leaders decreed that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are to be canonized to form the New Testament, at the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., they also believed that no rival gospels must exist that contradict the canons. Therefore, the gnostic gospels such as the gospels of Mary Magdalene, Thomas, Philip, and others were destroyed.

This book is written to re-emphasize the teachings of Mary who was the closest female follower of Jesus. She was present at the Jesus’ crucifixion, she was there at the burial, and she was there alone at the empty tomb, and the first to witness the resurrection. In fact, she was assigned to carry out the mission of the ministry of Jesus Christ. I recommend the original work of Harvard University Professor Karen King “The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the first woman apostle” for a deeper discussion.