This book is one of my favorite examples of creative myth-making. Kinstler draws a compelling (if non-historical) portrait of Goddess worship carried out in the temple in ancient Jerusalem and places Mary Magdalene and Jesus squarely within the larger Ancient Near Eastern tradition of sacred/sacrificed kings. Kinstler supplements the canonical gospel accounts with material drawn from the Gnostic gospels, adding an additional level of authenticity to her fiction.

If you take the story on its own terms, it's a beautiful tale of love, challenge, and the life of a dedicated priestess. ( )

A retelling of the Jesus/Mary Magdalene story . . . from the Magdalene's point of view. I loaned this book to a friend, and darn if I didn't recently find it in a used book store, all ready for me to re-read! ( )

I first read this book in 1993 while I was in college, soon after I took Intro to Feminism. It was mind-blowing. I fell in love with the sacred feminine portrayed in the book. I have reread the book many times and always inspires me, as if it were a window into the past where women-centered wisdom is respected (even though it occurs at the tale-end of this time). I wish this author had written more fiction. ( )

This was given to me by a friend whose literary tastes I respect, but I'm afraid this a case of a novel that however well-written I couldn't wrap my mind around. The subtitle of the novel is "The Story of Mari Magdalene in the Service of the Great Mother." It's the first person account of the figure we know as Mary Magdalene in the New Testament and here the wife of Jesus. This was written over a decade before The Da Vinci Code, but given her Notes and Bibliography at the back of the book shares some common inspirations. (Notably the whacky cult book Holy Blood, Holy Grail.)

It's not that I'm offended by humanized, alternate or feminist views of Jesus. Quite the contrary. In fact, Kinstler lists in her bibliography a favorite book of mine King Jesus by Robert Graves (author of I, Claudius) that also posits a Jesus of royal birth married to Mary Magdalene. I've read that a Jewish man of that era would routinely be married at Jesus' purported age and even a Catholic priest I heard interviewed said that if Jesus was married there's no better candidate than Mary Magdalene considering scripture. I found it plausible enough I could go with Graves' vision and enjoy his novel.

What I find hard to credit in Kinstler's book isn't a married or human Jesus--it's a Paganized Israel at the time it was a Roman province, with "Magdalene" referring to "the High Priestess" who serves the Mother Goddess right within the temple precincts--in an era when anything smacking of Paganism could cause riots, even uprisings among the populace. It's not as if Judaism and Judea of this period isn't well-documented from many sources including by Romans, Greeks, Egyptians. I could well believe there once was a female counterpart and consort to Yahweh (Jehovah) called Asherah. I completely bought the background of goddess worship in Diamant's The Red Tent set in the time of the Patriarchs. It's certainly plausible in the time of Solomon whose many wives from far flung nations certainly brought with them varied modes of worship. I could easily credit the scenario of Goddess worship and priestesses any time before the Babylonian Exile. I could believe that remnants of goddess worship could be found in folk practice or even in some underground sects in the Israel of the time of Jesus. But accepted as mainstream practice in Second Temple period Judea? I wasn't buying it for a moment and filling a bibliography with the likes of Elizabeth Clare Prophet and Starhawk doesn't gain it one scintilla of credibility with me. Oh, and Judas is really Jesus' evil twin. Really? Enjoying a historical novel depends on a willing suspension of disbelief. And I'm just not willing to believe in the world Kinstler paints. ( )

I can't say that I liked this book. I wanted to like it, but I just didn't. It was recommended to me years ago and I have been curious about it for ages (8years to be exact) so when I saw it in a used bookstore I snatched it up.

I'm the first to love a feminist retelling of Christianity/history but something about the way the stories of the bible were weaved together into a plot just bothered me. My main problem with the text was that I felt like she was trying to hard to get in as many biblical figures as possible in order to re-tell/create their narrative.

I think I would have enjoyed the story more had she just stuck with the stories of Mary Magdalene, Jesus, and Judas. The premise was fascinating and thought provoking, but the delivery lacked. ( )