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

Description

Waiting to be rediscovered in the British Library is an ancient manuscript of the early Church, copied by an anonymous monk. The manuscript is at least 1,450 years old, possibly dating to the first century. And now, The Lost Gospel provides 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 a paradigm shifting manuscript. What the authors eventually discover is as astounding as it is surprising: the confirmation of Jesus' marriage to Mary Magdalene; the names of their two children; the towering presence of Mary Magdalene; a previously unknown plot on Jesus' life (thirteen years prior to the crucifixion); an assassination attempt against Mary Magdalene and their children; Jesus' connection to political figures at the highest level of the Roman Empire; and a religious movement that antedates that of Paul-the Church of Mary Magdalene. Part historical detective story, part modern adventure, The Lost Gospel reveals secrets that have been hiding in plain sight for millennia.

Simcha Jacobovici, co-author of The Jesus Family Tomb,is a three time Emmy-winning Israeli-Canadian documentary film-maker and a widely published writer and lecturer. His articles have appeared in publications such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Jacobovici is the host of "The Naked Archaeologist" on the History Channel. He resides in Israel with his wife and five children. Barrie Wilson is a professor of religious studies at York University in Toronto, where he specializes in early Christianity. His book How Jesus Became Christian was longlisted for the Cundill International Prize in History and won the Joseph and Faye Tanenbaum Award. Wilson lives in Toronto.

"I very much enjoyed reading the book and find the major thesis of Jesus' marriage to Mary the Magdalene very convincing. I also liked the style - very modern and conversational I thought it well-structured and convincing I have always felt that the emphasis on celibacy and the identification of sex with sin and corruption is extremely annoying. It is very much part of the denigration of women and their place in the natural order of things." -- Madelyn B. Dick, Ph.D., Professor Emerita and Senior Scholar, History, York University, Toronto "Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson have produced a rather impressive collaborative work [that] advances the hypothesis that the text belongs to a form of Gnostic Christianity in which a married Jesus with children was a core tradition that might well trace back to the historical Jesus. The public will find it fascinating, clerics will denounce it, and some academics will likely dismiss it as sensational--but it is well worth a careful read." -- James D. Tabor, Professor of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, University of North Carolina at Charlotte "The Lost Gospel is a tour-de-force, carefully documented...an important contribution to the on-going dialogue about Christian origins." -- Margaret Starbird, author of THE WOMAN WITH THE ALABASTER JAR "Absolutely fascinating. Many would argue the biggest story or one of the biggest stories of our lifetime." -- NBC's TODAY " Praise forThe Jesus Family Tomb and How Jesus Became Christian: A slick and suspenseful narrative. Jacobovici is a maverick, a self-made Indiana Jones. " -- Newsweek "The Lost Gospel [is] a tour-de-force, carefully documented. An important contribution to the on-going dialogue about Christian origins." -- Margaret Starbird, author of 'The Woman with the Alabaster Jar' "This discovery is potentially the last nail in the coffin of biblical literalism." -- John Dominic Crossan, author of God & Empire "Wilson's How Jesus Became Christian represents a much-needed sea change in our understanding of how one moves from the historical Jesus to the religion called Christianity. It is beyond doubt one of the most significant works on early Christianity to appear in decades. It is bound to stir controversy." -- James D. Tabor, author of The Jesus Dynasty