The Passion of Mary Magdalen. Elizabeth Cunningham

      

      PRAISE FOR THE PASSION OF MARY MAGDALEN

      “The book becomes a gospel in itself… anyone who reads it will never approach the canon the same way again. The Passion of Mary Magdalen is a tour de force.”

       —Episcopal Life Magazine

      “Magdalene fans are in for more surprises in Cunningham‘s classy, sexy novel…this will be — besides snapped up by Magdalene fans, Celtophiles, feminists and lovers of a good yarn — controversial. Those unready for lesbianism and sex with the Redeemer between the same covers may blanch as well as flush.”

       —Booklist, starred review

      “[An] epic, stunningly original work… a roaring good read.”

       —Foreword Magazine - Finalist for Book of the Year Award

      “Elizabeth Cunningham beckons us… in her raucous, inspired, and thought-provoking novel.”

       —Spirituality and Health Magazine, chosen as One of Best Spiritual Books in 2006

      “Unforgettably original…Matthew, Mark, Luke and John: move over.”

       —San Antonio Express-News

      “Lavish and lusty…Cunningham’s Celtic Magdalene is as hot in the mouth as Irish whiskey.”

       —Beliefnet, chosen as one of this year’s “heretical beach-books”.

      This novel gives readers what Brown’s does not… freedom from a false claim that all the historical elements in the book are factual… there is engaging language, too, such as her intriguing description of Jesus as “a man who broke Sabbath rules like fingernails.”

       —The Kansas City Star

      “Cunningham weaves Hebrew scripture, Celtic and Egyptian mythology, and early Christian legend into a nearly seamless whole, creating an unforgettable fifth gospel story in which the women most involved in Jesus’s ministry are given far more representation…”

       —Library Journal

      “The Passion offers a digestive to Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ, and a fascination way beyond Dan Brown’s exploitation of this Mary’s story in The DaVinci Code.”

       —Pages Magazine

      “This Mary is capable of forgiving the most outrageous brutality but incapable of surrendering to a passive existence as some else’s possession, including that of the Master. Amazing story!”

       —Historical Novels Review

      Sassy, salty, sexy… all three words aptly describe Cunningham’s prose, her heroine, and The Passion of Mary Magdalen as a whole. Those without an irreverent sense of humor will likely balk, but that just leaves more copies for the rest of us to pass around.

       —LesbianNation.com

      “Eventually I began to read… and read. I did no work, barely got myself into the office for the day job and to the microwave for the odd snack.”

       —Goddess-pages.com

      “Sure to offend those with a conventional view of Mary Magdalen and Jesus, sure to enrage those who want the gospel to be entirely heterosexual, and sure to please those who want another view of the very human people involved that most familiar drama, this powerful, wonderful, being-told-just-to-you story is really an unsanitized fifth gospel. Don’t miss this one!”

       —Out Smart; Houston’s Gay and Lesbian Media Choice

      “Cunningham’s novel does for the Christian story what Mists of Avalon did for the Arthurian legend, restoring the lost voice of women without seeking to create a new orthodoxy. It is also a great read, rich with all the sights, scents, and sounds of Rome and Judea. In fact, the book is a full-body experience.”

       — About Town

      “This book is certain to appeal to fans of historical fiction, to Celtophiles, to those who love fantasy, to feminists, and to anyone who loves a great story. Unconventional? Controversial? You bet. It kept me up all night, and I loved it!”

       —MyShelf.com

      “I was a little surprised when a publicist suggested I review this book. Mary Magdalen is sort of out of my area of expertise, if you know what I mean. But I see now why this is truly a Pagan book… It’s a wonderful story that surprised me at more than one point, and I am now sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the sequel.”

       —Pagan News and Links

      THE

      PASSION

      OF

      MARY

      MAGDALEN

       Other Novels by Elizabeth Cunningham

       The Return of the Goddess, A Divine Comedy

       The Wild Mother

       How To Spin Gold, A Woman’s Tale

       The Maeve Chronicles

       Magdalen Rising

       The Passion of Mary Magdalen

       Bright Dark Madonna (forthcoming)

       Poetry

       Small Bird

       Wild Mercy

      THE MAEVE CHRONICLES

      THE

      PASSION

      OF

      MARY

      MAGDALEN

      A NOVEL

      ELIZABETH CUNNINGHAM

      Monkfish Book Publishing Company

      Rhinebeck, New York

      The Passion of Mary Magdalen: A Novel

      © 2007 by Elizabeth Cunningham

      All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher except in critical articles and reviews. Contact the publisher for information: Monkfish Book Publishing Company 27 Lamoree Rd. Rhinebeck, N.Y. 12572

      Book and cover design by Georgia Dent

      Cover art used with permission: Mary Magdalen in a Grotto, LeFevre, Jules Joseph, c. 1876. Oil on Canvas. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

      The poems Poem for May 15, Egyptian prayer to Isis, and Poem for November 12, Egyptian coffin texts, have been reprinted with kind permission from the publisher from The Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations on the Feminine Spirit by Patrician Monaghan © 1999. Llewellyn Worldwide, 2143 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125-2989. All rights reserved.

      First paperback edition of The Passion of Mary Magdalen: A Novel by Elizabeth Cunningham

      ISBN: 978-0-9833589-6-1

      First hardcover edition of The Passion of Mary Magdalen: A Novel by Elizabeth Cunningham

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Cunningham, Elizabeth, 1953-

      The passion of Mary Magdalen : a novel / Elizabeth Cunningham.

      p. cm. -- (The Maeve chronicles ; 1)

      1. Mary Magdalene, Saint--Fiction. 2. Bible. N.T. Gospels--History of Biblical