The Passion of Mary Magdalen: A Novel [Paperback]

Full disclosure: I am a friend of the incomparable Elizabeth Cunningham and an enthusiast for this novel which I was privileged to read in draft form. It's a huge relief to adore a novel by a friend - I can tell you it doesn't happen much. I truly believe this one should make it big.

What I think Elizabeth is doing here is to take her knowledge of and reverence for Christianity - she comes from a line of I think eleven Episcopal priests - and her joy in neo-paganism, and see what the two have to say to each other: literally. What would happen if these apparent opposites actually made love to each other?

Personally I think that the world is in one of those major religious transition periods, comparable to the period when Christianity began, when new religions are being created and old ones transformed. This is more than a novel - it's a contribution to creating 21st century religion. I love that Elizabeth is able to be both reverent and irreverent, bawdy and holy at the same time. I don't know of anyone who has done that so well. When not writing novels she loves and sings the blues, and a Bessie Smith kind of raunchiness and deep humanity comes through in this novel.

The book is a curiosity because it is a fantasy (I'm sure Elizabeth doesn't think the historical Mary Magdalen was an immortal Celtic priestess) and yet is full of convincing historical detail. I haven't read too many that do that well - Vonda McIntyre's "The Moon and The Sun" comes to mind. There are many moments of delight in this book and of deep insight about the nature of love.

But if you are attached to your preconceptions, whether it's your Christianity, your neo-paganism, your secular mistrust of all religion, or your purist take on historical novels, be prepared to be shocked. In this case, it will be worth it. We have a new world to create out there and this is sweet and exhilarating food for the journey.

Elizabeth Cunningham has created an amazing historic chronicle with this book. Characters are fully, wondrously human. Locations are alive with the sights, scents, sounds of that time millennia ago when Jesus walked this earth.

Maeve Rhuad is a flame haired princess / priestess of the Celtic Isles when she meets Yeshua, called Esus by the Celts. He's traveled to her land to learn Druidic mysteries, but finds a soulmate, a woman he will passionately love for all time. With youthful joy, they call themselves, "eternal twins in the great starry womb" of the universe.

Life's unpredictable difficulties separate the two devoted lovers. Yeshua returns to the Holy Land to continue his quest, serving the One God, and Maeve is dragged to Rome in chains by conquerors who sell her into slavery and prostitution. The Vine and Fig Tree - an omen of her future life with Yeshua -- is a high-class establishment. All clients are welcomed equally because every stranger could be a god or an angel. Life is actually pleasant for a time, but Maeve has two large problems. She's determined to find her beloved Yeshua, and can't keep her sassy mouth shut. Maeve can cuss, bluster, and converse in five languages. Her bold nature ends Maeve's time in Rome and she's sold into slavery. Throughout this dark period, she gains the support and devotion of a Proletarian, Joseph of Arimathea.

Years pass. Maeve is freed from slavery and heads for Jerusalem to search for Yeshua, Esus, her lover, now known as Jesus of Nazareth. From Jerusalem, Maeve travels to the green hills of Galilee to Nazareth, and finally the port city of Magdala. It's in Magdala that she regains her full power as a priestess. With the help of friends and followers, she founds the Temple Magdalen. Here, we're drawn deep into the private lives of biblical icons: Joseph of Arimathea; Mary, mother of Jesus; Lazarus, Mary, and Martha; the Twelve followers of Jesus; John of the burning eyes, the Baptist; and Yeshua, Savior of the Jews, beloved man with the wonderful laugh. Maeve's memories of these people are not reverent or respectful - all have human foibles - but her narrative is often surprising, touching, and tender.

Jesus struggles in his efforts to draw a fine line between being human and divine. The only thing he doesn't question is his love for Maeve, his wife, judged unclean by Jewish law. Fellow Jews, Apostles, family, devoted followers, enemies and friends resent his devotion to a prostitute. Both Yeshua and Maeve know and believe that love is stronger than death, and in their case it is.

Based on historic writings, Cunningham fills in the lost years of Yeshua's life not chronicled in the Bible. But this is a story well and lovingly told, of a man whose fate was to die for all humanity and of the gentile woman who loved him through life and beyond. Lover, husband, healer, miracle worker, teller of parables, and King of Kings, Jesus was first a man. This is a fascinating book, historically and in every other way.

Though not for the squeamish or for those easily offended by what might be construed as blasphemy, this book brings to life the ancient world like no other tale I have read, and introduces readers to a new facet of Jesus Christ, that of the divine lover of Mary Magdalene and, through her, the world. The story is told through the eyes of Mary (Maeve), a celtic priestess/goddess who is Jesus' spiritual other half. Her voice as narrator is one of the most striking features of this work; she is simultaneously reverent and irreverent, ancient and modern, but above all she is immediate and you often feel that she is right there with you, confiding in you her secrets as if you were intimate friends. Despite not being a christian or caring much for pagan religions, I was deeply moved by this novel, which is indeed a story of passion.

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