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sapphicpenguin 's review for:
The Secret Magdalene
by Ki Longfellow
Mary Magdalene is John, the Beloved Disciple, prophet, apostle to the apostles, companion to Yeshua—a woman among women, a man among men. A good half of the book occurs before she even meets Jesus, though—this is unapologetically her story, about growing up a Jewish woman, about traveling to Alexandria to be educated, and about discovering the man she would devote herself to.
This is not a book for those looking for Christian orthodoxy or "biblical accuracy." This is for those looking for better questions and more intimate truths and new perspectives. It's a book for the gnostic gospel stans, and the gender-weird mystics, and the people who are okay with making family trees cause there are so many characters all with multiple names.
It's got some content for the Judas-sympathizers, though the reimagining of him isn't quite as angsty as other adaptations. Lazarus is an apostle, Salome is reimagined as a follower of John the Baptist (and Mary Magdalene's adopted sister), and Simon Peter is proud, sexist, and completely earnest. The only character portrayal I don't completely love is sadly Mary (mother of our Lord), who doesn't have as big a role as I would have liked.
As a Christian, no, I don't think this how it "really happened." But that's not the point. What matters is the story, and the humanity of it, and the love in every word. There were parts that made me uncomfortable, and challenged what I believed, and confused me, and those are all things I'm working on welcoming.
In this book, Jesus is "nothing so whimsical and so impractical as a god, and nothing so arbitrary and so transitory as a king, but as a great heart standing on the edge of the world teaching us all to soar by teaching himself." He is the enlightened man, not so much a born messiah but someone who became a messiah out of necessity. Someone who achieved oneness with God not out of fate but out of love. Questioning and sure and human and divine.
The main critique I have is the ending—it just ended. I felt like it trickled off. I would request at least 30 more pages, please. Also, I was kind of hoping Mary and Jesus would never be explicitly romantic. I don't know, I want the soul-bond and love but not the romance. There's not very much of it, so it didn't ruin anything, I just would have preferred it to be left out.
This is not a book for those looking for Christian orthodoxy or "biblical accuracy." This is for those looking for better questions and more intimate truths and new perspectives. It's a book for the gnostic gospel stans, and the gender-weird mystics, and the people who are okay with making family trees cause there are so many characters all with multiple names.
It's got some content for the Judas-sympathizers, though the reimagining of him isn't quite as angsty as other adaptations. Lazarus is an apostle, Salome is reimagined as a follower of John the Baptist (and Mary Magdalene's adopted sister), and Simon Peter is proud, sexist, and completely earnest. The only character portrayal I don't completely love is sadly Mary (mother of our Lord), who doesn't have as big a role as I would have liked.
As a Christian, no, I don't think this how it "really happened." But that's not the point. What matters is the story, and the humanity of it, and the love in every word. There were parts that made me uncomfortable, and challenged what I believed, and confused me, and those are all things I'm working on welcoming.
In this book, Jesus is "nothing so whimsical and so impractical as a god, and nothing so arbitrary and so transitory as a king, but as a great heart standing on the edge of the world teaching us all to soar by teaching himself." He is the enlightened man, not so much a born messiah but someone who became a messiah out of necessity. Someone who achieved oneness with God not out of fate but out of love. Questioning and sure and human and divine.