The Goddess in the Gospels

WOMEN'S STUDIES / CREATION SPIRITUALITY In an era that has reclaimed many aspects of the feminine, Margaret Starbird's The Woman with the Alabaster Jar stood out as a courageous exploration of the scorned and repudiated feminine in the Western religious tradition. But espousing the marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene created a personal crisis for this Catholic scholar. In The Goddess in the Gospels , the author tells how she was guided in her personal search and her ever-deepening study of the New Testament and gematria—number coding of the Greek alphabet—by an incredible series of synchronicities. It was this mirroring of inner and outer worlds that revealed the Sacred Marriage of male and female—the hieros gamous—and led to her personal redemption. "This book by Margaret Starbird will raise new questions, challenge preconceived ideas, and spark controversy. In the twenty-first century, Christianity needs to reclaim the divine feminine at its heart and celebrate the partnership that Jesus lived, especially with Mary of Magdala."—(Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan, author of Praying with Women of the Bible ) "Margaret Starbird has turned her courageous spiritual journey into a corageous book that will comfort some and challenge many."—(Virginia Ann Froehle, author of Loving Yourself More: 101 Meditations for Women ) MARGARET STARBIRD holds a master's degree from the University of Maryland and has studied at the Christian Albrechts Universität in Keil, Germany, and at Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is the author of The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail . Starbird lives with her family in the Puget Sound area of Washington state.