This is the groundbreaking novel that fills in so many puzzling passages and mysteries woven into the familiar scriptural stories of the Bible. Using the near-

Bart Ehrman--the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus and a recognized authority on the early Christian Church--and Zlatko Plese--a foremost au

Who was Mary Magdalene, really? Mary Magdalene plays a prominent role in the Bible, but who was she, really? How did her identity change from an intimate friend

The story of Twelve Apostles is the story of early Christianity: its competing versions of Jesus’s ministry, its countless schisms, and its ultimate evolution

Mary Magdalene is a larger figure than any text, larger than the Bible or the Church; she has taken on a life of her own. She has been portrayed as a penitent w