Mary Magdalene: A Novel

I enjoyed the fact that it followed Scriptures well That the idea of a trinity wasn't there,, The Best Place to read the accounts of Jesus,, And his life ,his apostles,,disciples,, in fact the entire Bible As it says In 2nd Timothy 3:16,,17,, All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching,for reproving,for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, 17, so that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work! My advice find a Bible that uses God's Name! That has restored it to its rightful place,, Ty Ms. Taylor!

Mary Magdalene, by Diane Wallis Taylor, is the story of the biblical friend and helper of Jesus and his mother told from a different perspective. I liked it. Taylor’s story starts with Mary as a young girl and presents her innocence Throughout the story Mary makes sense. Since we know what Mary is thinking we understand her reasons, her trauma, her family, and more. This version makes sense in a real world not just in a spiritual world.I love that this Mary Magdalene is not the person of ‘traditional presentation’ that I grew up with. I actually kept expecting the prostitute version and when it did not happen I went to my Bible to verify whether my idea of her was correct or not and found no clear connection. This opened the door to a believable Taylor version of Mary. This is a fictional story but it is nice to know that it could have been, at least partially, Mary’s story. It made me think and check things out, and question my assumptions of her as a person. I like that.Taylor has a way of telling her story simply and believably. Her words connected me to some of the biblical references to Mary Magdalene, especially towards the end, “after Jesus”. Showing Mary in more of a humble and servant light, which is very much how the scriptures portray her and softens her in contrast to the harder servant image tradition paints of her. I closed the cover of this story with the feeling that Mary Magdalene was a humble, woman with strength of character, honor, spirit and the heart of a servant who had overcome difficulties so extreme that she understood what Jesus was facing in his last hours and stood by him and his mother through the end and into the beginning of a new era. This is someone I would be pleased for my daughter to look up to and emulate spiritually. Thank you Diane Wallis Taylor for a new look at this amazing woman who was in Christ’s inner circle while he was on earth.--as posted in Fiction411.com

I enjoyed Diana Wallis Taylor's novel of Mary Magdalene. I found myself putting off other tasks to get back to reading. I was hoping to gain new insight into the woman we know very little about but who is so irreplacably important in the narrative of Jesus' final days. I was disappointed on that level. Still, my only criticism is that the story has Mary joining Jesus and the rest of the disciples very late in His ministry. The gospel of Luke speaks of her much earlier in Galalee (Luke 8:2), and even then the impression is that she is a leader, as she is mentioned first among the women who followed Jesus and helped support Him.I have spent a lot of time trying to understand the resurrection narrative as related to Mary Magdalene. The scriptures give us very little in terms of details, but I believe more can be learned by reading between the lines. The thought of Mary being at the tomb alone at exactly the right moment (according to John), by accident, stretches credulity. Jesus thinking "Well, Mary's here, I guess I'll have her talk to the disciples" makes even less sense.So I am left to surmise that there was a very special relationship between these two that resulted in Mary being the one disciple who never gave up on Jesus. She was faithfully there at the cross, at His burial, at the tomb at dawn on Easter morning, at the resurrection, as the messenger to the other diciples. At every turn, there was Mary Magdalene. She exemplified the enduring definition of love in 1 Corinthians, "Love never fails", that no other of Jesus' followers displayed. The fruits of that love were returned by Jesus as depicted in His resurrection. I think an understanding of this relationship would teach us a great deal about who we are (or should be) as Christians. That understanding is a quest that continues.

Mary Magdalene, by Diana Wallis Taylor, is a fictional retelling of the Biblical person. This story is so nicely written it is hard to remember it is fictional. I just loved this story, it is filled with so much emotion and gives a look into how people lived during Jesus’ time. I especially enjoyed the retelling of Jesus teaching, healing, death and resurrection. I enjoyed the parts of the roles of the women who followed him and the traditions of the times.I obtained a copy of this book and was not asked to give a review.

Very well written. Although written as a novel, it was an excellent study of Mary Magdalene, the one from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons and recorded in the Bible as the first person to see the risen Jesus. "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept." (Mark 16:9-10).The fact that women were the first to visit the tomb and a woman was the first person to see the risen Jesus is evidence that the Biblical account is not fiction, because if it was fiction the writers would have chosen someone other than women to be witnesses. At that time in Jewish history, a woman's witness was not worth anything.As I read the novel, I checked Biblical accounts for accuracy. I learned quite a bit about Mary Magdalene as a result of reading the novel. The only thing that bothered me a little was it appeared that Jesus ascended to Heaven after visiting with the Disciples the one time. Actually He was on earth and seen by some 500 different people over a 40 day period before ascending to Heaven.

An easy read spoiled in part by some glaringly inaccurate biblical history. For example, nowhere in the New Testament does it say Mary Magdalene was the woman possessed by seven devils and also Mary Magdalene went ALONE to the garden tomb on the third day, and it was only after she had been spoken to by "the gardener" that she went back to the upstairs room to tell Mary and the other disciples what she had seen; it was then they went to the tomb together. I know this is classed as a novel, but as a theology graduate, small things like this do tend to irritate! Otherwise, the book was easy to read and gave a good insight into the Jewish way of life.

A lovely story line putting meat onto one of our Bible characters, I have enjoyed it so much that I have read it twice. It beingso important not to be bias when looking at all characters and seeing them as individuals with their own story and circumstance.It message is quite clear and quite a testimony.

This was an excellent book, I have already recommended it to many friends.Diana Taylor has a superb knowledge of how life would have been in Bible times and enables her readers to "see" it too. Truly proof of Wonderful our Great God is. Thank you Ms Taylor, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Such a lovely gentle but biblical retelling of what happened. Really encouraging. Anyone can be healed by Jesus!! Would recommend everyone to read this book.

What a wonderful sorry. Seeing things through the eyes of Mary. Really brought will known characters to light and provided insight into hoe their daily lives might have been. Engaging story. I loved it.