This text explores controversial ideas in 'The Da Vinci Code' and the real and remarkable significance of Magdalene to our culture and to Christianity itself.

Using New Testament "gematria, " symbolic number values encoded in the Greek phrases, the author reveals that the sacred couple was one of the essential pillars of early Christian teachings, before being denied by the architects of institutional Christianity and obscured by later Church doctrine.

Mary Magdalene was written out of history after the crucifixion. Now her story is being told, a story of what happened to her and what important work she did in those lost years: a story of murder, betrayal, love, faith and courage that rewrites biblical history. An Arab peasant called Muhammad Ali accidentally discovered ancient texts buried in a sealed jar in the mountains in Upper Egypt in 1945. He excitedly smashed the jar expecting to find gold, only to discover inside 13 worthless papyrus books bound in leather. These became known as the Nag Hammadi library, a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts, written in Greek and dating back to the 1st century AD. Dismissed as heresy by the Orthodox Church, in many of these gnostic texts, Mary Magdalene is portrayed as an enlightened spiritual leader privy to the secret teachings of Jesus. In The Gospel of the Saviour, Jesus calls Mary The Woman Who Knows the All. Set in 1st century Judea, Egypt and France, Mary Magdalene's Legacy follows her life after the crucifixion, carrying on the bloodline of Jesus and transmitting the original teachings of Jesus.

From royal and suppressed archives comes documented proof of the heritage of Jesus in the West and the long awaited discovery of the Holy Grail. In fulfilling this time-honored quest, penetrating new light is cast upon the Grail Code of Service and the venerated feminine element, upheld in chivalry but forsaken by the Church in order to forge a male dominated society. This unique work offers revelatory insight concerning the descendant heirs of Jesus and his brother James while, in documenting a hidden legacy of the Messiah, it unveils hitherto guarded facts about characters such as Mary Magdalene and Joseph of Arimathea. Tracing the sacred lineage through centuries of persecution and Inquisition, Bloodline of the Holy Grail reveals a systematic suppression of authentic records and a strategic manipulation of the New Testament Gospels. Featuring all the charm and adventure of Arthurial romance, coupled with enthralling Rosicrucian and Templar disclosures, this extraordinary work has a cutting edge of intrigue that removes the established blanket of enigma to expose one of the greatest conspiracies ever told.

Jesus Christ.

From the best-selling author of The Bloodline of the Holy Grail and Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark comes an explosive historical detective story presenting secret archives on the mysterious life of Mary Magdalene, the hidden lineage of Jesus and Mary, and the real two-thousand-year-old conspiracy involving the entire history of Christianity. Mary Magdalene is described in the New Testament as Jesus' close companion -- a woman he loved and his financial sponsor. And yet, in contrast, the Church teaches that she was a prostitute who became repentant. Why the discrepancy between scripture and dogma? Why does Mary appeal so romantically to artists who have painted her throughout the centuries as something much more significant than the Church traditionally portrays? What is the secret of Mary Magdalene and how much do we really know about her relationship with Jesus? Were they married? Did they have children, and if so, who makes up the messianic lineage? Laurence Gardner takes us on a detective trail to piece together the true controversial significance of the Magdalene story and its astonishing implications. These include the real da Vinci connection -- the true meaning behind Leonardo da Vinci's paintings and why the Renaissance Church censored portrayals of the Magdalene -- and information on the sacred marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Plus the truth about the enigmatic Templar society called the Priory of Scion and the underground stream that protected the sacred heritage of the messianic descendents. And much more!

*Includes pictures *Includes Gospel passages and apocryphal passages *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading "After that, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Mary Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out-and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means." - Luke 8:1-3 Mary Magdalene is one of the most talked about figures in modern Christianity, a woman who mainstream media and modern sensibilities can hold with more conviction. The media, press, movie industry, and airport literature have been obsessed with this redhead for more than 100 years, a fascination that reached its climax in the first decade of this century, and does not seem likely to end any time soon. Mary Magdalene is frequently depicted as young and attractive, liberated and intelligent, a symbol of a freer spirituality, and not controlled by a male-dominated church. In the minds of many, she embodies opposition to a system dominated by old men in white cassocks, the "sacred feminine." As if that is not enough, she has the best bachelor in the world: Jesus Christ himself. The French-made, fair-haired Mary Magdalene who appears in innumerable works of medieval and modern art with a red robe, a symbol of rebellion and freedom (although in the Middle Ages the intention was to show her as a loose woman), is a creation of the Western Church and, more recently, the media. It is a depiction laden with centuries of intertextual struggles, patronizing homilies, medieval legends, novels looking for bestseller status, and documentaries for cable television. But there was a historical Mary Magdalene, a woman named Miriam (Hebrew for Mary) born in Galilee in the time of King Herod, and she died, most likely in present-day Turkey, when Christianity was only a variant of Judaism. Mary Magdalene would not recognize herself in modern portraits or the perception the average Christian of the last 1500 years has of her. If there has been a search for the historical Jesus since the 18th century, the real man who walked in the hills of Galilee and died on a cross in Jerusalem, a similar quest is necessary for the historical Mary Magdalene, but not out of mere curiosity, because she is important in the narrative of Jesus's life. If the early sources are accurate, Mary of Magdala was the first Christian in history, and the first to announce the fundamental kerygma of early Christianity: Jesus is risen! Despite the shortage of information, there are a few certain facts historians know about Mary Magdalene. For example, she was a respected and well-remembered follower of Jesus, one of the female disciples who supported the movement of the Galilean preacher. Some scholars studying the gospels believe that Mary Magdalene was an elderly woman and probably well-to-do, if not wealthy. "For all we know," opines E.P. Sanders in The Historical Figure of Jesus, "she was eighty-six, childless, and keen to mother unkempt young men." She not only remained by Jesus side in his darkest hour, the crucifixion, she also had a strange experience at Jesuss tomb on Easter morning. The gospels disagree on the details, but not in the fact that it happened to her. Mary Magdalene: The Life and Legacy of the Woman Who Witnessed the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus examines what is known and unknown about one of the Bible's most famous figures. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Mary Magdalene like never before.