Mad Mary by Liz Curtis Higgs

Mad Mary by Liz Curtis Higgs ISBN-13: 9781578565436 Paperback: 272 pages Publisher: WaterBrook Press Released: May 18, 2004

Source: Borrowed from my local library.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Discover the Gospel truth about the most myth-understood woman of the New Testament. Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute? An adulteress? The wife of Jesus? An ancient goddess? Liz Curtis Higgs combines heartfelt contemporary fiction with extensive biblical research to bring to life the real Mary Magdalene of the Bible.


My Review:
Mad Mary started with a modernized Biblical fiction story and ended with a study on the historical Mary Magdalene. I believe the fictional part has now also been published separately as a novella, "Mercy Like Sunlight." The author took the biblical story of Mary Magdalene and set it in the modern world to help readers better understand what her life might have been like. I liked her modernized biblical stories in her "Bad Girls" books, and I liked this one, too.

The second half of the book looked at what we really do know about Mary Magdalene based on the Bible's account rather than myths. I already realized that people tended to lump a bunch of Marys into one when they were actually different people, but it was interesting to learn how that happened. I was a bit disappointed that the quotes were mainly from other books about Mary and commentaries; I would have liked to know where some of the cultural information originally came from, but that information wasn't given. The study on what we can learn from her life made some good points.

I liked this book and appreciate what it was trying to do, but I think I was more emotionally touched by her two "Bad Girls" books.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.