With the recent surge of interest in Mary Magdalene brought forth by Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code, " a renowned scholar delves into Mary's significance for understanding the origins of Christianity. This is a new translation of the Gospel of Mary, as well as Marvin W. Meyer's translations of significant portions of other Gnostic gospels and text in which Mary Magdalene plays a major part as Christ's closest disciple.HarperSanFrancisco