[close] What is the truth about the "other Mary"-one of the most important female figures of the New Testament, second only to Mary the Mother? Although nearly written out of the Biblical Gospels as merely a redeemed "fallen woman," Mary Magdalene is the secret Gnostic Gospels' major character after Jesus himself. The Gnostic Gospel of Mary, for example, states that after the crucifixion, the apostles were rallied with an impassioned and enlightened sermon given by Mary Magdalene, and the Gospel of Thomas relates that Jesus called her "The Woman Who Knows All." Undoing centuries of confusion and cover-up, Mary Magdalene: Christianity's Hidden Goddess will startle even contemporary Christians who have used her example to argue for the ordination of women and New Age believers who hail her as a feminine archetype of the "goddess." [close]