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F. STANLEY JONES (ed.), Which Mary? The Marys of Early Christian Tradition (SBLSS 19; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002). Pp. x + 141. Paper $29.95.
This book is a useful collection of "cutting edge contributions" presented at the session on early Christian Marys, sponsored by the Christian Apocrypha Section at the annual convention of the SBL in 2000. The principal purpose of this work is to examine afresh which Mary-Mary Magdalen or Mary the mother of Jesus-is meant in the texts of NT Apocrypha that refer to an unidentified "Mary" (spelled in various ways), or texts that at some stage of the tradition, even if the Mary is identified, may have referred to a different Mary. The prevalent identification of this "gnostic" Mary-though not all these texts can be accurately termed "gnostic"-as Mary Magdalen is called into question, and the whole issue of what person or (conflated) persons may be behind this appellation in its various forms is the main subject of this book.
The work begins with the editor's introduction, followed by seven articles by leading scholars in the topic. At the end, there is a "select" ten-page bibliography. The first article, by S....