The Lost Gospel

by Simcha Jacobovici

Overview

Waiting to be rediscovered in the British Library is an ancient manuscript of the early Church, copied by an anonymous monk. The manuscript is at least 1,450 years old, possibly dating to the first century. And now, The Lost Gospel provides the first ever translation from Syriac into English of this unique document that tells the inside story of Jesus’ social, family, and political life.The Lost Gospel takes the reader on an unparalleled historical adventure through a paradigm shifting manuscript. What the authors eventually discover is as astounding as it is surprising: the confirmation of Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene; the names of their two children; the towering presence of Mary Magdalene; a previously unknown plot on Jesus’ life (thirteen years prior to the crucifixion); an assassination attempt against Mary Magdalene and their children; Jesus’ connection to political figures at the highest level of the Roman Empire; and a religious movement that antedates that of Paul—the Church of Mary Magdalene.Part historical detective story, part modern adventure, The Lost Gospel reveals secrets that have been hiding in plain sight for millennia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605987293
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	11/12/2014
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	544
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Simcha Jacobovici is a three-time Emmy winning Israeli/Canadian filmmaker, New York Times bestselling author and an internationally acclaimed journalist. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Religion at Huntington University, Ontario, Canada. Jacobovici was Showrunner/Director of the 6-part series Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade for which he has received numerous awards including two NAACP Image Award nominations. Enslaved is his fourth book.  He divides his time between Toronto and Israel. 

 

Editorial Reviews

This discovery is potentially the last nail in the coffin of biblical literalism.

John Dominic Crossan

The Lost Gospel [is] a tour-de-force, carefully documented. An important contribution to the on-going dialogue about Christian origins.

Margaret Starbird

I very much enjoyed reading the book and find the major thesis of Jesus’ marriage to Mary the Magdalene very convincing. I also liked the style – very modern and conversational I thought it well-structured and convincing I have always felt that the emphasis on celibacy and the identification of sex with sin and corruption is extremely annoying. It is very much part of the denigration of women and their place in the natural order of things.

Madelyn B. Dick

Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson have produced a rather impressive collaborative work [that] advances the hypothesis that the text belongs to a form of Gnostic Christianity in which a married Jesus with children was a core tradition that might well trace back to the historical Jesus. The public will find it fascinating, clerics will denounce it, and some academics will likely dismiss it as sensational—but it is well worth a careful read.

James D. Tabor

Absolutely fascinating. Many would argue the biggest story or one of the biggest stories of our lifetime.

NBC's TODAY [Praise for 'The Jesus Family Tomb']

A slick and suspenseful narrative. Jacobovici is a maverick, a self-made Indiana Jones.

Newsweek [Praise for 'The Jesus Family Tomb']

Absolutely fascinating. Many would argue the biggest story or one of the biggest stories of our lifetime.

NBC's TODAY

Praise forThe Jesus Family Tomb and How Jesus Became Christian:A slick and suspenseful narrative. Jacobovici is a maverick, a self-made Indiana Jones.
”

Newsweek

2014-11-12
Exploration of a long-forgotten text.Filmmaker Jacobovici (co-author: The Jesus Discovery: The Resurrection Tomb that Reveals the Birth of Christianity, 2012, etc.) and researcher Wilson (Humanities and Religious Studies/York Univ.; How Jesus Became Christian, 2008, etc.) collaborate to popularize a little-known sixth-century text known as Joseph and Aseneth. The story, ostensibly about the Old Testament patriarch Joseph, was originally known to be written in Greek but now survives, in its oldest form, translated into Syriac. The authors dedicate a sizable portion of the book to a new English translation of the text, along with notes. They argue that the strange and anachronistic story is in fact a hidden Gnostic Gospel, which, when properly decoded, provides a wealth of detail about the life of Jesus and his wife, who the authors claim is Mary Magdalene. The authors argue that past interpreters ignored the early church's trend toward typological analysis of the Old Testament, through which Christian motifs were located within the Hebrew Scriptures. Instead, they claim that Joseph and Aseneth should be read as a "disguised historical narrative." The authors argue this "gospel" gives details of the personal life of Jesus: "It tells the story of how Jesus met his wife, how they married, and how they had children." However, many readers will find Joseph and Aseneth allegorical at best, hopelessly mysterious at worst. It is only through what appears as speculation that Jacobovici and Wilson piece together a fantastical tale of love, intrigue and, of course, sex, around Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Wrapped in the modern trend to discount New Testament writings and push forward even the most tenuous Gnostic texts, the authors write that "[w]hat seemed like fantasy is actually history, and what seems like history turns out to be carefully edited spin." Yet the authors' subjective tone, dramatic language and willingness to stretch logic leave readers skeptical from the first page. This intriguing ancient text deserves a solid academic study by serious scholars. Unfortunately, this book is not it.

Kirkus Reviews