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important query.
    “What inspired you to write this book?”
    Maureen put down her teacup and replied.
    “I read once that early British historical texts were translated by a sect of monks who didn’t believe that women had souls. They felt that the source of all evil came from women. These monks were the first to alter the legends of King Arthur and what we think of as Camelot. Guinevere became a scheming adulteress rather than a powerful warrior queen. Morgan le Fey became Arthur’s evil sister who deceives him into incest, rather than the spiritual leader of an entire nation, which is what she was in the earliest versions of the legend.
    “That understanding shocked me and made me ask the question: had other portrayals of women in history been written from such an extreme bias? Obviously, this perspective extends throughout history. I started thinking of the many women it might have applied to, and my research went from there.”
    Jenna allowed the questions to rotate around the tables. After some discussion of feminist literature and issues of equality in the publishing industry, a question came from a young woman wearing a small gold cross over her silk blouse.
    “For those of us who were raised in a traditional environment, the chapter on Mary Magdalene was very eye-opening. You present a very different woman than that of the repentant prostitute, the fallen woman. But I’m still not sure I can buy into it.”
    Maureen nodded her understanding before launching into her response. “Even the Vatican has conceded that Mary Magdalene wasn’t a prostitute and that we should no longer be teaching that particular lie in Sunday school. It has been more than thirty years since the Vatican formally proclaimed that Mary was
not
the fallen woman of Luke’s gospel, and that Pope Gregory the Great had created that story to further his own purposes in the Dark Ages. But two millennia of public opinion is hard to erase. The Vatican’s admission of error in the 1960s hasn’t really been any more effective than a retraction buried on the last page of a newspaper. So essentially, Mary Magdalene becomes the godmother of misunderstood females, the first woman of major importance to be intentionally and completely altered and maligned by the writers of history. She was a close follower of Christ, arguably an apostle in her own right. And yet she’s been excised almost entirely from the Gospels.”
    Jenna interjected, obviously excited about the subject. “But there is so much speculation now about Mary Magdalene, like that she may have had an intimate relationship with Christ.”
    The cross-wearing woman flinched, but Jenna continued. “You didn’t address any of those issues in your book, and I was wondering how you felt about those theories.”
    “I don’t address them because I don’t believe there is any evidence to back up those claims — a lot of colorful and possibly wishful thinking, but no proof. Theologians agree on this across the board. There is certainly nothing that I, as a self-respecting journalist, could feel comfortable supporting as fact and publishing with my name on it. However, I might go so far as to say that there are authenticated documents that hint at a possibly intimate relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. A gospel discovered in Egypt in 1945 says ‘the companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene. He loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth.’
    “Of course, these gospels have been questioned by Church authorities and may have been the first-century version of the
National Enquirer,
for all we know. I think it’s important to tread carefully here, so I wrote what I was certain of. And I am certain that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute and that she was an important follower of Jesus. Perhaps she was even the most important, as she is the first person whom the risen Lord chose to bless with His appearance. Beyond that, I am not willing to