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by Minerva Waters
Behold the Man, by N. Richard Nash (Doubleday Books, 1986)
Seen through the eyes of Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot,
this novel is rich in historical detail.
In the tale, Mary is the clever daughter of a wealthy Jewish
merchant, who gets an early start on promiscuity by trading
sex to her tutors in exchange for knowledge that is not
customarily taught to a woman of that time and place. As a
result of her quickness and intelligence, Mary has no female
friends, especially since she refuses to marry as expected of
oman of her station. Instead, she is willful and wild, running
off, half-naked in the Roman fashion, to attend a Roman party
hosted by Herod to honour Pontius Pilate, whom she is determined
to meet. Things do not go as planned, and she escapes the party
to return home.
Some time later, after being raped by a band of Roman soldiers,
she leaves home on the pretext of visiting her childhood home in
Magdala and travels around the desert seeking vengence against
the Romans, eventually ending up at an Essene establishment,
where she meets both Judas and his mentor Jesus. After a time
she leaves, joining a band of Zealots who promise her a chance at
vengence. She is trained in their fighting skills, but after failing
to kill her Roman rapists, she returns home, only to be sent to
Alexandria by her father.
In Alexandria, she is acquired by the procurer of a brothel, where
she works as a prostitute until contracting one of the common
diseases. She chooses to return to Jerusalem to die. As her health
fails, she is stoned one day for failing to identify herself as
'unclean,' though she is rescued by Jesus' band of followers. As her
illness fades, she finds herself falling in love with Jesus. And
the rest is history.
Though it does follow the perception of Mary as a repentant sinner,
this is an interesting book with enough detail provided to make
the reader keep asking, "what happens next?"
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