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Mary Magdalen Mary Magdalen was so called either from Magdala near Tiberias, on the west shore of Galilee, or possibly from a Talmudic expression meaning "curling women's hair," which the Talmud explains as of an adulteress. In the New Testament she is mentioned among the women who accompanied Christ and ministered to Him (Luke 8:2-3), where it is also said that seven devils had been cast out of her (Mark 16:9). She is next named as standing at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:40; Matthew 27:56; John 19:25; Luke 23:49). She saw Christ laid in the tomb, and she...

Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" is sparking a lot of controversy because of its distortions about the history of Christianity, fantasies concerning the messianic bloodline and supposed iconography embedded in the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci. Predictably, Hollywood has jumped at the chance to assail the Gospels and is making a film out of Brown's novel. Tom Hanks will star in and Ron Howard will direct the cinematic version of the book. According to a poll conducted by the National Geographic Channel in Canada, where almost 20 percent of the population has read "The Da Vinci Code," people are...