This book brings together cutting-edge contributions on early Christian Marys, offering a variety of perspectives by leading scholars, suggesting answers for known questions and attempting to reframe the discussion through new questions. The studies evaluate the recent insight that the somewhat revolutionary Mary in ancient Christian writings who has often been assumed to be Mary Magdalene is sometimes specified to be Mary the mother of Jesus. The book analyzes the cross-fertilization of traditions that has apparently occurred and also probes into the earliest preserved traditions on the Marys, both canonical and non-canonical, as preserved in Western and Oriental languages. These essays were initially presented at the 2000 Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting. F. Stanley Jones provides an introduction; the contributors are François Bovon, Ann Grahan Brock, Karen L. King, Jonathan Knight, Antti Narjanen, Stephen J. Shoemaker, and George T. Zervos.Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org).