Song of the Beloved – the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene
Coming this Fall!
In anticipation of the Fall 2014 release of Song of the Beloved, I am sharing with you a note to the readers laying out the genre of this much awaited book. Hint: IT IS FICTION! PERIOD! 🙂
A Note to the Reader
Midrash: (from “to study” or “to investigate”) designates an exegesis which, going more deeply than the mere literal sense, attempts to penetrate into the spirit of the Scriptures, to examine the text from all sides, and thereby to derive interpretations which are not immediately obvious. jewishencyclopedia.com
Parable: signifies in general a comparison, or a parallel, by which one thing is used to illustrate another. It is a likeness taken from the sphere of real, or sensible, or earthly incidents, in order to convey an ideal, or spiritual, or heavenly meaning. Parable indicates a deliberate “making up” of a story in which some lesson is at once given and concealed. – Catholic Encyclopedia
As one of my teachers, Jeff VandenHeuvel used to say, “Every story is true, some of them actually happened.” This is certainly the case with Song of the Beloved –The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene. While inspired by scripture, historical documents and other sacred texts, this story is a work of fiction – period. If I were to define its literary genre, I would suggest that it falls somewhere between midrash and parable. As such, many readers will find within this novel things that resonate with them as deeply true. For others, this book will provoke, confront and challenge. My invitation to you, the reader, is to approach this book with an open heart and an open mind, embracing that which speaks to you as truth, while disregarding the rest. If you get hung up on the details, it may help you to know that my intention is not to present a historically accurate, or scientifically verifiable document, but to express what it may have been like for Mary Magdalene to have been in the presence of and walked in the footsteps of Jesus. This perspective was born completely out of my own imagination while being true to the personal relationship that I have found with Jesus and the Magdalene through meditation and prayer. I hold the spirit of this novel to be true, regardless of whether any of it actually happened.
Lauri Ann Lumby, author
