Seeking “to discover whether Jesus' message of liberation had a word to say to me as a woman,” Carla Ricci found the key in Luke 8:1-3, which mentions the women with Jesus at the outset of his public ministry in Galilee with the twelve disciples. This, she discovered, is a text many Bible scholars have systematically ignored for 1900 years. She found a group of women who unswervingly followed Jesus—the only ones, when the male apostles and disciples fled—from Galilee to Jerusalem, through his passion and death, to be the messengers of the resurrection. Mary Magdalene is named first in every list of women with Jesus. Yet traditionally she has been mistaken as a prostitute, by falsely associating her with the “sinful woman” of the previous episode in Luke. Ricci examines how and why this happened in a fascinating inquiry into history and culture. This book explores the real nature of Jesus' relationship with women, shown to be truly radical in the context of his time—and truly liberating. It rediscovers Mary Magdalene, and the “many others” who deserve to be remembered with her, as an essential component of the original “Jesus movement” and the early church. CONTENTS Introduction Hypothesis for an Exergesis of the Silence Silence on the Subject of Women; The Hidden Presence A Text the Exegetes forgot The "Three Marys"; The Course of Research from 1860 to the Present Women and Jesus in the Land of Galilee Luke 8:1-3 shows the Women's Discipleship; The Group that formed around Jesus; Women and the Four Gospels; Women and Jesus on the Paths of Galilee in Luke's Narrative; Touch and Womanhood; Touch as Characteristic of Jesus' Experience A Revealing Trace The Group that travelled with Jesus; Proclamation, Listening to the Word and Discipleship; Summary as Conclusion and Introduction Mary Magdalene and the Women Disciples The Group of Women cured; Mary Magdalene; Joanna; Susanna; The Group of "Many Other" Women Women in the Time of Memory The present Time of the Passion and the Time of the Memory of Galilee; Restoring a Face and Identity to the "Many" Women who Followed Jesus; The Diaconate; Women Disciples; Apostles of the Apostles Afterword to an Open Research Appendix Bibliography Name Index Biblical Index FORTRESS 1994 5.25 x 8.5 inches 240 pages
	CARLA RICCI (Ph.D., University of Bologna) was lives in Ravenna, Italy. She researches women in the history of the church at the University of Bologna. She is Italian President and international Co-President of St. Joan's International Alliance.