Jesus the Second Adam (Amazon Kindle)   (BN Nook Book)

Jesus the Second Adam is narrated by the aging Mary Magdalene from the top of the Island of Patmos, four decades after Jesus’ crucifixion. Mary reveals secrets of Jesus’ life, including highlights of their strained relationship. She retells many episodes from the Gospels—Jesus’ conception, Joseph’s willingness to take Mary as his wife despite her pregnancy, the conflict between Jesus and John the Baptist, Christ’s realization of his destiny—in ways not previously heard.

Jesus the Second Adam offers a unique, realistic, and challenging understanding of Jesus and those who, directly or indirectly, were part of his life. They are described in an unconventional way, particularly Jesus’ mother and John the Baptist. How did Mary become pregnant, and how did those around her react?

Piercing through the aura of mystery surrounding the conception and birth of Jesus, the narrative elucidates the complicated relationships of the major characters involved. The narrative delves into a study of the character of John the Baptist and his difficulty in accepting and uniting with Jesus. He is portrayed as a man full of pride and doubts that made it hard for him to accept Jesus as a Messiah and highlights likely interactions between the two as Jesus seeks to persuade John to support him.

In the Jewish tradition, marriage is an obligation for all, and this book explores the idea that Jesus was married. Mary Magdalene, as narrator, tells a story of a woman wanting a normal family life in Magdala, challenged in her marital life by Jesus’ extraordinary sense of mission. His call to put God first inevitably brought strife to their marriage, testing Mary’s loyalty to him and their mission.

The story of Jesus has resonated in every generation and has been told and retold from a variety of perspectives. Jesus the Second Adam brings a new understanding to the enduring and mysterious power of one of the world’s greatest historical and religious figures.

"The book is theologically exciting. It is well-written, compelling, and thought-provoking.... The reader becomes captivated by the living, breathing, very real world of Mary and Joseph and their culture. Central to this is a realistic and credible narrative of the conception of Jesus. Finally, Jesus himself appears and becomes the center of the novel."—Pauline Eby, M.Div., Union Theological Seminary