Betty Adam is a scholar, resident Canon Theologian at Christ Church Cathedral, writer, speaker and an ordained Episcopal priest.  She is the founder and spiritual director of The Magdalene Community of Houston and founder and Spiritual Director of Brigid’s Place.  

Her blog can be accessed at  www.magdalenemystique.com. Adam frequently lectures on topics related to the Gospel of Mary, inclusion of society’s outcast and downtrodden, and the concept of shared or universal peace that transcends all religions, countries and cultures.

Her book, The Magdalene Mystique: Living the Spirituality of Mary Today invites readers into the spiritual life of a contemporary community that celebrates Mary Magdalene as mystic and visionary, beloved companion of Jesus Christ, and first witness to the Resurrection.  Following Mary’s Gospel, the community seeks to embody an ethos of equality and justice and to develop an interfaith spirituality of connection and peace.

The Magdalene Mystique is also available in paperback at www.amazon.com, Lucia’s Garden bookstore at 2216 Portsmouth Street in Houston (www.luciasgarden.com) and Morehouse Publishing http://www.morehousepublishing.org/ by entering “Magdalene” in title column for both the book and CD.

   
For more information about the Rev. Betty Adam, The Magdalene Mystique, special events, and links to other information related to The Magdalene Community visit www.magdalenemystique.com or contact Adam at 713/222-2593.
Send all correspondence to bcadam@christchurchcathedral.org or to Christ Church Cathedral, 1117 Texas Avenue, Houston, Texas  77002

The Magdalene Mystique: Living the Spirituality of Mary Today is written in a discovery mode of seeking and finding, as influenced by Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Mary (Magdalene): “acquire my peace within yourselves…those who search for it will find it.” The author, an Episcopal priest, takes us into her own journey to the Magdalene and that of an actual community that celebrates Mary Magdalene as mystic and visionary, beloved companion of Jesus, and apostle of the resurrection faith.  Readers will find themselves, like the mythical figure Psyche of the C.S. Lewis tale Till We Have Faces, sorting through legends and church commentaries, Biblical texts and extraBiblical texts that mention the Magdalene, and paintings and images of the ancient community of Dura-Europos in Syria.  Two medieval mystics, Marguerite Porete and Theresa of Avila are highlighted along the way, as well as personal stories of the author that move her more deeply into Magdalene spirituality.  

            The Magdalene Mystique retells the story of Mary Magdalene for our time so that the Magdalene’s message may inspire a new way of thinking and feeling about ourselves and all others.  Mary’s lost Gospel tells us how a more deeply connected consciousness can happen to all of us and how we can live into a greater sense of wholeness and shared peace.  The “true humanness” espoused by the Magdalene’s gospel is an offer of peace that has great resonance in the world today.  She is an ancestor who can bridge cultural and religious divisions and lead us inward into a “shared peace.” Accepting our spiritual power from within will become a force of crucial consequence for the future of the church as an instrument of peace and reconciliation in a divided world.