LONGWOOD, FL-Imagine a world where Jesus Christ's struggles with his love for Mary Magdalene resulted not in marriage but in timeless wisdom for today. This is the world of The Lost Epistle of Jesus ($15.99, paperback, 978-1-60266-126-4), Evan Drake Howard's epic love story set in first-century Jerusalem that explores Christ and Christianity in revolutionary new ways. The story revolves around a miraculous epistle that Jesus wrote to help people in all generations through the storms of falling in love and loving. The novel also raises questions about why Judas Iscariot committed suicide, who really killed Jesus, and what it means to be a true Christian.
"The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown created a stir by claiming that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married," says Howard. "But what if the truth were more revolutionary than that? I hope that my novel will offer a new slant on this ancient controversy-one that nurtures the inner healing that turns heartbreak to hope."
The hope emerges from the novel's provocative premise that Jesus wrote an epistle intended for all humanity. Out of his struggles with Mary Magdalene, he developed a holistic understanding of spirituality a spirituality that encompasses body, mind, and spirit. In illuminating the unity of the masculine and the feminine, the epistle invites readers into a new life of integration and freedom. But this life can only be found by following Jesus' way of radical forgiveness and nonviolence. Howard says he hopes readers will take a transforming journey with the New Testament's legendary characters. In exploring these characters' personal motivations, readers will share Jesus' deepest turmoil and learn practical skills for loving as he did.
Evan Drake Howard, pastor of the Community Church of Providence, Rhode Island, is the author of Rekindling the Hope of the Manger, From Sacrifice to Celebration, and Centered in God. He and his wife, Carol, have been married since 1978 and are the parents of two sons.
Xulon Press, a part of Salem Communications Corporation, is the world's largest Christian publisher, with more than 3,900 titles published to date. Retailers may order The Lost Epistle of Jesus through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. Salem Communications is the country's leading Christian communications company with interests in radio, Internet, and magazine publishing.
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2007