Hi Susan,

Thanks for writing. I really believe in the skillset of an investigative journalist as a way of approaching life.

Yes, the Gospel of Mary is a fascinating text. It appears a 'new' fragment of it has just been identified.

https://earlychristiantexts.com/missing-fragment-gospel-mary/

There is no doubt the gospel is real. The debate might focus on what religion it belongs to.

The Dead Sea Scrolls actually greatly stirred my own interest in the Bible. I attended seminars put on by Michael Heiser (of "The Unseen Realm" fame) and realized that the DSS greatly expanded what was known about the Bible.

In fact, the whole plot of the Bible radically changes.

What it really taught me is that Christianity is a poor guide to reading the Bible and is often very misleading. The religion tried to get the Bible to express its own views- i.e. the control of sex generally and women in particular. Christianity is rituals masking eugenics.