In 2003, Dan Brown’s THE DA VINCI CODE rose to the heights of the bestseller lists, based on its compelling mystery set around the alleged marriage of Jesus and Mary the Magdalene. Historians have ridden that wave for years, some vilifying the claims, others embracing them. The latest effort to “prove” Jesus and the Magdalene’s marriage is THE LOST GOSPEL, written by Simcha Jacobovici, host of the TV program “The Naked Archaeologist,” and religious studies scholar Barrie Wilson.

First, what is this “lost gospel” the duo claims to have found? It is a “previously unknown” copy of the famous ancient text Joseph and Aseneth from  the British Museum. This story purports to tell of the magical meeting and marriage of Joseph (he of the many-colored coat) and the Egyptian woman Aseneth; though only mentioned in passing in the Torah, the wedding is greatly elaborated upon in this account. The authors admit that this tale is widely known among the scholarly community, but insists theirs is different because it comes with a letter in which the manuscript’s owner hints at secrets hidden in the text.

"If you’re looking for a scandalous read that will reinforce your preconceived notions about conspiracy, THE LOST GOSPEL is for you. Maybe Jesus and Mary the Magdalene did marry and have children, but this text doesn’t prove it."

By assuming that this text is one that needs decoding, Jacobovici and Wilson reject the lenses that previous scholars have used as insufficient. They presume that their knowledge is superior to those who have gone before, delving deeper and farther, yet they draw on these same individuals to support their own arguments.

Jacobovici and Wilson decipher their Joseph and Aseneth and claim to reveal an intriguing tale. Joseph symbolizes for Jesus, they say, and Aseneth can only represent Mary the Magdalene. How do they come to that conclusion? For one, “Magdalene” comes from the Hebrew word “migdal,” meaning tower, and Aseneth resides in a tower. But this connection is spurious at best, not least because towers appear frequently in the Old and New Testaments.

Aseneth is also associated with bees, the authors notice. So is the ancient Greek goddess Artemis, who was commonly worshipped across the Mediterranean --- thus they must be one and the same! But Jacobovici and Wilson overlook the fact that bees were worshipped independently of Artemis in the Mediterranean and the Levant; bees were even a symbol of Artemis’ twin brother, Apollo. The Jews also honored the bee, naming the prophetess Deborah after the creature, which carries a great legacy in the Talmud.

Despite their decent academic credentials, Jacobovici and Wilson seem more interested in proving why their interpretation of the text is exceptional --- and therefore “true” --- than in proving its actual veracity. They make a good case that Joseph and Aseneth was a Christian, not a Jewish, text, but that isn’t news.

Perhaps most curious is the “decoding” of the political implications of Joseph and Aseneth. After a long discussion of what an attempted assassination plot on the couple in the story might mean, Jacobovici and Wilson decide that Jesus and Mary the Magdalene were involved in ancient scandals. They became embroiled plots under the Emperor Tiberius and his debauched family and companions. By “decoding” this text and attempting to assign it historical significance it may not have had, the authors gleefully create a pseudohistory to equal the famous Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which brought the Jesus-Magdalene allegations to the modern public in the 1980s.

If you’re looking for a scandalous read that will reinforce your preconceived notions about conspiracy, THE LOST GOSPEL is for you. Maybe Jesus and Mary the Magdalene did marry and have children, but this text doesn’t prove it. If you want a real scholarly examination of a fascinating text, though, you’ll have to look elsewhere.