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Photo by Musée royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium

ON THE COVER: Inspired by Brittany’s wild and primitive landscape, the famous post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) used it as the background for his Green Christ. The 1889 painting depicts the women who witnessed the crucifixion removing Jesus’ body from the cross. All four Gospels list Mary Magdalene as among these female witnesses (Matthew 27:55–56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25; and, by implication, Luke 23:49). The Magdalene’s prominence in this and other key events suggests an overdue revision of her biography, as explained in “How Mary Magdalene Became a Whore.”