SACRED EMBRACE OF JESUS AND MARY

Sub-titled 'The Sexual Mystery at the Heart of the Christian Tradition', the book examines how the teachings of Jesus reveal the essential role of sexuality in spiritual growth and transformation. It shows that Jesus did not come to redeem humanity from the life of the flesh, but to honour it as a spiritual path. It uses Hebrew, gnostic and early Christian source texts to reveal the true context of the words attributed to Jesus, and looks at the spiritual and physical relationship shared by Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Of all the major religions, Christianity is the only one that has utterly rejected sexuality as one of the many paths that can lead to enlightenment and salvation. But if Jesus was indeed 'the Word made flesh' and serious consideration is given to the mystery of his Incarnation, is it reasonable that physical love would have been prohibited to him? Drawing from the canonical and apocryphal gospels, the Hebrew esoteric tradition, and gnosticism, Jean-Yves Leloup shows that Jesus did not come to save humanity from the life of the flesh, but to save the life of the flesh so that it would truly transfigure all people. He explains that when Saint Paul said it was good to be without women, he did not cite any words of Jesus in support of this contention. In fact Paul's statement utterly contradicts the words of God in Genesis: 'It is not good that man should be alone.' Leloup argues that the elimination of the divine feminine and sacred sexuality set in motion by Paul's words does not reflect the true teachings of Christ, and that the transformation of Jesus into a celibate is the true heresy. His research restores Christ's true human sexuality and shows it to be a vital part of humanity's spirituality. 151pp, softback.