There’s Something About Mary

Thirty-five years ago this fall, I sat in Dr. James Tabor’s New Testament class at UNC Charlotte. I was able to get into his class as a freshman because he hadn’t yet developed a reputation having arrived at UNCC that semester from the College of William & Mary. I picked the class as an elective; one I thought might be interesting and wouldn’t be too tough. My thinking was that I was well-versed in the Bible having been raised in the Methodist Church. Over the years, I’d also attended various churches with friends including Catholic, Baptist, Unitarian, and Mormon churches after Saturday night sleepovers. I even took communion at Catholic Mass (nobody told me I shouldn’t!). All this is to say, I thought a class on the New Testament would suit me just fine. It was familiar territory for me—or so I thought. 

The ”textbook” Dr. Tabor assigned was a spiral bound collection of published scholarship as well as his own personal notes and research on the New Testament and Christian origins, i.e., stuff I’d never been exposed to. I learned more about the Bible in that one class than all my years of Sunday school. And no, it didn’t change my beliefs. If anything, it enriched them, transforming Jesus from a paper figure on a felt board into a living, breathing, flesh and blood human being who walked the Earth nearly two thousand years ago. First century context shined a new light on my understanding of the New Testament, and it was life changing.  

Then, in 1995, while I was working for library vendor Brodart Co. in Williamsport, PA, a book came across my desk titled Why Waco?: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America by none other than James Tabor (!) and co-author Eugene Gallagher. I was delighted to catalog my former professor’s book and was astounded to read that he’d been involved in the mediation efforts to end the standoff peacefully. Of course, we all know that didn’t happen. I’ll never forget watching the fiery scene on a giant TV screen in the Student Union at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where I had transferred in the fall of 1991. (Dr. Tabor later testified before Congress in the 1995 Waco Hearings.)    

Dr. Tabor appeared on my radar once again in 2006, when I saw him on the television news program 20/20 talking about the Suba cave (or John the Baptist cave) located just outside Jerusalem, which he and archaeologist Dr. Shimon Gibson co-excavated. He chronicled their exciting discovery in his book The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity (Simon & Schuster, 2006). I ran out and bought The Jesus Dynasty the very next day and read it all in one sitting. As luck would have it, Dr. Tabor was scheduled to appear at The Georgia Center for the Book in Decatur the very next week. He was, as ever, an engaging speaker. I approached him at the signing table after his talk and re-introduced myself. And the rest, as they say, is history.  

We have since hosted Dr. Tabor in Peachtree City twice over the past twenty years. The first time was to promote The Jesus Dynasty, the second time to promote Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity (Simon & Schuster, 2012). Dr. Tabor’s ninth book, The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus (Knopf, 2025) was published on September 30 and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a pre-pub copy. I can attest that Dr. Tabor succeeds in shedding light on the historical Mary whom he calls, “The best known, least known, woman in history.” How does he do it? First and foremost, he uses the New Testament, which is fairly scant in its references to Mary, but he does some educated reading between the lines to tease out hidden details, then sprinkles in the work of first century historian Josephus along with apocryphal texts to help fill in the gaps. The result is a convincing book that places Mary in proper context as a first century Jewish mother living in a time of increased messianic expectations fueled, at least in part, by oppression from the Roman Empire.  

Dr. Tabor will appear at The Shipyard in the Town at Trilith at an event co-sponsored by Scholar & Scribe Bookshop and the Friends of the Peachtree City Library on Tuesday, November 4, at 6:30 p.m. Ticketing is tiered and can be purchased through Scholar & Scribe Bookshop at https://scholarandscribe.com/event/author-event-dr-james-d-tabor/