This is from Publisher’s Weekly Religion e-letter:

SPOTLIGHT ON… Thank You, Dan Brown

Gnosticism Fever Moves Backlist to the A List

The continuing popularity of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” and
Elaine Pagels’s “Beyond Belief” has prompted an unprecedented
resurgence of interest in gnosticism, as reported in BookLine last
summer (June 24, July 8). In December, a 20-year-old title, Bantam
Dell’s “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” (1982), landed on the “New York Times”
paperback nonfiction bestseller list. It didn’t hurt that a November
TV special on “The Da Vinci Code” highlighted the book and featured an
interview with Henry Lincoln, who wrote “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” along
with Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh.

Also enjoying new life is Susan Haskins’s “Mary Magdalene: Myth and
Metaphor,” a 1995 Riverhead book that has seen steady sales since its
Da Vinci-inspired re-release in September. Continuum’s “The
Resurrection of Mary Magdalene” (2002) by Jane Schaberg received a
recent boost. And Harper San Francisco expects strong sales for “The
Gospels of Mary: The Secret Tradition of Mary Magdalene, the Companion
of Jesus,” an April book by Marvin Meyer–with an initial printing of
30,000–that includes the Gospel of Mary and three other Gnostic
gospels in which she plays a prominent role.

Clearly, of all the personalities associated with gnosticism, Mary
Magdalene tops the current popularity list. Karen King’s scholarly
treatment, “The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman
Apostle” (Polebridge, Nov. 2003) enjoyed an Amazon ranking of 200
earlier this month, sold out of its first two printings of 17,000 by
early January, and a third printing of “at least” 6,000 was ordered.
Inner Traditions alone has four titles about Mary Magdalene, two of
which were mentioned in “The Da Vinci Code” and are gaining new
recognition as a result. Between its 1993 release (by Bear & Company,
now part of Inner Traditions) and February of 2003, Margaret
Starbird’s “The Woman with the Alabaster Jar” sold 20,000 copies;
since the release of “Da Vinci,” twice that number have sold, bringing
lifetime sales to 60,000. Another book cited in “Da Vinci,” Jean-Yves
LeLoup’s 2002 translation and commentary titled “The Gospel of Mary
Magdalene,” has sold 37,000 copies, with nearly 700 sold on Amazon
alone during the week before Christmas. Inner Traditions isn’t done
with Mary yet. “The Chalice of Magdalene” comes out in March, “Gnostic
Secrets of the Naassenes” by Mark H. Gaffney in June and “The Church
of Mary Magdalene” by Jean Markale in July.

Among the most ambitious efforts is Shambhala’s “The Gnostic Bible,” a
comprehensive collection of gnostic writings including the complete
texts of the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of
Philip, the Secret Book of John and the Round Dance of the Cross–47
documents in all, plus background and introductory material by editors
William Barnstone and Marvin Meyer. The 860-page hardback–which
covers gnostic writings through the 13th century–was released in
December.

The most unusual of the upcoming gnostic-flavored releases is almost
certainly Jodere’s “Voices from Ancient Bethlehem: A Dialogue with
Jesus and the Twelve Disciples” by a writer known only as the Scribe,
a contemplative man who claims he has received direct communication
from Jesus and his disciples, much of which purports to clarify the
teachings of scripture. In one section, the Scribe maintains that
Jesus calls the church a “monstrous organization” that he never
intended to establish, denies the purity and truth of the Nicene
Creed, urges the return of Mary to a place of honor as his mother and
confirms that Mary Magdalene bore his son, who was named Benjamin and
created the Order of the Knights of the Grail. The Scribe continues
with sections on the Holy Grail and the Knights Templars and
revelations from Jesus’s “family circle”: Mary and Joseph, Mary
Magdalene and their son, Benjamin Martel, and Joseph of Arimathea.