The Gospels say Mary Magdalene told the apostles that Jesus had risen; "The Da Vinci Code" makes her Jesus' wife.

The novel does her no favors, said Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, a cultural historian at Georgetown University and an authority on Mary Magdalene in art.

"Why does she have to become Mrs. Jesus to be saved, to be elevated?" she said.

The Gospels say seven demons were cast out of her, and she was among the women who traveled with Jesus and supported him financially. She was the first witness to the Resurrection, either alone or with other women. In John: 20, Jesus sends her to tell the men he is alive.

"The Catholic Church has long called her 'the apostle to the apostles.' The Eastern Christian churches call her 'the holy equal unto the apostles,'" Dr. Apostolos-Cappadona said.

Contrary to the novel's claim that she was vilified, in Christian art, "we have her preaching, we have her teaching, we have her healing, we have her performing miracles, we have her reading, we have her praying," she said.

In the West, an influential papal homily in 591 conflated her with other women, including an adulteress. The pope wasn't trying to denigrate her, but to make her a model of repentance and faith for a church he sought to reform. Early Protestants changed her from an adulteress into a prostitute, she said.

In 1969, the Catholic Church untangled her from identification with other women, and now Catholic feminists see in her a patron for women's ordination.

"After Mary of Nazareth, Jesus' mother, she is the most mentioned woman in the New Testament," said Sister Christine Schenk, executive director of FutureChurch and a scholar of women in the early church.

Because she was the first witness to the Resurrection, "biblical scholars see very strong evidence for the historicity of the Resurrection accounts. If someone was making them up, they never would have had a woman as a witness in a culture that didn't recognize women as legal witnesses in court."

Most scholars believe Magdalene is a place name. But Maria Luisa Rigato, professor of New Testament at the Vatican-related Gregorian University, argues that it was a title the 12 apostles gave her after Pentecost, meaning Mary the Magnificent.

Catholics and Protestants differ over whether a married Jesus would significantly change the Christian faith. Traditional Catholics see him as the model for celibate priests and emphasize the New Testament theme of the church as his bride.

"In Christian theology, Jesus is married. He is married to the church," said Amy Welborn, author of "Mary Magdalene Decoded."

Most Protestants consider that a metaphor. A married Jesus "doesn't make the slightest difference," said Kenneth Bailey, canon theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.