Alexandra D Smith was born in Indiana, raised in Pennsylvania, matriculated from Regents’ Park College in London, UK. Ms Smith’s interest in the Bible started in her earliest youth. Her parents kept several versions of it on a shelf together, with collections of myths and folktales from around the world. Her childhood fascination with the almost endlessly possible interpretations of what originally had been one text led her to research and write this experimental series about many of the key figures in the New Testament.

Ms Smith is an avid gardener and reader. She keeps a house rabbit and doesn’t own a microwave. She still retains a preference for the stately poetry of the King James Version.

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In the 3rd century BCE, Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus caused the sacred texts of the Hebrews to be translated into Greek for the Library at Alexandria. Unaccountably, the translators rendered (QDS)-- Qedeshah, meaning holy woman or woman-set-apart, as “prostitute” and not “priestess.” This practice continued when the Old and New Testaments of Christianity were translated into Latin and other modern languages.

Which begs the question, who was Mary Magdalene really?

The Lamp, an original novel featuring Mary Magdalene, may be accessed by pressing the title button above.