After the worldwide success of the bestselling book by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, a plethora of books about the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene were published. The Da Vinci Code alleges a centuries-old cover-up of the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and a child of their union who became the ancestress of European royalty. The book was made into a popular film in 2006, starring Tom Hanks and Sophie Marceau, and was directed by Ron Howard.

The discovery in Nag Hammadi of the ancient Gnostic texts and the recent discovery of the Gospel of Judas set the scholarly world abuzz with discussions about the tumultuous beginnings of the Christian religion. One result was a large number of scholarly writings and nonfiction books about early Christianity and the roles of key figures in Jesus' life, especially his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and other female followers. A quick search on Amazon.com for books containing the Virgin Mary's name in the title or information about her produced a whopping 33,446 titles, testament to her perpetual popularity as an interesting subject for writers. Books about Mary Magdalene were significantly fewer, but still an astounding 10,881 titles. Other women in the Bible had far fewer numbers of books written about them, but still garnered the attention of writers, publishers, and the public that bought them.

A few recent books that raised awareness of the contribution of women to the biblical narrative include Jonathan Kirsch's nonfiction book The Harlot by the Side of the Road, Forbidden Tales of the Bible. The book explores the violent and sexually explicit stories of several of the Bible's females, including Dinah, Tamar, Judith, Zipporah, and Jephthah's daughter, among others.

One Night with the King is a fictionalized version of the story of Esther, Queen of Persia. The film version of the popular book, written by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen, featured Tiffany Dupont in the role of Esther, the kind and courageous Hebrew woman who risked her life to save her people.

Two Women of Galilee is a powerful fictional account of Mary, mother of Jesus and her distant relative, Joanna. The novel was written by Mary rourke, who holds a Divinity degree from yale. The book has received critical acclaim.

There have also been several TV movies about notable biblical women:

• Great Women of the Bible — focuses on the Bible's best-known women and heroines, including the Virgin Mary, Eve, and Mary Magdalene.

• Intimate Portrait: Women of the Bible — a 1995 Lifetime Television documentary series narrated by Sela Ward that reveals the stories of three of the most revered female figures in Christianity: the Virgin Mary, Eve, and Queen Esther.

• Mary Magdalene: An Intimate Portrait — narrated by Penelope Miller, examines the life of the most misunderstood woman in the life of Jesus.

• Mary, Mother of Jesus — a two-hour film about the life of the Madonna that was produced by Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her son Bobby Shriver, and debuted on NBC TV in 1999.

• Mary Magdalene: The Hidden Apostle — a fifty-minute biography of Mary Magdalene's life with research and scholarly interviews, produced by the Arts and Entertainment Channel for airing on television, and also sold as a home video.